Property consultancy Knight Frank has updated its benefits package, including offering its 2,220 UK employees a branded, money-saving debit card to make charitable donations and reduce foreign exchange fees abroad.
Currensea is an open banking enabled debit card which links to existing bank accounts and allows users to access foreign exchange rates at 0% to 0.5% above the base rate, offering at least 85% savings on every overseas transactions. The card carries the branding of Knight Frank, which has given its staff premium cards with 0% foreign exchange rates and 100% savings.
Users can choose to donate all or part of the savings made as a result of favourable foreign exchange rates to charity, as well as opting to donate by rounding up spending on purchases in the UK.
As of 1 April, Knight Frank also introduced private medical insurance (PMI) for all permanent members of staff from their first day of employment.
At the end of last year, the business launched a Christmas office closure period, with the days in between Christmas and New Year guaranteed as holiday in addition to employees’ usual leave allowance. It also allowed up to five days of unused holiday allowance to be carried over into the next year and used in the first quarter as of the start of last year. This was due to staff requesting to carry over unused holiday into the next holiday period, following the lockdowns during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
As part of its benefit package, Knight Frank employees can also choose to take an unpaid sabbatical of one to three months, after five years of service. After 10 years and subsequent key milestones, they can also take a two week paid sabbatical in addition to two weeks of holiday, resulting in a full month of paid leave. This was introduced at the start of last year.
William Beardmore-Gray, chairman of Knight Frank, said: “We are delighted to introduce Currensea at Knight Frank. The introduction of the scheme supports our environmental, social, and corporate governance ambitions as we become the first corporate partner to offer the charitable giving feature, allowing our people to donate some or all of their exchange rate savings to a great cause and one close to our hearts, Surfers Against Sewage.”
