43% of employers plan to offer more eco-friendly cars

New data has found that four in 10 (43%) UK companies said introducing more environmentally friendly vehicles is top of their list of car benefit changes in the next 12 months, up from 33% in 2020.

Willis Towers Watson’s 2021 Car benefits survey report, which questioned 620 UK organisations, highlighted that in 2021, another 40% were planning to do this by varying the make and models of cars allocated.

Three-fifths (61%) of respondents intend to review their company car benefit policies over the next year, with 71% citing a desire to align with market best practice or competitiveness and 57% planning to implement more environmentally friendly behaviours and policies.

The research also revealed that just 3% of employers planned to reduce car journeys by working from home in 2020, which increased to 27% this year, and included many aiming to decrease car travel through increased use of tele or web conferencing for work.

More than a third (35%) now give sales professionals and managers the option to choose electric or hybrid cars, which has almost doubled from 19% in 2020, while 21% will cover the home installation costs of a charging point as well as charging costs for plug-in vehicles.

Samantha Rogers, reward data service consultant at Willis Towers Watson, believes it is “very encouraging” to see so many organisations that are aware of the growing urgency of the climate emergency planning to introduce green alternatives within their car benefits policies.

She explained that the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has prompted businesses to re-evaluate whether so many in-person meetings are necessary.

"It is also great to see that so many employers are planning to introduce electric or hybrid cars, and those that do will be able to benefit from tax advantages in some circumstances. It will be interesting to see how employers seek to make their car benefit policies more environmentally friendly in the years to come,” Rogers said.