Since March 1, 2019, companies can offer employees who are entitled to a salary car a mobility budget as an alternative. Such a mobility budget (indexed since January) varies between 3,055 and 16,293 euros per year. Employees can use this budget for one or a combination of three pillars of benefits.
“An employee can choose an environmentally friendly car, that is the first pillar,” says Audrey Stampaert of the HR platform Mbrella. “A second pillar concerns shared mobility (shared cars and bicycles), a (rental) bicycle, a subscription to public transport or housing costs, i.e. for paying off the rent or mortgage loan. If housing costs are chosen, the employee must live within a radius of ten kilometers from work or work from home at least half of the time. This amount is not taxed. This does apply to the third pillar: money. The employee must pay a special employee contribution of 38.07 percent.”
Audrey Stampaert van HR-platform Mbrella. — © RR
Lease contracts
Mbrella calculated that in 2023, 77 percent of employees used their mobility budget for housing costs. “We see a spectacular increase in the number of employees who use their mobility budget for house rent or loans,” says Audrey Stampaert. “In 2021 this concerned 45 percent of employees, in 2022 it was 52 percent. After housing costs, the most money is spent on bicycles, both on bicycle purchases and subscriptions such as Vélo, and on bicycle sharing.”
This spectacular increase is not unexpected. “Unknown is unloved,” says Audrey Stampaert. “Few employees have been aware of the possibilities of the mobility budget in recent years and most still believe that a company car is the most economical choice. We see that this is now changing.”
The increase is also due to the lease contracts for payroll vehicles, which usually run for four years. “Many employees had to wait for the end of their lease contract to enter the system,” says Veerle Michiels of SD Worx. “Exact figures are not yet available, but based on the provisional figures, we see the number of employees opting for a mobility budget doubling in one year: from 1 in 500 in 2022 to 1 in 250 in 2023.”
Veerle Michiels from SD Worx. — © RR
Milieu
Zoë Declercq (29) lives in the center of Antwerp, not far from her employer Pau, a consultancy agency that supplies digital products. When she was hired, she immediately opted for the mobility budget.
“A very conscious choice,” she says. “My friend has a company car and since we live in the center of the city, we certainly don’t need two cars. I use the entire budget to pay off our mortgage loan, which is a nice advantage. For me personally, but it is also a better solution for mobility in general and for the environment. How you fill in your mobility budget as an employee naturally depends on your personal needs, but the result is always fewer cars on the road. It’s just a shame that not many companies offer the concept yet. I would like to encourage business leaders to get on that train.”
But what do rent and loans have to do with mobility, you might think? “The government rewards people who work from home and avoids commuting,” says Veerle Michiels of SD Worx. “There is a strong focus on this, by promoting this and, for example, by offering employers since this year formulas to calculate the size of the mobility budget. Based on the number of questions, we notice that the mobility budget is top of mind among employers.”