It’s easy to underestimate the requirements for successfully implementing new employee mobility solutions, especially those that aim to change employee behaviour, encouraging them away from default options such as grey fleet.
An employee car club rollout is a good example. This is a growing feature of employee-centric mobility policies, and the most successful are carefully implemented to be sensitive to the needs of the teams, individuals and the communities in which they operate. Balancing these various needs, and then monitoring and assessing them over time, means that parking a few vehicles for shared use outside the office is only one step towards ensuring a car club’s success.
The first of three key steps in the implementation of new mobility options is to consider whether your organisation would benefit most from an on-site, dedicated employee mobility solution, whether it’s better to provide access to an existing ‘virtual’ on-street network, or if a blend of both will have the most impact.
If employees can commute by public transport, walking or cycling, knowing they have access to vehicles for journeys they need to make during a day at the office, this reduces local congestion and the emissions associated with getting to work. This favours an on-site solution, possibly backed up with virtual on-street options if employees want to travel by train and pick up a vehicle for the last leg of the journey.
Even if employees need to drive their own vehicle to work, having access to low-emission car mobility for journeys during the day still helps reduce the risks and emissions from additional grey fleet usage and the costs of mileage reimbursement.
Much depends on the location, and whether there is space for vehicles. For teams based in city centre locations, providing access to an existing virtual network may be more effective where the number and location of vehicles required matches network availability.
Smaller companies are increasingly using car clubs to access flexible and convenient mobility. Hybrid and remote workers can access a mobility network near their home and can also benefit from convenient, low-emission vehicles, helping reduce grey fleet mileage. Larger organisations with geographically dispersed workers and central hubs often provide both office-based and virtual car club access to cover all the options.
The next point to consider is the vehicle mix: you need the right vehicle in the right place at the right time. To succeed, you need a granular understanding of your employee journeys and vehicle types.
If most journeys are simply to get one person from A to B and back, then smaller cars are a good option. If it’s a team of people plus equipment, a larger vehicle may be needed, whereas others may need vans. A deep dive into your telematics data, or an information gathering project will help get this right.
Most car clubs offer EVs as part of their vehicle mix, so they can help play a role in the transition to EVs. Employees who are already comfortable driving and charging an EV will happily book one through their car club. For those unfamiliar with this new fuel type, training and awareness days can encourage their adoption, supporting people to embrace this exciting new opportunity to reduce emissions.
Post-implementation, car club usage data means you can continually refine the offering, tweaking the vehicle mix, monitoring usage, tracking mileage and emissions.
With careful planning and thoughtful implementation, car clubs can play a highly effective role in employee mobility.
Andy Bland is head of business rental development UK and Ireland for Enterprise Mobility
