Bird and Bird raises flexible benefits take-up

EXCLUSIVE: Bird and Bird has seen take-up in its flexible benefits scheme increase to 64% after it relaunched the scheme in August.

The international law firm relaunched the scheme with Portus Online to refresh its offering and improve administration.

The firm has also added new benefits to the flex scheme, including critical illness cover for employees with the option to add a partner, the opportunity to flex life insurance and the ability to sell holidays.

Andrea Pankhurst, head of HR at Bird and Bird, said the revamp of the flexible benefits scheme has resulted in increased take-up among employees, with 64% requesting a package compared with 50% in 2011.

Also, 83% of employees have logged onto the benefits site to look at their total reward and benefits package.

Pankhurst added that the organisation chose Portus Online because it had experience in the legal market and could provide insight into what competitors are offering to staff.