Company car
A large share of consultants drive around in a company car. As engagements typically require travel to and from client offices, consultants spend a considerable number of hours commuting per week. In support of their travel needs, a majority of consulting firms provide their consultants across all levels – from junior consultants to managers and partners – access to a company car scheme.
International research shows that in countries where lease arrangements are a common part of mobility plans, more than half of the consultants tend to have a company car. Among the larger players in the consulting industry such as the Big Four, the percentage of firms that have a company car scheme tends to be higher, commonly at 70% or above.
Lease schemes
Similar to mobility policies in other sectors, the company car allowance is typically tied to seniority. Consulting firms generally work with a nominal lease budget per level – this amount determines how much a consultant can spend on a company car, accessories and other add-ons required. At some firms, consultants are not allowed to exceed the budget, while at others, overriding is allowed but the difference is charged out to the consultant. A portion of consultancies ask their consultants to contribute a certain percentage (fixed monthly amount) of the lease budgets.
The height of a company car allowance and the percentage of consultants that make use of the scheme differs significantly per level. Data from Consultancy.lat reveals that 70% to 90% of consultants drive a lease car on average at the top of the consultancy industry. Partners are the exception, who more often opt to make use of a cash benefit and buy their own car instead.
Junior consultants nearly always lease a car within their allowance budget, while Directors and Principals, more than other levels, drive a company car with a value above their standard allowance.
Available cars
It is Important to keep in mind that consulting firms typically determine the portfolio of available brands and cars through lease catalogues, particularly so if mobility schemes and procurement teams are centralised. Some firms have exception policies in place, while others offer no room for choosing a company car that is not part of the catalogue.
Sustainability
In recent years, sustainability has been playing a growing role in the mobility strategies of consulting firms. This has sparked two major trends within internal operations.
Firstly, consultants are more and more stimulated to use public transport because the transport mode is more environmentally friendly. An additional advantage of public transport is that travelling by train can boost productivity as, contrary to travelling by car, trains offer consultants the opportunity to work while commuting.
The shift towards a more flexible mobility approach also follows from the rise of new ways of working such as smart working or remote working. Consultants are used to working remotely and off premise, implying that such modern ways of working are ideally suited for consultants. Many locations that facilitate remote working are based close to metro and/or train stations.
The second major trend is that of more focus on sustainability in the vehicle leasing value chain. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda's, consultancies are actively busy with greening their vehicle operations. With the aim of lowering their carbon footprint from business cars, a large share of consulting firms have added more environmentally friendly cars to their catalogues. In many cases, the move brings along financial benefits to consultants too in the form of a lower tax burden.