When facilities management firm Pareto FM first introduced a salary sacrifice electric vehicle scheme, provided by Tusker, for employees in 2022, it was driven by two factors.
Andrew Hulbert, vice chair at Pareto FM, explains: “We knew sustainability was going to continue to be an important aspect of the future. Having electric cars was important for our brand but we also knew it would attract the right type of people to the organisation.
“Secondly, salaries were being squeezed in facilities management and we knew this would be a cost-effective way for them to get access to an electric car. We wanted to make electric vehicles affordable to everybody within the organisation.”
The savings available via salary sacrifice were particularly attractive, but the fact that the monthly rate included elements such as insurance, servicing, tax and breakdown cover also proved popular, he adds
The ability to hand cars back should an employee leave was another a positive, for both employees and Pareto. “If bad things happen, which they do, you can give it back with no liability,” says Hulbert. “Don’t underestimate the power of that. If people take out a private loan and they lose their job, they still have to pay that back.”
The organisation employs around 500 people, and well into double-digits have taken out an electric vehicle through the scheme, says Hulbert.
It has also proved a powerful tool when it comes to attracting future staff. “This is one of the benefits that we use when marketing ourselves to candidates,” he says. “But it’s also been useful as a retention tool, because once people get benefits that give them a great financial return, it’s hard for them to find that exact scheme somewhere else.”
Offering an electric vehicle scheme has even helped the business win new work, says Hulbert: “We’re a sustainability-led provider, and we need to demonstrate our competitive advantage within the sustainability space. The ability to show people that we offer every employee who joins us the opportunity to join an electric car scheme is very real.”
