Mobility and Mandatory Annual Negotiations: an inseparable link
Business travel and employee mobility are now part of the employer's obligations. So much so that since January 1, 2019, employees' home-work mobility is one of the topics that have become mandatory in the discussions of the Compulsory Annual Negotiations (NAO) of companies. The main objectives are to encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport and to cover all or part of the mobility costs incurred by employees.
Thus, there are many schemes that allow employees to have all or part of their home-to-work travel costs covered, including public transport passes, soft mobility and fuel costs. These schemes are employee benefits offered by the company to facilitate access to mobility for employees. Just as meal vouchers improve the lunch experience or personal services (or dematerialized CESU) support the work/life balance.
The challenge is therefore to build employee benefits policies that meet the needs of employees but that also fit correctly into your social policy. Faced with the multitude of individual situations that need to be addressed, the key to a successful mobility policy is to ask yourself the issue: what is the number one issue that your company's mobility policy must address?
If employee satisfaction and new legal obligations are two obvious reasons to implement a mobility policy, we will see in this article that such an approach must meet many other challenges: your business challenges.
Reduce your carbon footprint
Did you know that 31% of CO2 emissions are generated by the transport sector in France? The majority of this sector's emissions are generated by employees' commutes to and from work. Many companies are therefore committed to reducing their carbon footprint as a priority. Like Saint-Gobain's "Agir durablement" program, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In this article, Stéphane Cardoso, Human Resources Manager, explains how 30,000 employees have been equipped with the Sustainable Mobility Package.
Reducing carbon emissions is therefore an essential CSR issue. To meet this objective, it is in the interest of organizations to encourage the use of soft mobility for employees' home-work journeys. The Sustainable Mobility Package (FMD) is the most appropriate mechanism. It allows the employer to finance all or part of the public transport season tickets and sustainable mobility expenses (bicycle, carpooling, scooter...), at the same time. The benefit is twofold: improving employee satisfaction by offering them more choice in their commute and effectively decarbonizing commutes. This is a real virtuous circle that ultimately enhances the employer brand and ensures a positive and committed image for the company.
Moving to inclusive mobility
In most cases, employees are reimbursed 50% of the cost of a public transport season ticket. This is an advantage for employees who finance their own bus or metro journeys, particularly in major cities. But it also excludes a number of cases, such as employees who use their private vehicles or those who travel by bicycle. Like the Sustainable Commuting which encourages the use of soft mobility, there are other complementary schemes to cover all employees' mobility needs, for a more inclusive policy:
- L'Avantage Auto, which contributes to fuel costs for employees with vehicles located outside built-up areas.
- Mobility credit, which offers the possibility of converting the value of one's company or statutory vehicle into a budget dedicated to mobility expenses
Covering a portion of employees' travel costs is one thing, but including all the modes of travel they use on a daily basis is even more relevant! Thanks to these schemes, employers can develop an inclusive mobility policy that adapts to all needs.
Defending the purchasing power of employees
In 2021, 65% of French employees' fuel budgets will be spent on commuting to and from work. More than ever before, defending employees' purchasing power is therefore also the responsibility of companies. The rise in consumer prices is unprecedented, and employees expect their companies to take concrete action. They have no choice but to review their compensation packages.
Setting up internal mobility schemes helps to protect employees' purchasing power. In fact, benefits such as Sustainable Commuting or fuel reimbursement represent a totally tax-exempt budget for the employee. As a result, the net value received is, in the vast majority of cases, greater than a taxable salary increase.
In concrete terms, an employee who receives a fuel allowance of €100 per month will benefit from €100 net of tax to spend in the stores chosen by his employer (a priori, service stations). If this same employee had received a €100 pay rise to support his fuel expenses in a context of inflation, he would in reality receive only €73 on his payslip, after deduction of tax (in the most common case, of an employee taxed at 30% after a 10% allowance).
On the other hand, a salary increase of 100€ would cost the company 180€ if we take into account the social charges. The difference between what is financed and received on the pay slip is therefore more than €100. Conversely, the implementation of a mobility benefit is also exempt from social charges up to €4500 per year and per employee. It is therefore in the company's interest to start thinking about a mobility benefit policy. In the end, everyone wins.
Retain employees and senior managers
If your goal is to attract or retain talent, employee benefits are a very powerful way to achieve your goals. With talent shortages and mass resignations, you'll need an attractive salary package to keep your employees. And while this obviously includes an attractive salary level, other features such as flexible employee mobility and employee well-being should not be underestimated.
Of course, the implementation of mobility benefits for employees is only the first step to ensure their retention within the company. In practice, the effectiveness of such measures is above all guaranteed by a policy of communication and promotion of the benefits put in place.
It is then essential to communicate around these advantages:
- Explain the reason for this decision. For example, it could be to protect purchasing power, to reduce the company's carbon footprint or to cover all employee mobility needs for a 100% inclusive policy.
- Practice real change management internally, by training employees on the amount and periodicity of each budget envelope deployed for them, and by providing them with documentation to refer to.
- Measure the impact of each action taken. On the employee side, a satisfaction survey remains the most effective. On the employer side, a data report on the use of these benefits is the most effective tool. This is what theadmin interface of our solution offers.
As you can see, the challenge here is not simply to identify which mobility benefits would be relevant to develop internally, but to turn them into a powerful tool for building employee loyalty. Your next step is therefore to identify your main challenge before implementing this type of benefit. And if you'd like to present your case to one of our social policy and employee benefits experts, please don't hesitate to contact us.
