In the competition for the best skilled workers, mobility plays an important role in attracting and retaining employees. For employers, it is an easy way to add a suitable mobility benefit to their benefits package and at the same time to distinguish themselves as an attractive place to work, both for existing and potential employees. For their part, employees are becoming more individualised when it comes to how their needs can be met, and this also applies to their mobility needs.
We highlight seven typical mobility profiles that every employer should recognise in their team and recommend which mobility approach best fits the different employee profiles.
Commuters are probably the most common mobility profile in companies. These employees travel regularly between their home and their workplace, and sometimes over long distances. They rely on reliable and efficient transport to get to work on time. Commuters often face challenges such as traffic congestion, high fuel costs and stress. Their main needs are reliability, time savings and cost control.
The commuter does not have only one preferred means of transport. He or she gets into the car or onto the bicycle in the morning, rides to the nearest park-and-ride lot, changes to public transport (e.g. train or underground) and then walks to the office. This means that commuters use a wide range of mobility services. These employees value season tickets for public transport and the possibility to switch flexibly between different mobility options.
Recommendations - How you can support commuters:
Home office enthusiasts prefer to work from home. These employees appreciate the flexibility that working at home offers. They deliberately keep the number of days in the office low.
For some employees, home office is essential for various reasons. These include the need to balance work and family, saving long commuting times and creating an individual working environment.
Recommendations - How to promote the home office:
The mileage collector has a company car and is often on the road. This group of employees uses their company car every day to get to work and for appointments outside the office. During the day, they charge their vehicle or make a quick trip to a petrol station. It is important for them to have access to a large selection of petrol stations or charging stations and to be able to pay there easily and quickly.|
Recommendations - This is how you can support mileage collectors:
Environmentally conscious employees attach importance to sustainability and environmental compatibility in their mobility decisions. They prefer environmentally and climate-friendly means of transport and avoid using fossil fuels.
Environmentalists want to reduce their ecological footprint and contribute to a more sustainable future. This is important to them in their choice of workplace and mobility. They prefer public transport and bicycles to cars whenever possible.
Recommendations - How you can support environmentally conscious employees:
The globetrotter spends a lot of time outside the office and is often away on business trips, possibly even abroad. For this reason, the mobility needs of these employees differ slightly from those of the other profiles. These employees need a reliable and efficient way to travel between locations.
For these business travellers, it is important to have a budget in place to flexibly book flights, taxis and hotels or make reservations for meals. These employees want as little red tape as possible - especially when they are travelling - and therefore benefit from a single solution that allows them to do the above, provides a good overview of costs and is easy to use. They need flexible booking options and support with travel matters.
Recommendations - How to effectively support business travellers:
The individualist uses his or her own means of transport. Whether car or (electric) bicycle, these employees require compensation for their mileage. Depending on the day, the individualist gets in their car or on their bicycle - they are not dependent on bus or train schedules. Every month they declare their kilometres so that they can claim back their travel expenses, and they make a point of being able to do this as quickly and easily as possible.
Recommendations - How you can support individualists:
Improvisers don't want to be tied to a single subscription or mode of transport for their commute. Every day is different, as is the way they travel for business or to and from the office. This flexible type of employee values versatility and adapts their mobility to suit their needs. He can work both in the office and from home and is open to different modes of transport.
These employees use car sharing to visit a client, or they opt for a rental bike if the meeting is nearby. Some days they take the train when they know public transport will be quiet. Flexible employees appreciate the possibility to adapt their mobility according to the requirements of their tasks. They don't want rigid specifications, but they want a versatile mobility offer and appreciate the freedom that different mobility options provide.
Recommendations - How you can support improvisers:
Like traffic, the mobility needs of employees are in a constant state of flux. It is important that companies respond and contribute to this. Employers need to be flexible if they want to attract the right professionals and retain their current employees.
It is not only important to meet the needs of employees, but also to know how their employees move. Last but not least, from 2024, every employer with more than 100 employees will be required to record and report the CO2 emissions of all kilometres travelled by employees in commuting and business trips as part of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Many employers are not (yet) aware of this - but clear insights into employee mobility behaviour will soon be required. Fortunately, systems such as a mobility budget platform now exist that can easily map this while helping to provide a flexible and tailored mobility package for employees.
