Britannia Building Society has launched an online voluntary benefits package as a precursor to a flexible benefits scheme due to be introduced in 2007. The voluntary benefits scheme, which was rolled out in July for the company's 5,000 staff, is intended to introduce the concept of choice to ease the transition away from a traditional set menu of core benefits. It will be followed by the launch of a childcare voucher scheme next month. Louise Baker, group reward manager, said: "We have been wanting to introduce a degree of choice for a little while. Our people have not had a lot of choice around their benefits in the past. It has been very paternalistic."
The package includes discounts for high street stores and also covers travel products. Baker added that the company planned to introduce flexible benefits by the end of 2007, which will be added to the existing online voluntary benefits portal. "To log on to a website to look at voluntary benefits is going to be really valuable. It's a [move] to get people familiar with the technology," she said. The voluntary scheme, called Britannia Lifestyles, is administered by P&MM.