When employer London Gatwick embarked on a mission to modernise its reward strategy, it decided to offer its 2,700 employees an electric vehicle (EV)-only salary sacrifice scheme.
The car scheme, which launched in April 2023 and is provided by Tusker, has proved popular with staff.
Steve Walsh, reward leader at London Gatwick, told Benefits Expert that the decision to introduce the EV car scheme was partly driven by employee demand and partly by goals to become more environmentally responsible. He said that by leaving out hybrid options from the scheme, the airport is working on its commitment to reducing carbon emissions.
The financial set up for the scheme is different to traditional leases as the Tusker policy does not enforce penalties for early cancellations, which offers employees and employers greater flexibility.
But Walsh explained that there are a few things HR needs to be mindful of if they are considering this kind of benefit.
For example, setting up the scheme was “a lot of work” for the internal HR and reward team, he said.
“We have to have a specific series of agreements with Tusker, and our lawyers are very thorough. So it took a lot of work to get through all the agreements, check them all out, and get them on the system. I will say that you have to pay attention to that.”
For Gatwick in particular, a key challenge was to communicate the new benefits to the workforce as many work airside in security.
Walsh said that his team used posters, leaflets and triangular cardboard notices on tables in the break rooms.
“We used literally every sort of media you can imagine. Also, this is a funny old place, Gatwick Airport. I’m not allowed into the security [workers’] staff rooms. My pass won’t get me in there, I have to be escorted. So getting hold of people can be quite difficult.”
However, the effort seems to have worked because plenty of employees in the harder to reach groups have taken advantage of the scheme.
The number of employees signed up has now reached 90 people, which is about 3 percent of the workforce. Walsh said he expects take up to keep growing.
He recognises that while the scheme is a positive move, “90 EVs isn’t going to change the world in terms of our CO2 footprint”.
But he added: “The bigger impact will be airside, where our own fleet has moved to EV or biofuel. There’s a bigger CO2 reduction there.”
Walsh flags up one drawback around scheme inclusivity. In one or two cases people in the employer’s hourly paid population, whose base salary isn’t huge, couldn’t take part.
“Now, when you add on shift pay and over time, they’re doing very well. But because we have to check national minimum wage on a salary sacrifice scheme, occasionally, there’s been a couple where we’ve had to say ‘you can’t afford that car’.
“It was ages ago and one or two people specifying a very high-spec car. It’s awkward for us [because we know they can probably afford it] but the government won’t let them go below national minimum wage on their base salary.”
But generally feedback has been positive. “There was one employee that was about to leave, then he realised how good the scheme was and decided that really he was better off staying here. So there is one guy who will say the only reason he is here is because of the scheme.”
