I keep my face inscrutable; otherwise, I will be rolling my eyes at the suggestion Big Bad Boss has made. He only wants me to revisit the car policy. Yes, again. Barely a day goes by without someone somewhere complaining about cars. I did a thorough market review barely a few months ago and now he wants me to look at it again. You will know I hate rework. I am happy enough to review benefits periodically to ensure we are still completive, but this is just too soon. I sigh, hopefully inaudibly.
You might be thinking we are getting so many queries because there is something wrong with our car policy. No. It is just that cars are very emotive. To some senior teams, and especially in certain countries, a car is a symbol beyond mere status; it is a metaphor for much more. Limit the car in size or magnificence and you actually imply impotence of some sort.
Cash allowances
To be clear we do not offer any physical cars anymore, not even for job-need roles. This is particularly unpopular in a couple of countries where there are still tax breaks favouring benefits over cash. However, the Americans had my back there; they like cars even less than I do. You would have to be a king to have a company car in the US and they do not have any royalty so that’s pretty much that.
We do still offer car allowances for levels and roles where the prevalence can be evidenced by market data. I stood firm against our transatlantic friends on that point. They wanted me to buy everyone out and roll it into base pay. A really sensible idea that one: it would make that amount pensionable and bonus-eligible adding a lot to the cost. I was not having it. Our allowances are on the generous side though, as I rounded up the market values in an attempt to keep everyone happy. I should have known better; no one is ever happy about cars.
I wonder what is driving this latest review. Is it the Belgians with their complex tax changes, or just one of the Higher Beings in London? I do not have enough to go on. Big Bad Boss did specifically mention looking at electric cars again so maybe that is what it is about.
I have a confession to make about electric cars: the fact is, I am just being conservative with my time. I know in my heart that it probably would have been a good idea to introduce an electric salary sacrifice car option as part of our flexible benefits scheme a year ago, but I just could not face the amount of setup involved. It might be a good idea now, but I still do not have time. It is the sort of thing people think is a great idea, unless they are the one who has to do the research, deal with suppliers, and do the administration to get it going. I definitely do not think it is a good idea.
Market research
I reach out to a couple of electric car scheme providers. Do they have any statistics on how many organisations are offering electric cars. Oh, loads of them are, they tell me. My sense is that only about half of larger organisations in the UK offer car purchase options through the company. It certainly was a growing trend but is it still? Do we really have to jump on that bandwagon now? I ask Smarmy Consulting and Mercenary Benefits for some data. I am right, prevalence is still only about 50%. Surprisingly, the prevalence data I could find, independent of the lease companies, suggests EU countries are no further forward than UK in this. If we are dithering on the brink of ‘should we’ and ‘shouldn’t we’ look at electric cars, my workload says we shouldn’t, but I have to find a way to convince Big Bad Boss and his cronies on the top floor about that.
It is not often that I resort to this, but I decide to ask AI for help. I mean it cannot be any worse than asking my colleague Lazy Susan, whose main concern is what she’s having for lunch and what time she can get away this afternoon; artificial intelligence is better than none at all. By contrast, AI is always engaged; always ready to join in with the work. Searching the internet, the UK prevalence data I find is a bit confusing: of all the electric cars on the road, the majority are under company schemes, but that does not mean that all organisations are offering them. I will stick with Smarmy Consulting’s data for that. I believe that the art of reward is in selecting the right data to creatively support a good decision.
Financial considerations
Taking it further, I deliberately search for a list of disadvantages. A nice summary pops up to tell me that electric car salary sacrifice can have financial implications for the employee such as limiting eligibility for mortgages and pension contributions. I am not sure this will be a powerful enough concern for the Higher Beings in C-suite. When it comes to employers, there are administrative burdens but this is unlikely to count for much in C-suite because they will not be the one shouldering the burden. There are legal and compliance disadvantages for employers, and this will worry Higher Beings, so I emphasise these points in my case against.
All this has the feeling of delaying the inevitable, that sooner or later I will have to do the work. However, another disadvantage mentioned is the potential for electric car schemes to be impacted by future changes in government tax policies. Well, there are winds of change blowing in the UK at least that do not appear to favour either salary sacrifice. I note this in my slides and conclude we should review the situation again next year.
Next time…Candid looks at a new platform
