TRANSPORTATION BENEFITS
Singapore - In light of rising transportation costs in Singapore, it is becoming increasingly common for companies to provide transportation benefits across all employee levels.
According to the Hewitt Policies and Programs Report Q4 2009, most of the 114 local companies surveyed are providing either a physical car or vehicle allowance for their employees. Almost (68%) seven in 10 of them provide transportation allowance for their staff in the business unit or functional leadership, while all employees in transactional leadership and individual contributor roles receive car allowance. Most employees in operational leadership (92%) roles and support staff (89%) also receive similar allowances. Most (44%) of the employees provided with a physical car are in business unit/ functional leadership roles.
"Everyone should be given certain transport allowance but also depending on the nature of their jobs as well, the quantum varies," says Stella Lee, head of Organisation Development, Cordlife. According to Lee, the front line employees in her company are given a nominal allowance to cover their transportation costs. Those employees are mainly from the sales team, who are required to travel outdoors to meet clients, says Lee.
According to Lee, employees are usually grateful when companies take into account of their transportation costs incurred due to work. "So far so good, no complains," Lee says when asked about the feedback from employees regarding their transport allowance.
As local transportation costs have increased, Cordlife has since raised employee transport allowance to S$1200 this year, from the S$1000 offered last year, says Lee. "We will adjust [the allowance] according to market situation," she adds.
The average transport allowance for senior executives ranges from S$1,157 to S$2,652, whereas the lower ranked employees receive allowance ranges from S$842 to S$994, said Hewitt.
Providing a transport service for employees may also help minimise their transportation costs. For instance, Lee's company has introduced a shuttle service to transfer all employees from the office to an MRT train station or bus interchange after they shifted office locations to a less accessible area.
According to Peter Cheong, general manager of automotive company Daimler AG, vehicles are generally leased for high-ranking employees with no private vehicles as part of their executive benefits. He also emphasises that leased cars are usually meant for expatriates and the lease contract usually lasts for a period of three years. The company is one of those who is currently engaged to provide top-level executives with automobiles.
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