At the end of Stephen Rogers’ office are opaque glass doors to a private room with a sofa, TV and a bed.

The Swanstaff Recruitment founder and managing director is not afraid to grab 40 winks at his firm’s Dartford headquarters – it helps him stay there longer – although he insists he has not yet spent the night at work.

Down the corridor is a “breakout” zone where colleagues sit on low chairs with a coffee looking up at inspirational quotes on the walls.

A little further is a newly kitted-out kitchen, complete with its own bar and showbiz lighting spelling “Live @ the Swan”.

It is little surprise the firm was named in the Sunday Times list of 100 best small companies to work for.

“Investment in staff is very important for retention,” said Mr Rogers, whose firm became the first to win three KEiBAs on the same night this year.

“Training staff and creating a nice environment to work in is crucial. If you look after the people who work for you, they look after your clients, who look after your business.”

Those clients, which include BUPA, Abbott and Lidl, have certainly taken care of Swanstaff. The firm employs 150 people across 18 offices.

It is strange to think it all began as a part-time venture from Mr Roger’s home in Swanley. His wife wanted to quit work to bring up their children so he began working part time driving lorries for agencies to help pay the bills.

After seeing how drivers and clients were treated, he set up Swanstaff in 1997, thinking there was a better way to run an agency. At the time, he was still working as a full-time fireman.

He only quit the service in 2008, once the business employed 20 full time staff, had four offices and a turnover of £4 million a year.

“My strategy is to create a business which will outlive me,” said Mr Rogers, who owns and flies his own helicopter. “I don’t want to build it up to sell it.”

Today, the company has more than 4,000 temporary workers on its payroll and a target of opening 100 offices by 2023.

“My strategy is to create a business which will outlive me...” - Stephen Rogers, Swanstaff Recruitment

It has branched out into engineering, care, pharmaceutical and industrial sectors.

Mr Rogers aims to open offices in Norwich, Birmingham and Southampton in the near future and another four before Christmas. The company only moved into its brand new Dartford head office in February.

He will be 58 if he reaches his 100-office target on time but has no inclination towards early retirement.

He said: “I would like to go into Europe and America after that. I can never see myself retiring. I see work and home life as all just a part of living.

“If you can combine the two and love doing it then it’s not really work. I don’t consider work a chore. It’s part of my life. If you can do that you’re very lucky.”

How do you run a successful business?

“One of the things that helped was learning the art of delegation. A lot of people in business often miss that. The quicker you can trust and learn to delegate the quicker your company can grow. Then it can grow bigger than what you’re capable of doing by yourself.”

What makes a good recruitment consultant?

“It’s a people business. You need people skills. You have also got to be passionate about what you do. It is not a 9 to 5 job and people who think it is never do very well. If the phone rings, you have to answer it, whether it’s a weeknight or weekend.”

What was it like to be the first company to win three KEiBAs on the same night?

“Luckily I remembered some good advice, which was if you are up for an award, always have something written down. Nothing’s worse than going up to accept an award and having nothing to say – and I had to do three. The recognition and getting our name out there really helps us. We took 20 people on the night but I could have taken 50.”

What’s an interesting fact about you?

“I have my own helicopter up at Redhill in Surrey. I’ve had a licence for three years. It is something I’ve always wanted to do and my daughter went to university in Yorkshire so I did it to speed up the round trip. She hates it when I pick her up but she’s learning to fly too. So if we go to the pub, I’ll fly there and she can fly back.”

What advice would you give to young people looking for work right now?

“Don’t feel anything is below you. Some people struggle to find if they have spent a lot of time and money on university and expected to come out into a high paying job. I did a lot of different jobs when I left school and it proved I could go to work every day and show up on time. If you have the right attitude then temporary work can be a stepping stone. If you think certain work is below you then you might stay out of work for quite some time.”

CV

Born: 2/7/1965

Grew up: Tooting, London

Live: Crockenhill, Swanley

Familly: married with two children

First job: “I left school at 14 and sold newspapers on the corner street.”

Salary now: “I get the living wage. I take enough to live on but I put my money back into the business.”

Car: Land Rover Discovery “for business” and a Jaguar F-Type R “for fun”.

Film: Field of Dreams

Music: “I’m quite general.”

Charity: “We donate 10% of our profits to charities, which I spread across as many as I can.”

Typical day

Stephen Rogers usually gets up at about 5.30am and spends an hour reading the paper and checking emails with a coffee and a cigarette.

He leaves for work before 7.30am and answers emails as his first task when he gets to the Dartford head office.

He has meetings throughout the day, covering all aspects of the business.

He usually doesn’t leave the office before 8pm. He has a bed and TV in his office so often has a cat nap but never for longer than an hour otherwise he “wakes up with a headache”.

In his downtime he spends a lot of evenings socialising with work colleagues and friends. He has a small holding at home where his wife looks after chickens and ducks.