Global healthcare company Sanofi is using Arval’s Ignition salary sacrifice scheme in the UK to reduce its CO2 footprint and help encourage drivers into electric vehicles.

The sal sac scheme fits in with Sanofi’s eco focus while keeping employees mobile

The company, which has its UK headquarters in Reading, has adopted a policy of encouraging drivers out of company cars and into the Ignition scheme, supporting plans for its car fleet to be carbon-neutral globally by 2030.

Such a move also enables the company’s wider employee base to make the break into electric vehicles, aided by the scheme’s use of bespoke incentives.

Usman Khan, chief financial officer, explained: “Our carbon commitment is very important to us and we also wanted to find a way of offering all our employees – not just our job-need car field sales team and our handful of perk fleet drivers – a way of accessing a wide choice of vehicles as a benefit, which helps to open up electric car access and reduce our CO2 emissions in their usage.”

Dialogue with Arval UK indicated that switching to salary sacrifice was the best route to achieve such aims and Sanofi’s figures show the scheme is already proving popular. Out of 750 employees in the UK, 131 have taken sal sac vehicles, with a further 49 on order.

Khan added: “The structure of Ignition, with all costs including an insured leased vehicle, servicing, maintenance and repairs combined into a single monthly payment, has been fundamental to its success – so much so I have taken an EV myself. The product is very easy to use with effective tools to help you get into the right car at the right price, as well as good communications to let you know when the vehicle is coming and other updates.”

Sanofi’s Arval Ignition arrangement is structured to encourage take-up of electric and plug-in hybrid cars, with just one diesel vehicle leased.

Ali Connolly, facilities and records lead at Sanofi, added: “To help encourage adoption of electrified cars, we offer £500 towards the cost of a home charger for field force employees and we also have four chargers that are free to use at our head office, soon to be expanded to 34.”

She added: “Clearly, moving away from petrol and diesel vehicles is the right choice – environmentally as well as keeping employees mobile without the complexities of car ownership – and our staff recognise that.”

The fruits of such an approach have been shown in the fact that Sanofi’s average salary sacrifice scheme CO2 is only 15g/km.

The company has also been participating in Arval’s ‘1 Electrified Vehicle = 1 Tree’ scheme, which sees a tree planted in the UK for every electrified car that Sanofi leases, supporting its corporate ethos.

Jamie Williams, head of large corporate sales at Arval UK, said demand for sal sac continues to rise: “Following the pandemic, we have seen considerable growth in interest in salary sacrifice. It provides a range of genuine advantages to employers and employees with no real downsides or compromises. With relatively low electric vehicle taxation confirmed until 2028 in the recent Autumn Statement, we’re expecting significant take-up to continue into 2023 and well beyond.”