A shared mobility concept is a matter of prestige for companies. Consideration towards ecology, innovation and sustainability.
First and foremost, the introduction of a shared mobility concept is naturally a matter of prestige for companies. It shows that they consider ecology, innovation and sustainability. And they build bridges – between the environment and your employees’ need for convenient commuting.
But there will also be people who doubt the new concept – and these are usually the same people who should use it: The employees and managers who will be called upon to “share” their way to work in the future.
Even more important are the right arguments to convince even critical employees when designing and introducing a shared mobility concept. We have collected 9 of the most important arguments in favor of corporate carpooling:
When do we have the opportunity to really get to know our colleagues? Not only the colleagues from our department or from our team – also those from other hierarchical levels with completely different areas of responsibility and therefore different perspectives. When we consider how many hours we spend per day and week at work, it is strange that we know very few of our colleagues by name. Shared mobility gives employees the opportunity to network within the company, which is the basis for the following two arguments.
Organizational charts are the formal signposts for communication in sometimes complex and large corporate structures. But who do you turn to in a pressing situation, when it really gets tough? When the superior from the required department is not available and a decision is needed immediately? This is exactly where informal communication channels come into play, that cannot be 100% captured by any diagram or concept. The fastest way to solve an interdisciplinary problem is when two employees know and like each other and have at least a rough idea of each other’s area of responsibility. And such informal relationships arise mainly during breaks, social events and on the way to work – when employees commute together. Such informal information exchange naturally also leads to advantages that go far beyond problem solving. Carpools are an ideal breeding ground for innovative ideas – comparable to the personal creative moment in the shower. After all, when else do you have the opportunity to exchange ideas with work colleagues completely undisturbed and without time pressure?
“11 friends is all you need” is the translation of a somewhat old-fashioned German statement of a soccer coach. Of course, you can’t transfer this to a company 100 % – especially not if growth is advancing and fluctuation is predominant. And yet it helps everyone in the company when friendships grow beyond departments. This has a direct impact on the atmosphere at work, which in turn has a strong effect on productivity, fluctuation and sick leave. The extent to which employee satisfaction and the social climate at work have an impact on the success of companies has now been established and recorded in numerous studies and statistics.
The idea of carpooling can put some employees off at first – despite all rational arguments. They may associate it with the outdated image of hitchhiking – and above all with one characteristic: Lack of safety! As the company’s management, it is of course your responsibility to ensure that the right conditions are in place to make carpooling for employees as safe, pleasant and comfortable as possible. It pays to rely on proven and well thought-out systems for carpool management.
With shared mobility, environmental considerations naturally take precedence over everything else – first and foremost, as a company you pay into your CSR account (Corporate Social Responsibility). You also give your employees a really simple way to do something good and contribute to a more sustainable economy – by simply giving up their car once, twice or even five times a week. The planet will thank you for it. And so will your employees, because everyone wants to do something good in one way or another – and we rarely find a way to do so with so little investment.
Even the biggest traffic jam simply consists of individual cars whose drivers want or have to make a trip from A to B (in our case from their homes to their workplaces). The problem is that in the daily rush we don’t see the forest for the trees – and all we see is the huge traffic jam that costs us 30 to 60 minutes of our valuable life every day. Let your employees rethink – and then make them aware of the effects it would have if the number of employees arriving by car could be reduced by 10% … or by 20% … or even by 50%. Raise awareness among your employees that they are part of the solution – and that each employee can contribute a significant part against traffic jams via carpooling.
On the way between home and work, a huge potential in terms of work-life balance is lost. Anyone who loses up to two hours a day , during which they have to be focused on driving, lacks both the time and energy to really make the most of their free time with family and friends and enjoy it. Consequently, shorter driving times and the opportunity to pass the wheel to a colleague contribute to a better work-life balance and in the medium term to more satisfied employees. Interesting statistics on this can also be read here.
As you have probably already noticed, the topic of shared mobility is not all about money – there are also idealistic and social arguments that make such a concept both necessary and palatable.
And yet, cost savings are one of the strongest arguments and are guaranteed to appeal to every employee. Studies show: By sharing the costs, passengers can save around €435 per month for their own car – per year this corresponds to €5,219, a considerable sum, which all employees are happy to use elsewhere..
Eight arguments that clearly speak for shared mobility, but we’re not done yet The ninth calls for the creativity of each individual company. The use of a shared mobility concept should also be directly rewarded – and this is best done through an individual bonus system including fringe benefits. For each journey – whether as a driver or passenger – employees collect points and can then redeem them for appropriate bonuses – canteen vouchers, special discounts or even additional vacation entitlement. The important thing is that the incentive really appeals to the employees.
