Three-quarters of Arup's 4,000 UK-based employees have taken up flexible benefits after the scheme was implemented in April.

Staff at the global engineering, design and business consultancy can now select benefits from a variety of options that include holiday trading, dental insurance, critical illness insurance, childcare vouchers, bikes for work, a will writing service, travel insurance, additional life insurance, health check and a tax return service. Core employer-funded benefits, such as private medical insurance, can be extended to cover employees' family members through flex.

Employees, who select their benefits options online, pay for them through a flex fund, which is paid in addition to their salary.

Head of remuneration and benefits, Tony Hatton-Gore, said: "[We launched the scheme] to give employees a choice and the chance to tailor their benefits package to their needs. We believe it will help with attraction and retention."

The introduction of flexible benefits at Arup followed an extensive consultation process, which included feedback from staff representatives.