The cream of the industry’s employers are celebrating after being ranked on the Sunday Times Best Companies to work for lists.
13 travel and leisure companies in total, including Bourne Leisure, Kuoni UK, Flight Centre and Hays Travel, were all included for 2016.
Bourne Leisure was ranked fourth out of the Best 25 Big Companies to work for, while Marriott Hotels International and Merlin Entertainments were also included on the list, ranked 9th and 14th respectively.
Among the 100 Best Companies list were Hays Travel, ranked 60th, Kuoni UK, ranked 89th and Flight Centre which came 55th.
Red Carnation Hotels was the highest ranked company, coming third, followed by Skyscanner (5th), Holiday Extras (20th), Parkdean Holidays (85th) and Audley Travel (91st).
Listed in the 100 Best Small companies to work for, were G Adventures (99th) and Click Travel (59th).
Hays Travel, Kuoni and Flight Centre have reacted to the good news.
Hays achieved high employee satisfaction and motivation scores while Kuoni’s initiatives such as ‘wow moments’ for staff and the biggest ever overseas educational programme scored highly.
Katie Woods-Ruddick, Hays Travel’s head of HR and training, said: “We complete internal employee engagement surveys every year, but to receive external recognition highlighting our employee satisfaction levels as some of the highest in the country is a real achievement.”
Based on an anonymous survey led by the Sunday Times, statistics show that 85% of the 2,000 Flight Centre employees enjoy time with their team and 83% agree that they help one another in the workplace. More than three quarters of staff earn an average of £34,000 a year, and 66% say they are paid fairly by sector standards.
There is high employee morale, with 80% saying that managers are appreciative when they do a good job and care about them as individuals.
Flight Centre UK managing director, Chris Galanty, said: “To be recognised in the list for the 12th year running is an incredible achievement.
“I am delighted for the company and proud of our hard working staff – without their dedication we wouldn’t be able to deliver amazing tailor-made travel experiences that are better than customers will find anywhere else in the country.”
Kuoni UK managing director, Derek Jones, said: “I’m incredibly proud we’ve been listed for the third year running and to be there with 99 other companies across all sectors which are doing some incredible work to engage their people is outstanding.
“It’s an incredibly thorough process from start to finish, with honest and open feedback from staff at all levels influencing the result.”
The results were revealed at an awards ceremony last week.