Esri UK launches salary sacrifice scheme with Lex Autolease

Lex Autolease has launched an ultra-low emission vehicle salary sacrifice scheme for 400 employees at Esri UK to help reduce emissions.

Within the first four weeks of launching, orders placed have surpassed expectations, reports Lex Autolease, with employees opting for a wide variety of vehicles including the Volkswagen ID3, Audi Q4 e-tron and Tesla Model 3.

In addition to the salary sacrifice scheme, Esri UK’s company car scheme has also been enhanced, with allowances increased by 20%, on average, to encourage take-up of electric vehicles (EVs).

The business has already seen a 68% reduction in the fleet’s overall CO2 emissions, with EVs now accounting for more than 76% of the make-up of Esri UK’s fleet. In terms of charging infrastructure, 10 on-site charge points at the firm’s head office in Aylesbury.

Lex Autolease has worked with Esri UK since 2016 to understand the business’s sustainability goals and develop electrification solutions to help the business achieve its plans.

James Garrod, internal account manager at Lex Autolease, said: “The take-up of fully electric vehicles since the salary sacrifice scheme launched in June has been really encouraging, but our role isn’t limited to supplying more eco-friendly vehicles.

“Esri is also using our Sustainability Dashboard to access tailored metrics, recommendations and a future sustainability trajectory. Armed with these insights, together we can continually tweak the overall sustainability strategy to ensure it moves in the right direction.”

Gary Lockwood, financial controller at Esri UK, explained that reducing its overall emissions by promoting more ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) across its employee base is absolutely central to its sustainability targets.

“We deliver world-class environmental software for globally-recognised public sector bodies and private companies, so it’s only right that we remain on the front foot when it comes to our own sustainability credentials,” he said.

“We knew that launching a ULEV salary sacrifice scheme would need to be cleverly communicated to our employees to be effective, plus a new IT infrastructure to support it.

“The team at Lex Autolease have helped guide us through every step of the way, hosting a launch event for our 400-strong workforce to explain the benefits and details of the scheme. This was a huge factor in the initial appetite for the scheme, which we hope will only increase in the coming months.”