1. Anticipate and set a clear framework

Good news: the obligatory mobility budget gives you a lot of freedom.

It represents both an opportunity and a challenge, because now it is up to you to establish a clear and well-thought policy that will help you manage your employees as well as communicate effectively on rules.

So, it is important to anticipate the eligibility requirements and to define the scope of application.

It might also be necessary to exclude certain profiles from the scope of application of your policy: for example, employees that frequently require a company car for their professional trips.

Once everything is clearly defined, an appendix to the employment contract can easily be drawn up, including the mandatory information, the start date and the budget amount.

2. Calculate an accurate budget

Once the rules have been defined in your internal policy, it is time to think about a calculation method for the mobility budget.

This calculation method depends on what has been defined in your car policy: the type of car depending on the employee's function, the leasing amounts, or the total costs of ownership, etc.

As different calculation methods exist, it is important to choose the one that suits your company best and to evaluate its impact on your employees.

For example, employees who receive a flat-rate compensation every month for their car trips, will not receive it anymore if they choose to enrol in the mobility budget. You could then choose to include this amount in their budget or to clearly inform the employees on the changes.

3. Align your internal policy

Some elements from your mobility budget can impact your internal policy.

For example, the reimbursement of housing costs in the second pillar is, in principle, only possible for employees who live less than 10 kilometres away from their workplace. However, you can expand this option to employees working at least 60% from home.

Adding this option could promote homeworking. So, you have to ask yourself if it is the direction you want to take.

4. Pay attention to taxation

Do you already have a cafeteria plan in place? Then it is essential to check if your benefits are compatible with the mobility budget.

For example, if you already offer a bike lease to your employees, we recommend you stop the lease when they want to enrol in the mobility budget.

The reason is simple: if the bike is used for home-to-work commutes, the financing must go through the mobility budget to keep the tax benefit. Otherwise, the total value of the bicycle will be subject to social security contributions and tax.

This principle also applies to other benefits, such as bicycle allowances.

5. Reduce the administrative workload

One of the big challenges of the mobility budget is its administrative impact.

For example, the reimbursement of housing costs happens monthly: but who will check every month if the employees are still registered on the lease and did not move further away than 10 kilometres from their workplace?

A piece of advice

Are you opting to cover your employees' public transport costs? Good news: there is a third-party payment system that will greatly simplify your administrative tasks.

Would you rather leave mobility budget management to experts? There are also effective mobility applications to automate pillar 2 choices.

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