Cundall Johnson & Partners LLP (Cundall) has launched a new flexible benefits scheme for their 220 employees called "Play with Pay" in conjunction with thomsons online benefits.

Cundall is a firm of multidisciplinary consulting engineers with UK offices in Birmingham, Edinburgh, London, Manchester and Newcastle, and three offices in Australia. They pride themselves on their culture which strives to create a lively, friendly environment where everyone's voice is valued and creative thinking is encouraged.

Michelle Wood, HR Manager comments: "We began looking at implementing flexible benefits because we felt that our existing benefits package didn't fit our culture and as a result was not hitting everyone in the business.

"During 2004 we carried out an employee survey where we asked employees whether they wanted flex. This was followed up by a series of road shows where we had a chance to get more in-depth feedback from employees. It soon became clear that employees wanted more choice over both the types and levels of benefits they received.

"We felt it was important to keep employees engaged in the development of their new package and so we launched a competition to name the flex scheme."

From the over 40 suggested names given by employees, "Play with Pay" was the clear favourite. The scheme was launched in December 2005 with a series of road shows and presentations at each location. Employees were able to make their flex selections and view their total reward statements using thomsons online benefits employee self-service solution "Perquisite™".

"Play with Pay" offers employees the following flexible benefits:

• Holidays - the ability to flex down to 20 or up to 30 days
• Pension
• Private Medical Insurance
• Life cover
• Permanent health insurance
• Bikes for work
• Home computer initiative
• Childcare vouchers

Employees also get access to a range of voluntary benefits including:

• Champneys spa discounts
• Pet insurance
• Discounted eye care
• Wine club

"Play with Pay" has been short-listed for the "Most Effective Overall Benefit Strategy for a SME" award at the Employee Rewards and Benefits awards 2006.

Michelle Wood comments: "As well as enhancing our current benefits package, we decided to implement flexible benefits at Cundall as part of the "Good to Great" commitment we made to our staff and also to differentiate us from others in our field. We chose thomsons online benefits because they simplified the implementation of flexible benefits and understood what we were trying to achieve within a very tight timeline. Our consultant showed us that our flex scheme didn't have to be complicated to make a difference and it was this feature that truly differentiated thomsons from the other flex providers we spoke to. Feedback from the flex roadshows has been very favourable and we are delighted to have been recognised by reward industry professionals - let's just hope we can bring the back the silverware to reinforce our message that Cundall really is evolving from a good Practice to a great Practice."

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