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Here's a piece of trivia. It is 33 years and 100 days since the publication of what's been called "the most widely read philosophy book, ever"...
Here's a piece of trivia. It is 33 years and 100 days since the publication of what's been called "the most widely read philosophy book, ever".
The book was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, subtitled: "An enquiry into values." If you haven't read it, the book is about the search for quality (albeit more in the philosophical than the commercial sense).
What brought the book to mind was a question from a journalist who asked me whether the company car was making a comeback and, if so, why.
The answer to the first part of the question was unequivocally 'yes' - although I think people tend to over exaggerate the extent to which company cars supposedly went away in the first place. Well over a million drivers can't be wrong, as they say.
As for the 'why', well that's what made me think of the search for quality in its abstract and not-so-abstract meaning.
This search, it seems to me, lies at the root of the returning preference for company cars.
In the critical area of Duty of Care, company cars give employers greater 'quality control' over the choice, condition and fitness-for-purpose of vehicles used on business.
On the environmental front, company vehicles have considerably better qualities when it comes to helping firms to manage their carbon footprint effectively. Case studies about green fleet initiatives often feature the word 'holistic': not because there is anything unworldly about such schemes but because they call for an all-embracing approach to fleet strategy, by both the fleet operator and the supplier.
Perhaps, though, the fundamental reason for the upturn in company cars' popularity has decidedly non-abstract roots. Drivers are simply getting fed up with the main alternative to a proper company vehicle - cash.
No employer expecting to recruit high calibre people would operate a policy of scrimping on tax by giving staff cash to go out and buy second-hand workstations, IT equipment or software. Yet that's what's been happening for a long time with cars.
Where's the quality in that?
Decision makers appear to be increasingly questioning whether short-term savings offered by cash-for-car are worth the long-term damage to staff motivation and loyalty, not to mention the increased exposure to occupational road risk and reduced control over the business's environmental impact.
The enormous value of the company car as a business tool and sought-after benefit is once again becoming widely recognised.
Maybe that's not quite the value that author Robert M Pirsig had in mind when he fired up his metaphysical motorcycle three decades ago - but it should make a lot of business drivers happier in the long run.
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