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Secondary employment benefits

1 min read
December 1, 2025
Secondary employment benefits

Highberg has extensive experience with all components of the employment benefits package. Read more about our vision and approach regarding specific benefits.

 

 

Mobility

Although 19 cents per kilometer may not sound like a large amount, mobility schemes involve significant money. Not only lease arrangements and public transport allowances, but also the design of the mobility package as a whole has a major impact on personnel costs. Changes in mobility policy can lead to emotional discussions, whether they concern changes to lease arrangements or tightening the number of home/work kilometers that can be claimed. Employees often feel personally affected when such arrangements are modified.

We help organizations carefully consider their mobility policy – not only from an employment benefits and financial perspective from the employer’s viewpoint, but also regarding the impact the policy has on the employee and their private situation.

Examples of typical mobility issues include:

• Converting various schemes into one mobility arrangement where employees can determine their own mode of transport.

• Harmonizing allowances for home/work and business travel, with or without interactive scenario analysis.

• Assessing to what extent the total employment benefits package loses competitiveness (or market conformity) if no company car is offered.

• Converting lease arrangements into public transport schemes.

• Selecting mobility providers, including both considering the consequences and calculating financial differences.

• Making mobility policy more sustainable and responding to employee preferences. Think of lease bikes and mobility as a service, for example.

Work cost scheme, expense allowances and remote work allowances

The tax authorities give employers the opportunity to reimburse expenses (net) to their employees. This can be done by reimbursing actual costs incurred or by paying a lump sum (fixed expense allowance). Each solution has advantages and disadvantages. Often such allowances are based solely on what is fiscally permissible, without considering market conformity or the administrative obligations involved. We look beyond fiscal optimization and prefer to put the question in a broader perspective; both procedurally and in terms of employment benefits. These issues are daily business for our compensation and benefits consultants.

An instrument can also backfire. We prefer to put the question in a broader perspective

Disability insurance

Many employees face a risk of disability when performing their profession. The costs of continued payment during illness and the risk of disability are borne by the employer for the first two years, then by the government and the employee themselves. A good risk analysis at employer level and an inventory of what is still market-conform and what is no longer helps clarify matters.

We support employers in designing and possibly modifying schemes. An important part of this is selecting the right insurer. Here we work, unlike many other advisory firms, exclusively on an hourly rate basis. This ensures our independence and guarantees that advisory costs align with our advice.

We have our own signature and always think and act autonomously, pragmatically and creatively.

Relief measures

Many employees would prefer to retire before the state pension age, but ultimately choose not to because the impact on their income would be too great, both before and after their retirement. In such cases, they are sometimes less motivated and fall ill more quickly as a result of sickness and disability, while still blocking the advancement of younger generations. Properly considering and establishing age-conscious personnel policy means, in our view, that the employer can take a steering role. Such policy prevents high costs due to illness and disability, demotivated employees who spoil the work enjoyment for others, and the departure of younger talent due to lack of career advancement opportunities. A well-considered and established policy ensures retention and offers growth opportunities, but also gives older colleagues the chance to reach their desired retirement age in a healthy and pleasant way. From the employer’s perspective, these benefits can outweigh the additional costs, especially since they are sometimes relatively small. By effectively using the possibilities that the legislator offers here, more is possible than it appears at first glance.

Examples of our support in this area include:

  • Setting up an Early Retirement Scheme (RVU), including both its design and calculating costs and benefits from both employer and employee perspectives.
  • Simplifying and making existing relief measures more effective.
  • Setting up and calculating a ‘generation pact’ scheme, where an employee works less while (partially) maintaining salary and/or pension accrual.

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