Cab Transport and Car Lease Policy in MNC’s

Many IT companies in India provide transport facilities to their employees for pick-up and drop. Mostly this is provided for companies like IT, BPO Hospitals and even retail where people work till 10:00 p.m. The service provided is 24*7 based on project work & Client requirements according to their individual companies. The main reason for giving transport facility is the following:

• Safety
• Reporting or Log In time of the employee
• Rotational shifts
• Comfort level to employees.

IT Companies provide transport facility to enable employees to commute between home and office. These companies have a network of subsidized air conditioned or Non- A/C shuttle services with daily pick up and drop facility. This is coordinated by Travel Helpdesk of every It company.

Read Similar Article: Car Lease Option in IT Companies

This is a sample transport policy and guidelines:

• The transportation facilities provided by these companies from residence and between the designated point and there different campuses.
• The vehicle & routes used for the transportation facilities will be based on employee feedback and as deemed appropriate by the company for such travel.
• The employees who avail the transportation services must pay a nominal charge for using the facility. An Amount of INR 800 or more will may be deducted every month irrespective salaries employees depending on their routes.
• Incase if an employee drops out, transportation charges will be recovered from employees for the complete month or days and there is no provision for pro-rata recovery Second Slot Cab Request / Third Slot Cab Request:
• Interested employees will be asked to fill an application form and submit it to the transport group. Facilities will inform payroll accordingly for the deductions based on their distance.
• Second slot drop off is only availed for employees who have enrolled for regular Cab service. The mail request for Second slot drop should reach the Facilities manager or Security Manager Mail box before 6:00 PM. Requests post 6:00 PM is not been entertained.
• Routing will be done only on the subjected directions shown to the cab driver.

Security services:

Now a days, most of the IT Companies take special precaution towards safety of women employees. The companies are taking additional responsibilities as given below:

• A security guard will compulsorily travel along with women employees during night drop to their residence.
• If the residence is far from the drop point the driver get downs and drop her till her door and get backs.
• It is compulsory at least 2 women travel at once.
• The cab is been tracked through GPS tracker for the directions during their travel.
• SMS alerts, App facilities are provided for every employee.
• Not only for women, but  the male employees are also taken care if they reach home in the midnight or early morning. In Bangalore there are lot of street dogs in some areas and some incidents of mugging have been reported. So even male employees are given security escort.
• The cab driver is been trained before he starts up his job, like on his conversation and way of communication with employees.

Note that most of the IT companies give bus transportation at a subsidized rate. They deduct the amount from the payroll. Some companies like HP give bus service free of cost. Many product companies like Citrix R & D give shared cab facility for free (Included in CTC)

CAR LEASE

Lease program facilitates employee to buy cars as per their choice for official and personal use with an attractive tax saving opportunity. IT Companies has entered into an operational lease with a Fleet Management Company (FMC) for providing cars on lease. The ownership of the car will remain with the FMC.

Guidance/tips:

• Availing a car under this Program will be governed by the Lease Agreement between the employee and company on the acceptable standards of usage of the Car.
• Soft-top vehicles, sports vehicles and other utility/commercial vehicles cannot be leased under the program.
• Employees will be charged for a maximum of 25% of annual OTE as the annual value of lease rentals under the Particular Company Car lease program. However this is restricted to the Flexi Benefit Plan entitlement for that year at the time of applying for this program. The lease rental would be an amount payable monthly to the FMC towards the operational lease, defined for each of the car models. This monthly amount includes initial costs of registration and insurance as well as ongoing maintenance of the car.
• The lease period will be for 36 months with a maximum travel limit of 45,000 KMs respectively during the lease period.
• The maintenance contract with the FMC assumes a maximum travel of 15,000 KMs per annum on the car.
• Any additional accessories added to the Car will be at employee’s expense and their own risk for any loss or damage.
• If an employee wishes to cancel the order after ordering a Car, prior to entering into lease contract, cancellation charges may be incurred. In such an event, any cancellation charges will be borne by the employee. Cancellation Charges incurred will include the down payment made by the FMC towards the booking charges of the car (if any).
• At the end of the lease term, employee is given a buy back option at market value of the car.

The only drawback for this can be:

• The ownership is always in the name of company.
• You will be paying more insurance claim on the vehicle which you will own.
• If you want to use the vehicle in your own way you need to think once a while because of maintainense and vehicle security.
• It may not be a good idea if you often have the plan to change your job but still want to buy car on lease by the company standard and procedure.
• Your package must suit for car which you’re buying. The maintenance may be expensive

The companies are trying their best to help their employees especially in big cities.