Since January '23, Harmony has been offering its Belgian employees a novelty in the salary package: the mobility budget. We'd love to tell you what this is and why we chose to offer this as an additional benefit at Harmony.
As an employer, we want to offer our employees the flexibility to put together their own salary package based on their personal needs.
We already did this with the help of the flexible income plan. The Flexible Income Plan was already introduced to us in 2016, where we were one of the forerunners. This allows colleagues to exchange part of their end-of-year bonus for other (tax-advantageous) benefits (such as extra leave days, a lease bike, pension savings, extra insurances, etc.). Meanwhile, 90% of Harmony's Belgian employees use the Flexible Income Plan, talk about a success.
However, we will continue to look for new opportunities to offer more flexibility. Since this year, we have taken another great step in this by also allowing our employees to choose their own mobility solution themselves. This way, every Harmonian can adapt his or her mobility approach to their own preferences and lives. By not offering everyone a company car as standard, but also offering sustainable mobility solutions, we also contribute to lower CO² emissions. This is also perfectly in line with our vision and policy on corporate social responsibility.
What is the mobility budget?
The mobility budget is a budget that you receive as an employee to spend on alternative mobility solutions in exchange for returning your company car. For this purpose, a special regulation was created in the tax, social and employment law areas.
You will receive a budget that you can spend on 3 possible pillars: 1) an environmentally friendly, smaller car; 2) sustainable mobility solutions (alternative means of transport or even housing costs) and/or 3) residual cash balance. Employees are responsible for implementing their mobility based on these 3 pillars. They can purchase this themselves (such as a train subscription, car sharing subscription, electric bike,...) and have it reimbursed from their mobility budget. Via an online platform Mbrella they can easily monitor how their budget is spent.
In the Netherlands, too, we continue to look for interesting benefits and sustainable mobility solutions.
Why do employees opt for the mobility budget?
Some employees have already made the choice to make the switch to the mobility budget. We are curious to see which employees will follow in the future, now that we are all focusing more on environmentally friendly and sustainable mobility.
For Myriam, opting for the mobility budget was a no-brainer. She explains why:
“I chose the mobility budget because, in my personal situation, it's not practical to have a car. Because I live in the center of Brussels and see so many traffic jams, few parking spaces, and, above all, pollution. By the way, I spend longer on the road by car than when I'm moving on foot or by bike. A nice advantage of the mobility budget is, of course, the financial compensation you receive in exchange for returning your company car. If I need a car, I can still rent it for a day, while part of the mobility budget is always left over to partially repay the mortgage on my home. After all, if you often work from home, you don't have to travel as much. “It's a win-win-win!”
Elise also made the switch and is happy to explain why:
“I chose the mobility budget because I can get to work by bike, so I don't really need a company car. With the mobility budget, I can now pay back the rental costs of my home, and I love that! If I do need a car, I share it with my mom. Ideal!”
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