“Customer service both pre and post-launch has been excellent”
Pantheon joined our EV salary sacrifice scheme back in May 2021 to give their team a great employee benefit - access to big savings on electric cars. They chose Octopus Electric Vehicles because our specialism in pure EVs complements their Environmental, Social, and Governance (or ESG) agenda. But that’s not all. Here’s more on how they’ve found running the scheme and what it means to their business, by James Conradi, HR Vice President EMEA.
Would you recommend the salary sacrifice with Octopus Electric Vehicles as a benefit for other employers?
Absolutely, the whole EV package from Octopus is excellent value for employees – and it enables our firm to offer our employees a really valuable benefit that not only reduces their impact on the environment but which is also tax efficient.
The customer service has been fantastic, from the research phase to offering additional post-launch support to us as a business, as well as resolving any niggling operational issues quickly and efficiently with no fuss. I’d thoroughly recommend the Octopus scheme to anyone considering implementing an EV scheme at their business!
What do your employees think of your business now that they can get an EV via a salary sacrifice scheme?
The scheme has landed really well with our employee base and we are now seeing a steady rise in applications for vehicles coming through, which is encouraging. It really complements our ESG agenda and commitments, whilst at the same time offering employees a valuable benefit with some great incentives.
Have you seen an improvement in the recruitment of employees since you launched the salary sacrifice scheme?
Yes, applications to work for us have certainly increased. We can say with confidence, that the scheme definitely complements the broad array of competitive benefits we offer our employees in the UK.
How have you found the Octopus Electric Vehicles set up to support the scheme?
Approving contracts via the Octopus electronic signature system is really easy and streamlined!
Does the EV salary sacrifice scheme require much admin?
The initial setup of the scheme takes a bit of time but it’s not onerous; the key is to make sure you have good coordination between Finance, HR, and Payroll. Admin on invoicing is relatively low.
How have Octopus Electric Vehicles supported the scheme post setup?
Customer service both pre and post-launch has been excellent; plenty of contact and information, and the email updates are a great way to keep people engaged with the scheme. We will be looking for some reporting on CO2 savings over time that can feed into our overall ESG figures.
Have you seen an increase in employees wanting to get an EV since you first launched the scheme?
Certainly. We’ve gone from about five initial orders after the scheme had its official ‘launch’ in May, to around a dozen (some applications in process) over the course of the past few months. It will be exciting to see how many more people engage with taking up this valuable benefit in the medium to long term.
