Home Business Awards & Achievements Parkdean Resorts named as one of the UK’s best people businesses

Parkdean Resorts named as one of the UK’s best people businesses

A Parkdean Resorts holiday park

The UK’s largest holiday park operator has been awarded the highly acclaimed Investors in People Gold Standard Award for the second time, marking it as one of the UK’s best people businesses.

Parkdean Resorts gained its second Gold Award in recognition of its continued commitment to people development and investment across its 67 UK holiday parks and central support office in Gosforth. Only 7 per cent of companies and organisations with IIP accreditation achieve Gold status.

Investors in People is the UK’s leading accreditation for business improvement through people management. Organisations that meet this standard reflect the very best in people management excellence. To achieve accreditation, organisations are assessed against these themes and indicators, leading to an award that represents the level of performance achieved.

Graeme Mills, an IIP specialist responsible for assessing Parkdean Resorts added: “By gaining the Investors in People Gold Award for the second time, Parkdean Resorts has demonstrated that its culture has people at its heart. Parkdean Resorts’ business success demonstrates that having an engaged workforce and strong leadership has a positive impact on employees and delivers a competitive edge for the business. Two Gold Awards marks Parkdean Resorts as one of the best people businesses.”


IIP’s assessment found Parkdean Resorts to be an innovative player within the marketplace. Contributing to this is the recent implementation of a new system that aims to support the transformation of the holiday home sales side of the business by simplifying processes and enhancing the overall customer experience.

The overall approach to people development was commended, as there has been considerable investment in developing managers across the company and those who have ambitions to move into management roles through regular training and development, creating an environment of opportunity and growth through effective talent management.

Additionally strengths in the area of continuous improvement were also highlighted. The company uses both internal and external sources to direct its improvement actions, including regular measurement of engagement and the use of insights from customers and external bodies to inform improvement actions and drive business developments focused on innovation.

Maggie Pavlou, human resources director at Parkdean Resorts said: “Out of all of the companies and organisations that have IIP accreditation, only 7% achieve Gold status, so to be awarded it twice is a phenomenal achievement.

“IIP is not about the badge. To really be an Investor in People it takes commitment and it really is at the heart of everything that we do, including driving our culture and how we move the business forward together.

“We are extremely passionate about using the insights from the IIP assessment, transforming this into effective actions that will strengthen our approach for a truly people-focused working environment. This will also support the overall business strategy by continuing to “Create Amazing Memories” for our people and customers.”