More than 4,000 Centrica staff have topped up their flexible benefits allowance via salary sacrifice since the energy firm introduced the option to do so in April this year.
Through a salary sacrifice arrangement, staff can choose to make a deduction from their pre-tax salary to top up their flex fund. This can then be used to purchase additional benefits. The average amount staff have chosen to top up their fund by is £33.
Craig Truter, reward manager at Centrica, said: “The top-up has been successful, with over 30% of staff selecting it. The thinking [behind it] was the number of employees who did not have medical cover as a contractual benefit and whose allowance would not cover the cost of medical benefits within the flex scheme.”
To introduce the top-up, Centrica used roadshows, its intranet and newsletters, posters, local site champions and desk drops.
Take-up of flex has risen to 85% in 2010 compared with 77% in 2009, and the number of flex benefits selected has risen by 25% year on year. The most popular perks were retail vouchers (taken up by 68%), holiday purchase (32%) and private medical insurance (18%).
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