Future of mobility - the mobility budget for companies
The term mobility budget or Begriff Mobilitätsbudget is still relatively unknown in Germany. Although it holds great potential in terms of corporate benefits for companies if they choose to include mobility budgets into benefits packages. Instead of a company car, companies can offer their employees a much more flexible alternative to urban transportation with the help of a mobility budget. While company cars are often offered to employees from higher positions or from a certain salary class, the mobility budget can represent an interesting alternative to the classic company car that is accessible to an entire team instead of a few chosen employees.
What is the term mobility budget?
The mobility budget is the amount that a company is willing to spend on the mobility of its employees. While the provision of a company car requires a driver's license, the mobility budget offers a variety of alternative means of transportation to get to and from work and home. For example, those who prefer to use public transport often don't need their own company car. In addition, if it is also used privately, it must also be taxed by the employee himself. The resulting “monetary benefit” must be taxed by the user of the company vehicle either within the 1% rule or with the help of a logbook. However, increasing awareness of a cleaner environment, miles of traffic jams and lack of parking spaces are making workers choose greener alternatives.
More work-life balance thanks to the mobility budget
In countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the idea of a mobility budget is already firmly established. Numerous companies rely on the innovative way of flexible employee benefits depending on their needs. Thanks to the individual design and use options that the mobility budget offers employees, they can even benefit from a significantly increased work-life balance. You can decide for yourself how you want to go to work and take private trips, while protecting the environment. The CO2 emitted significantly damages our environment, while the consequences of the stressful journey can also have negative health effects on the body. A company's decision to supplement or cover an employees commuting cost gives employees more choice in terms of how far away they live from work and how they want to spend their commute.
What the mobility budgets of Everride, ePilot, Mobiko, Moovel and Co. promise
Some providers for such mobility budgets have already established themselves on the market and offer their services for companies of almost any size. Thanks to the individual composition of various mobility solutions. Deutsche Bahn employees, for example, have been able to flexibly design their way to the workplace for more than 5 years. The pilot project started as an absolute innovation in Germany, but was received very positively by DB employees. Other mobility budget providers such as Everride, Moovel, Mobiko and Ecolibro have joined in the course of the past few years, thus expanding the pool of providers for German companies. The topic of electromobility in particular is getting more and more popular in Germany: By the end of 2019, almost 6 million people had an e-bike. Furthermore, countless e-scooters were on German roads last year. After the corresponding regulation for electric scooters, also known as e-scooters, came into force on June 15, 2019, the number of electric scooters approved for road traffic rose to more than 30,000 by the end of the year.In many major German cities, people have since been able to rent e-bikes and e-scooters for a fee. Mobility budget providers like Moovel, Ubeeqo or Everride take advantage of this and offer holistic solutions for flexible mobility.
We at ePilot see ourselves as the interface between the various providers and the companies. As experts in the field of electromobility, we are available to companies with all kinds of questions about the individual providers, their advantages and disadvantages as well as the issue of taxing the mobility budget. The final use of the chosen provider solution takes place easily via the app of the provider. The trend is clearly in the right digital mobility budget, which does not require a lot of paperwork and at the same time contains a lot of options to attract young professionals and at the same time to bind experienced specialists to a company.
By using the provider apps, you always have an overview of all costs. Additional gimmicks such as the integration of your own logo also make the mobility concept individually adaptable. A clear breakdown by category shows at a glance what the budget has been used for so far. Above all, the clarity of the dashboard and the simple handling of all mobility solutions in one app make using a mobility provider a breeze by a professional provider.
Who is the mobility budget for?
The introduction and use of a mobility budget is currently primarily suitable for companies from larger cities in which public transport is extensively connected. There should also be a sufficient number of environmentally friendly alternative means of transportation such as car sharing offers, e-scooters and e-bikes available in order to be able to offer employees a variety of alternatives to the company car.
