12 Communicate with employees

“Employee communications is absolutely key,” Redman says. “You need a strategy of timed communications – starting with what you’re doing and why.

"If you communicate what salary sacrifice is there is less opportunity for issues to arise.”

Dyer agrees: “Communication needs to be ongoing.”

Peace adds: “You’ve got to educate a wider population that is new to company cars – that’s the biggest challenge that could block take up.”

Drivers need to understand company car tax and how the scheme works, early termination, excess damage charges and what happens if the vehicle is under or over mileage, for instance.

“At end of contract the employee could turn round and say ‘you didn’t tell me that’ and that creates distrust between the driver and employer,” says Neilsen.

It’s important to communicate about manufacturer lead times, as North Yorkshire County Council has discovered.

Some staff have had issues with delayed deliveries and hire cars have had to be provided by Tusker.

Communication methods include leaflets, information on the company intranet, emails, presentations, roadshows and drop-in clinics.

Dyer says a lot the communication should be “employer led”.

It’s also important to continue communication long after the scheme’s launch to stop take-up flattening out.

Case study: IBM

Launching a salary sacrifice car scheme is the “the most significant change” Phil Redman has made in 15 years of managing the IBM fleet.

Around 6,000 employees can now get a company car while the existing company car scheme, which covers 4,200 employees, is being phased out.

Since the scheme went live in October 2010 more than 1,000 orders have been placed.

An external consultancy recommended salary sacrifice in 2009 and a team of HR, fleet and IT representatives worked on implementation.

The tax department was also involved, handling HMRC communication.

The fleet department looked at how to migrate company car drivers from one scheme to another, handled administration, worked with procurement on contractual adjustments, altered KPIs and service level agreements with suppliers and worked on the employee communication strategy.

IT worked on the costing, development and testing of the IT systems, making the scheme as automated as possible.

The company intranet site had a FAQ section, pamphlets were produced and a specific email address for employees’ questions handled 5,800 emails.

Roadshows were held with representatives from LeasePlan, Alphabet, HR and fleet on hand.

Arrive-and-drive events and employee clinics are in the pipeline this year to attract more employees to the scheme.