First Direct has added a carbon offsetting perk to its flexible benefits scheme to educate staff about their carbon footprint and to provide them with the ability to reduce it.
Employees can use an online calculator to work out their own carbon footprint. Once they have worked out the amount of carbon they produce, staff can use their flex fund to purchase units, which are used to offset the daily damage they inflict on the environment. The money used to buy the units is invested in projects across the world that are working towards driving down carbon emissions.
Alex Lindley, reward and recognition manager at First Direct, said: "It is important for us to support our people's lifestyle choices and carbon offsetting was something that we wanted to include [in the flex scheme]."
Uptake is low, but Lindley believes those who have taken up the benefit value it highly. For this reason, the perk will remain in place for the foreseeable future.