Mobility budget

Definition

The mobility budget is a monthly budget for employees of companies that enables them to make a planned business or private trip by various means of transport such as bus, train, e-bike, taxi or car sharing. With the help of the mobility budget, incentives are created for employees to stay with the employer or to prefer the employer as an applicant. The mobility budget is therefore suitable for employer branding or personnel marketing.

An alternative to the company car

In the past, it was common for a company car to be a great incentive for employees to stay with a company for the long term or to recruit new talent. But as issues around sustainability and climate protection are becoming more important, the desire for an alternative is growing. As an online survey by the StepStone job platform found out, almost one in two of the 12,000 respondents would specifically look for a sustainable company when changing jobs. Around 76 percent of the participants also stated that the topic of sustainability should be given equal importance by their employer. The mobility budget gives employees the chance to travel in a climate-neutral way and to travel more flexibly. Companies, on the other hand, can use the mobility budget as an alternative solution to the classic salary increase and claim tax advantages.

Mobility budgets - Higher motivation, with full cost control

Many employees or applicants would like to have an alternative to a conventional vehicle. The fact is that some employees prefer the train, bus or car sharing to a company car. With a fixed monthly mobility budget, employees are able to do this both at work and in their free time. They are able to decide how they want to spend this budget and at what time. Through flexible organization, companies support the well-being of their employees on the one hand, and on the other hand, the mobility budget can be claimed for tax purposes. Also, larger companies that own many vehicles can save massively on fleet costs and thus keep their administrative costs low. But the employees will also thank the companies. Because not only do they get maximum flexibility on their way from A to B, but they can also travel in a more climate-neutral way at the same time.

Advantages of the mobility budget

One thing is clear, the mobility budget cannot work equally well in all cities and regions in Germany. For example, if companies and their employees in rural regions are excluded from local and long-distance public transport and there is no other possibility to use other sharing offers. Then there is no great advantage in introducing a mobility budget instead of the typical company car. But in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Frankfurt, Munich and many smaller towns and regions, mobility is more advanced and offers countless ways of getting around. But it's not only a versatile offer that mobility budgets can trump. One of the biggest advantages over the typical company car is that employees of all salary levels can benefit from the employee benefit, not just the executive floor. Furthermore, by introducing a fixed budget, companies can save quite a bit on operating costs and also optimize the net pay of their employees.

Example - From a worker's perspective

Marius is 39 years old, has two children and works as a financial consultant for a logistics company in Berlin. Like every day, he gets up early to get his children ready for school. The children leave the house and Marius quickly gets on his bike so as not to be late. After one kilometer he stops - a nail in the tyre. He looks around, far and wide; there is no underground or bus station. But there is a car from a car-sharing company down the street. He locks his bike, walks to the car and unlocks it with his smartphone. Now he rides 15 minutes to his workplace, parks the sharing car and even makes it to the next meeting on time. On the way home, he collects his bike again with a car-sharing car and buys a repair kit for the punctured tyre. When he gets home, Marius scans the receipts from the sharing provider and for the repair kit into his app. Done, he gets his mobility expenses back with the next pay rise. It's really great that his employer supports him with his mobility needs, Marius thinks.

Conclusion - Multimodal mobility is the future

With a mobility budget, employees get more mobility and companies get less costs. This newly created approach also leads to greater equality among employees, as the mobility budget can also be used in lower salary groups. This in turn can have a positive impact on the working atmosphere and the motivation of employees. In the long run, companies will have to create more mobility incentives in order to attract young applicants and remain competitive.