Arla Foods has seen 18% of its 2,800 employees register for its new voluntary benefits scheme in its first three weeks.

The dairy firm, known for brands such as Lurpak, Anchor and Cravendale, launched a voluntary benefits plan last month to enable staff to obtain discounts from a variety of retailers, as well as childcare vouchers and a cycle-to-work scheme.†

Asda, B&Q, Comet, Marks & Spencer and Vodafone are some of the retailers included in the scheme, which is called My Benefits and provided by Asperity Employee Benefits.

In the third week after the scheme was launched, employees had already spent £10,000 on benefits.

Tim Pearson, head of reward and resourcing at Arla Foods, said: “We are delighted My Benefits has received such a positive response in its first few weeks. Asperity has been very proactive in supporting the communications to our largely dispersed workforce, over 70% of which are not computer-based.”