SINGAPORE - Companies and their staff will be encouraged to donate unused employee benefits to charities, following a tie-up between Singapore-based insurance brokerage start-up CXA Group and the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

In a joint statement on Thursday (Dec 5), the two organisations said the Collective Good initiative could see several million dollars worth of employee benefits over time channelled into helping various groups in Singapore who need more support.

CXA Group provides corporate insurance and works with companies to cover their employees' health needs.

The companies and staff can enjoy benefits, or Flexi$, in the tie-up with CXA Group. These benefits include insurance, healthcare and gym services.

Ms Rosaline Chow Koo, the group chief executive and founder of the brokerage, said: "At the end of each policy year - which is typically in December - employees of CXA clients often find themselves with unused Flex$, which will expire and are returned to the company."

She added that rather than let these Flex$ go to waste, CXA has been working with its clients' human resource teams to provide options for the money to be donated to charity.

Over 400,000 employees now use CXA's portal, said Ms Koo.

The Collective Good initiative is being launched in conjunction with NVPC's National Giving Week movement, which started on Dec 1 and runs till Saturday.

The initiative is targeting to initially raise $1 million and donate the sum to the Community Chest of Singapore via the online giving platform Giving.sg.

NVPC chief executive Melissa Kwee said: "Through this partnership, we have been able to create a platform-to-platform strategy to help enable many more people to reach many more charities."

The proceeds will go towards assisting vulnerable sectors of society, such as children with special needs, at-risk youth, people with mental health conditions, adults with disabilities, vulnerable seniors, and families in need.

Companies that have come on board include Grab Singapore, City Developments Limited and small and medium-sized enterprises Sumifru and Rehau.

CXA and NVPC will announce the total amount of donations raised through the Collective Good initiative and the complete list of participating companies in April 2020.