Salary Sacrifice Schemes, like the one offered by Octopus Vehicles, are just one example of how new incentives are making environmentally conscious decisions more accessible and beneficial for your tech business. 

Through this scheme, you can lease climate-friendly electric vehicles for your employees. As the name suggests, employees “sacrifice” a portion of their gross salary, reducing their costs by up to 40% in income tax and national insurance savings. 

With over 30 fully electric models to choose from and included servicing, maintenance and repairs, you might be asking what the catch is. But there really is none. Octopus Vehicles is making it easy for both you and your team to save money while saving the planet. 

Here’s how: 

Good for the planet 

Trading your smelly old diesel in for a climate-friendly electric car is a great way to reduce your environmental impact. Electric vehicles emit zero tailpipe emissions, compared to the 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted by a typical passenger vehicle per year.

Even when you take “well-to-wheel” emissions into account – that is, all greenhouse gas and air pollutants emitted during the production and distribution of the energy used to power an electric car – conventional diesel vehicles still emit over twice as much annually. You can increase this gap even more by powering your electric car with a renewable energy source, like solar, wind or geothermal. 

If you’re joining over half of the UK’s largest businesses in their commitment to eliminating their contribution to carbon emissions by 2050 (which, in my opinion, it’s vital we all do), then electric vehicles and zero-emission miles is an excellent way to meet your sustainability goals. 

Good for your team 

Getting to drive around in a sleek, climate-friendly electric car? Check. 

Feeling good every time you get behind the wheel because you know you’re helping limit carbon emissions? Check. 

Saving a ton of money? Check check check! 

Octopus Vehicles’ Salary Sacrifice Scheme is an absolutely incredible incentive to offer to your team. They’ll get all the benefits of an electric vehicle for just a fraction of the cost, including: 

  • Up to 40% saving on national insurance and income tax 
  • Up to 90% saving on monthly fuel costs 
  • Up to 50% saving on servicing, maintenance, and repair 
  • Exemptions from road tax, London Congestion Charge, and future Clean Air Zone charges 

It may sound too good to be true, but Octopus Vehicles breaks down these savings in their handy information package using two different salary ranges. As employee benefits go, this is a pretty outstanding one, and would be a great morale booster for your whole team. 

Good for business 

What’s good for your team is good for your business. In today’s tough labor market, prospects are looking at a business’ complete package to decide if it’s where they want to work: salary, benefits, culture, employee testimonials and more. Offering a sleek electric car could be the benefit that sets you apart from your competitors and helps attract the very best talent to your team. 

Plus, with the Octopus Vehicles Salary Sacrifice Scheme, you can lower your business’ National Insurance bill, meaning both you and your team are saving money while saving the planet. 

When explaining why Thrive is taking the Million Tree Pledge, I referenced Professor Alex Edmunds, who believes the most successful businesses of our future will be the ones that are driven by purpose, not just profit. And the statistics seem to agree with him: searches for “ethical brands” increased by over 300% in the past year alone, and over half of young consumers consider a company’s values before buying their products. 

Now, more than ever, consumers are letting their values steer their spending. So, between the tax credits and incentives, cost savings, healthier workplaces and improved customer relations, going green isn’t just good for the environment. 

It’s good for business.