Cash survey win

Perk car is essential to win new talent - news - survey finds company car is actually playing ever-increasing role in employee benefits - Brief Article

DESPITE LAST YEAR'S introduction of BiK taxation, the company car is actually playing an ever-increasing role in employee benefits, according to new research.

A survey of 237 fleet professionals undertaken by Employee Benefits magazine in conjunction with leasing specialist Alphabet found that nearly 60% of companies believe that cars are essential to winning and keeping top talent--up from 50% in 2001.

Sarah Das, deputy editor of Employee Benefits magazine, said: "Despite the tightening economic environment and a government dedicated to parting Britons from their company cars, our love affair with our motors continues."

In fact, 42% of respondents agreed that "company cars will always be part of the package" while the number of firms planning to stop offering cars fell by a third compared to a year ago.

Choice is also becoming more of a key factor as more firms are offering cash or other alternatives to conventional company car packages.

Mike Baldry, chief operating office of Alphabet, commented: "Big one-make deals have been the traditional way for large firms to keep their fleet costs down but employers are now turning to structured employee car ownership schemes because they cut costs while allowing employees a much wider choice of car."

And it seems that even company car tax changes cannot dampen our automotive ardour--last year's introduction of the BiK tax led only 5% of respondents to get rid of their fleets. A further 39% of respondents merely informed employees about what was going on and let them deal with the new rules while 19% didn't even bother to do that.

Almost a quarter of organisations (24%) said that BiK had absolutely no effect on the popularity of company cars.

In fact it seems that the only effect that the introduction of BiK has had is to force us to go greener; almost half (44%) of respondents said requests for low C[O.sub.2] cars were increasing, while 24% noted an increase in popularity of diesel cars.