Company Cars: Giving Employees the Choice
Keeping your workforce happy, secure and well remunerated is key to ensuring high productivity and profits. A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, however, can come in many guises and so looking carefully at the packages you offer to employees is essential and that includes the option of having a company car.
Consider Their Needs
There are many reasons why some employees may need a company car; visiting clients, or potential clients for sales, delivering or repairing items essential to the business or to attend meetings. So, if you ascertain that offering an employee a company car is a requirement, what steps should you take?
Consider the Class of Car
Considering the type of car an employee may need is a good place to start. If most of the work they do is in the local vicinity, then a small car that is easy to park and has low emissions could be the right choice. If, however, the work entails lots of motorway journeys up and down the country, then a larger executive car may work best for all concerned. It’s never straight forward for the works accounts team or HR department to organise all expenses through road vehicle outings but it’s important to remember that the cars displayed through your business shows the company in a good image.
Bear in mind that the car is not just perfunctory, it also speaks to clients about you, your company and how successful it is. It is not uncommon for executives to hire a prestige car, on a short-term basis, just to seal a deal.
How to Source Company Cars
Here the options are fairly straightforward, but still require careful consideration. Buying new cars for employees is, of course, more expensive, but there are some excellent deals out there and warranties that include servicing and repairs can come in very useful. In addition, the kudos of having employees driving around in brand new cars may be something of value to your company.
Used cars offer a more economically viable option in the short term, but making sure you get what you think you are getting is paramount and having the cars history checked by a respected company like Cap HPI is strongly recommended.
Giving Employees the Choice
Once you have surveyed the options, you will be in a position where you can plan out a package which you can discuss with your employees. As the car will likely be used outside of the work arena, giving employees some choice when it comes to the type of car they get and indeed if they want a company car at all is good management practice.
Cars, to many of us, are extremely personal things, plus your employee knows their own needs best and so entering into a dialogue about the type of car they want will prove to be productive for both parties – it is common for employers to give several options, within the same class or a price ceiling to help employees choose.
Furthermore, making sure that employees are fully aware of their financial responsibilities, when it comes to the running of the car, they will still have to pay tax for example, will make the process even more equitable.
Offering employees a company car, if approached correctly, can work well for your business and prove to be a great incentive for success.
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