Is mobility a complex issue for your company? This is very likely the case, since there are so many different mobility options available, e.g. train, tram, bus, metro, shared car, shared bike, etc. These options are also provided by a multitude of companies, including NMBS, De Lijn, MIVB, Tec, cambio, Blue Bike, Velo, Mobit, Swapfiets etc. If you then have to conclude a contract with all these different parties, apply for and process all the subscriptions for the employees separately and deal with all the individual tickets, it will quickly feel like the workload never ends. Then you will also have to deal with the expense bills that end up on your desk, one after the other. Mobility can indeed be an administrative nightmare.

But it does not have to be that way, because everything can be done so much easier. Market leader Olympus Mobility ensures the implementation of your mobility policy. We provide you with a complete and reliable mobility solution that manages your company’s mobility and takes the burden of monitoring mobility budgets completely out of your hands. The app also makes you money! Please read on, because we support this statement with a numerical example.

From expense bill to administrative simplicity with the Mobility app

Employers want to simplify as many processes as possible by digitising them. Olympus Mobility can help you with this, because we excel in everything related to digital mobility management. Olympus Mobility aims to greatly simplify the administrative nightmare inherent to mobility. That is in everyone’s best interest, including the employer and employees.

• Employees gain access to the Olympus app where they can purchase all single tickets, multi-ride cards, subscriptions, vouchers and/or transport tickets digitally. Interested in a free demo account? Your employees can choose from a wide range of sustainable transport options in complete freedom and simplicity and quickly and easily switch between the existing modes of transport. Another advantage? No prepayment is required from them, thanks to the budget provided.
  The result? Pure time savings, less stress, greater peace of mind, a better work-life balance and increased productivity.
• If you, as an employer, make the Olympus app available to your employees, the burden of administration associated with mobility will become a thing of the past. No more collecting expense bills. The only administration left to you is to provide your employees with the Olympus app and to set the budgets that will allow them to use alternative means of transport. At the end of the month, you receive a single invoice that makes VAT recovery easy. A number of reports provide you with specific insight into the journeys taken by your employees.
  The result? As a company, you save on costs for tickets and administration. The many mobility contracts and the collection of receipts, tickets and expense bills are finally a thing of the past. What a luxury!

We demonstrate the administrative simplification numerically

Is mobility an administrative nightmare? Unfortunately, that is exactly what it comes down to. Processing and handling of expenses related to mobility require extensive effort from different departments. Below is a brief outline of the process:

• The employee prepares and submits an expense bill.
• The manager checks the supporting documents, approves them and forwards his approval to HR.
• HR then arranges reimbursement through the payroll.

As you can see, many people end up spending hours processing one expense bill.

Below is a detailed and numerical overview of its financial impact.

We calculated the savings for one employee making one journey a month using the Olympus app, and contrast that with the manual processing of an expense bill.

The table below lists the different tasks for processing an expense bill, the number of minutes it takes to process it, and an extrapolation on an annual basis.

• A total of 342 minutes per year are spent manually processing 12 expense bills (1 per month) from 1 employee. That corresponds to 5.70 hours. At an hourly rate of € 45, that provides a total cost of € 256.50.
• If the employee uses the Olympus app for journeys, only 51 minutes of administration are spent on it on an annual basis. That corresponds to 0.85 hours, and a cost of € 38.25.
• The difference of € 218.25 is therefore considerable, as this exercise is based on only one journey per month and for one employee.

If we take into account the costs for the implementation of Olympus Mobility, the difference amounts to € 155. This is a considerable amount of money as this exercise is based on only one journey per month and for one employee.

Imagine the savings if you have 20 employees who make 2 or 3 journeys per month!

Just think of all those expense bills required to get kilometres allowances sorted out!

The calculation and payment of the kilometres allowances are time-consuming from an administrative point of view, and there is also room for improvement here.

Many companies encourage their employees to cycle to work by paying them a kilometres allowance. Follow-up and processing are often done using an Excel file. This is not only a time-consuming method, there is also always a risk of errors. The Olympus Mobility platform makes everything so much easier and more accurate.

In a previous blog article, we explained the benefits of kilometre registration, when it is permitted and how kilometre registration works in the Olympus app.

In this blog article, we calculate the time and money saved by handling the kilometres allowance through the Olympus app.

Employees and the employer are involved in the processing of the kilometres allowance.

• The employee must keep a record of all journeys, both commuting and business travel, and prepare an expense bill of them.
• The employer must check all this and pass on the final amount to HR for payment.

How do you make child’s play of mobility administration?

The solution? Let your employee keep track of their journeys through the Olympus app. It would also be a relief for them to put an end to all those expense bills required for the administration of their mobility.

• No more registration of every journey in an Excel file and the time-consuming collection of expense bills.
• At the end of the month, you receive a clear and concise report with the total kilometres allowance per employee.
• You can then pass on these reports to the social secretariat, and they take care of the rest.

According to our calculations, you can save as much as € 100 per journey with this method. Do your employees regularly use their own car for business travel? Then can you save a considerable sum of money by using the services of Olympus Mobility!

Ready to save time and money?

Feel free to ask the Mobility Team for more information. We will answer as soon as possible.

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Want to manage a mobility budget through a single app? Such convenience!

• You can combine the legal mobility budget with an expense budget specifically for business travel.
• Users also have the option to top up their own private budget if the legal mobility budget is not sufficient for their private travel.
• No ambiguity for passes from De Lijn and/or NMBS. After all, these can only be used on the specific budget from which they are purchased.

Advantages of mobility budget management through our platform

It stands to reason that simultaneous management of the mobility budget through a single platform can only be beneficial. We list the most important ones for you.

• Employers can analyse their costs by budget type and get clear reporting.
• All expenses incurred on the employer budget (legal mobility, cafeteria or expense budget) will appear on one invoice. This makes processing and recovery of VAT that much easier.
• Anything users spend through their private budget is not included in the invoice or in the reporting. In doing so we respect the GDPR regulations.

Flexibility and sustainability lead to wellbeing

Is your company also committed to flexibility and sustainability? This can be done in 1.001 different ways. The important thing here is always to consider the employee’s wellbeing.

• What options do they have in terms of flexibility?
• Can they freely choose to work at home, in the office or in a co-working space?
• In what ways can the employee move to the office or co-working space?

Mobility is important for people. Many companies have realised this and have linked their vision of flexibility and sustainability to it. But how do you approach this concretely as an employer? What opportunities are available to offer your employees flexible and sustainable mobility?

Our answer? Manage the mobility budget in one place

Anything becomes possible for those who manage their employees’ mobility budget through our online platform.

How can you as an employer offer flexible and sustainable mobility to your employees?

Cafeteria plan

In a previous blog article on the flexible mobility in a cafeteria plan we already explained how this all works. In addition to integration with SD Worx’s FIP tool, we plan to set up partnerships with other social secretariats and providers of cafeteria plans.

Also read the testimonial from KPMG, where the Olympus Mobility is included in their Flex Reward Plan.

Legal mobility budget

You can use our mobility platform to manage the legal mobility budget, including pillar 2 as pillar 3.

Employees can use our app to access a wide range of alternative means of transport to use in pillar 2. The balance is transferred every month so that on 31/12 you have a clear balance by employee for pillar 3.

Several of our customers have already implemented the mobility budget such as ACV Belgium, G.I.M., etc.

Expense budget

In our blog on expense bills we make clear what costs you save as an employer by using our mobility app. You can provide a specific budget per month or per year, or choose unlimited. Employees will then not see any amount in the app, but they will know that they have to use the app for business travel.

Since it is not necessary for employees to advance the mobility costs, they have an additional incentive to make effective use of the alternative means of transport. Also read the testimonials from Vlaamse Landmaatschappij and Sweco on their policy and vision for sustainable mobility.

Flexible budget for mobility

You can also use the app for commuting. That way, you can encourage employees to travel those distances is a sustainable manner as well.

Teleworking is increasingly becoming the norm. As an employer, it is therefore best to avoid offering standard subscriptions.

Alternatively, you can offer your employees with a digital tool, such as the Olympus app, which he can use to purchase tickets or multi-ride cards for NMBS, De Lijn, MIVB, TEC. Of course, it also allows for easily switching to shared bikes and/or shared cars through the app for the last mile.

Also read the testimonials from Movement.net on sustainable mobility and MediaComm.

And there is more

In addition to managing all these mobility budgets on one platform, you can also allow users to use the Olympus app for private travel. Employees then link their own bank card to the app and load a private budget to purchase tickets and transport tickets at weekends or outside working hours.

For your information, the legal mobility budget does not distinguish between service, commuting and private travel because of its favourable tax regime, which allows for private use. Neither the employer nor employees pay taxes on expenditure in pillar 2 of the legal mobility budget. A solidarity contribution of 38.07% must still be charged on the balance in pillar 3 that you have yet to pay out to the employee.

Manage up to 4 mobility budgets, simultaneously!

We already mentioned this above, but it is worth repeating, because this offer is so powerful. You can simultaneously manage up to 4 different mobility budgets on one app. The Olympus app, of course.

• You can combine an expense budget specifically for business travel with the legal mobility budget.
• If the legal mobility budget is not sufficient for private travel, users can top up a private budget themselves.
• Administratively, everything is squeaky clean as well. If users make a particular transaction, they allocate the cost of the ticket to a particular budget. They can also consult and monitor each budget individually in the app.

All costs in one invoice, how convenient!

Besides flexible management of mobility budgets, there are further benefits of our Olympus app. What do you think about these?

• Clear reporting: as an employer, you can easily analyse mobility costs by budget type.
• One invoice: on which you will find all expenses incurred on the employer’s budget – including legal mobility, cafeteria, and expense budgets. Processing and VAT recovery could not be any easier.
• Privacy first: what users spend through a private budget does not appear on the invoice, nor in the reporting. Privacy and GDPR regulations are 100% respected.

Would you like to learn more about smoother management of your employees’ mobility budget?

Then contact the Olympus Mobility team. We would be happy to answer your questions.

Or request a demo of the Olympus app!

Reforming corporate mobility practices? Statistics do not lie!

The Mo’vid-19 survey by Espaces-Mobilités questioned 3.200 Belgians about their attitude to mobility before and after the crisis. 43% of the participants indicated that they intend to change their mobility habits after the crisis. They think that the reform of corporate mobility practices will mainly favour soft mobility solutions such as bikes, foot bikes and walking. Among the soft mobility solutions, the bike is doing extremely well. It comes as no surprise that Belgians are turning to bikes. 34% of the Mo’vid-19 participants stated they would use a bike or a scooter more often as a means of transport after the crisis. This is something we can only welcome.

The figures published by Cowboy and Billy Bike, among others, to the general public only confirm this trend. The Brussels-based start-up Cowboy markets electric designer bikes and they saw their sales increase by 230%. The shared bikes of Billy Bike have doubled the number of rides taken in recent months. In the business world, too, bicycle rent is on the increase. This is how mobility consultant Cycle Valley came across a new business model for company bikes ‘thanks’ to the Coronavirus crisis: short-term rental (per month). It is absolutely clear that a reform of corporate mobility practices is happening.

The fact that the bike is on the rise has not escaped politicians’ notice. The Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works, Lydia Peeters, has put together a sustainable mobility toolbox in response to the findings on mobility in times of crisis. The aim is to encourage the Flemish people to keep on cycling even after the Coronavirus. To this end, she is investing a budget of 3 million euros in, among other things, bike streets, extra bike parking spaces and the widening of bike and walking paths, and pedestrian crossings. This will allow people to stay one and a half metres away from each other.

Working from home is preferred!

The greatest impact on mobility was undeniably the obligation to work from home. Before the Coronavirus crisis, working from home was not yet established in many companies. On the contrary, it was shunned due to mistrust of productivity, or rather lack of productivity, of employees. But eventually it became the new mandatory rule.

The Mov’id-19 survey found that 42% of employees are keen to do more telecommuting in the future. Working from home therefore results in positive reactions. 79% of the participants encourage the promotion and support of working from home.

Employers have also made a significant concession: the tax authorities have allowed a ‘Covid ruling net allowance‘ of 126.94 euros per month for employees who install a home office in Coronavirus times. In addition to this amount, a net fee of 20 euros can be paid for using a private internet connection.

Twitter has also understood that working from home is a keeper. Two weeks ago, Twitter unveiled a revolutionary policy that allows employees to work from home forever, if they prefer! Twitter is already putting the reform of its corporate mobility practices into practice.

In one of our previous blog articles about mobility in the post-Coronavirus era, you read how you could save money as a company by replacing expensive subscription costs with multi-ride cards.

Corporate mobility 2.0 – but how?

Let’s flatten the mobility curve!

Need support for your corporate mobility transformation? Do you need help in reforming your corporate mobility practices? Have a look at the Olympus Mobility website, or simulate your ideal mobility policy on the Payflip website!

Easy kilometre registration with the Olympus app

If you use the Olympus Mobility platform, administration is no longer a burden. Our platform and the Olympus App provide an efficient solution to the administrative complexity of mobility. How? By providing a simple kilometre registration and corresponding mileage allowance for each employee. The employee digitally registers both their commute and business travel in the Olympus app. At the end of the month, the employer receives a report with the total amount of the kilometric allowance per employee. It couldn’t be easier.

When is a kilometre allowance allowed?

A kilometre allowance is allowed for both bikes and private cars.

1. Commuting by bike

Is a kilometre allowance provided on sector or company level? Then, as an employer, you can pay your employees a bike allowance.

• You can reclaim 100% of the bike allowance per kilometre up to a certain amount as deductible business expenses. The bike allowance is exempt from social security contributions.
• The maximum amount is EUR 0.27 per kilometre, which is indexed and adjusted annually on 1 January.
• If you, as the employer, grant the maximum fixed cost that is also paid by the government, you are not required to submit any supporting documents.

2. Commuting by private car

If your employee commutes to work using private transport (car, motorcycle, motorbike, etc.), the law does not provide for an obligatory employer’s contribution. If this is provided for in a sectoral collective agreement, the employer is obliged to provide an allowance.

An example is the sociocultural sector (PC 329.01): if an employee commutes by private car, the employer has 2 options:

• if the employee has to travel a minimum of 3 kilometres, the employer must reimburse 60% of the price of a train ticket for the same distance.
• the employer can also choose to pay a mileage allowance of up to € 0.3653 per kilometer. This may not be advantageous for the employee, as he or she can only receive €410 tax-free commuting allowance in the case of a cost flat rate. Anything over and above that €410 will be taxed as wages.

In the post-Coronavirus era, commuting by car will certainly be reduced. Factors contributing to this are working part-time, working from home, and the increasing number of journeys made by bike. As an employer, you can optimise the commuting allowance by paying it only for the days when commuting actually takes place. The Olympus App provides a user-friendly and efficient solution.

Easy kilometre registration with the Olympus app, including cyclists

The Olympus app makes kilometre registration very easy.

• The employer sets the commuting distance and thereby the kilometre allowance in the Olympus management portal. They do so per employee, both for journeys made by bike and for journeys made by private car.
• The employee registers his/her journeys daily in the Olympus app. The employer can thereby optimise this cost in the event of illness, leave or part-time work.
• The employee can also track the total kilometres allowance in the Olympus app.
• At the end of the month, the employer receives a summary of the total allowance that should be paid to the employee.

3. Kilometre allowance for business travel

A mileage allowance can be paid both for journeys made in a private car and in a cafeteria car – a company car without a fuel card.

Business travel with a private car or cafeteria car

The rules to be followed are rather cumbersome. You can also pay your employee a kilometre allowance for business travel, even if they travel with their own car. The employee can choose between the fixed costs and actual costs. Keeping track of these actual costs requires constant vigilance.

• The fixed cost of the kilometres allowance is currently € 0.3653 and is adjusted annually on 1 July.
• The amount per kilometre is a maximum amount. The employer may choose to apply a lower amount per kilometre.
• If the employer grants the maximum fixed cost that is also paid by the government, the employer is not required to submit any supporting documents.
• The kilometres allowance for business travel is not taxable. No social security contributions are deducted from the allowance either.

The Olympus app for easy kilometre registration

The Olympus app allows you to set a different rate for a cafeteria car without a fuel card and a private car.

• The employer provides the employee with access to the kilometre registration for business travel purposes.
• Business travel is then registered in the Olympus app, which is user-friendly and simple to use.
• After entering the place of departure and destination, the app automatically calculates the distance.
• At the end of the month, the employer receives a summary of the total allowance that should be paid to the employee.

One Mobility-tool to solve them all

In post-Coronavirus times, companies are confronted even more than before with the variability in the use of mobility by their employees.

• Each employee has his/her own mobility modes that differ individually.
• A cafeteria plan traditionally offers many choices.
• Some are now opting for a mobility budget, and that too is something else.

Olympus Mobility meets the demands made by companies to give their employees freedom of choice. Simultaneously, it wants to offer simplicity in handling the complex issue of mobility and provide companies with an improved insight into the true costs of all this. Looking for a simple kilometre registration? With our Mobility tool, you are on the right track right away.

Would you like more information? Is there anything we can help you with? Do not hesitate to contact us.