Sustainability behind the scenes

Mobility employees play their part in helping the cooperative achieve its sustainability targets – through flexible working and a paperless office. However, the situation at Mobility is not perfect: in terms of commuting, there is plenty of scope for improvement.

The split is roughly 50-50 at Mobility: around half of employees use public transport to travel to work at the Suurstoffi Rotkreuz office, whilst the other half take their own car. This makes the car-sharing specialists about average compared to the rest of Switzerland.

In Nadja Portmann's view, improvement is required. She is responsible for employee mobility at the company and is aiming to effect positive change. After all, the Mobility Executive Board’s goal is to align as many employees as possible with the spirit of the cooperative and encourage them to commute in environmentally friendly ways. “It can sometimes absolutely make sense to go to work in your own car”, explains Nadja. “But if you live in an urban area and commute to Suurstoffi, a site that directly adjoins the railway station, then it seems to me that commuting on public transport or by bike would be the most obvious and the most sensible option.”

Perks for travelling by public transport

Mobility offers a range of incentives to encourage employees to travel sustainably: there’s free half-fare travel cards, whilst Fairtiq credit for public transport journeys to and from the Rotkreuz office is also available. Even those who already have a GA travelcard can benefit from the perks. And commuters who ride their bike to work are not left out. They receive a contribution towards servicing their bike. Furthermore, employees also enjoy free membership of Mobility and can car share under the most favourable of terms. Nadja explains: “We look for a solution for each individual case to make commuting by sustainable modes of transport as attractive and simple as possible for employees.”

The sustainable commute to net zero

Mobility’s business purpose is, at its core, sustainable. Shared mobility is part of a circular economy, preserves resources and reduces carbon footprints. Despite this, Mobility still produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. And the company sees itself as having a responsibility for reducing these emissions on a consistent basis. Mobility is striving to reach net zero by 2040 at the latest. “The biggest lever we have on the road to net zero is the electrification of our vehicle fleet, as this is currently responsible for 96 per cent of the company’s emissions”, explains Roland Beyeler, Corporate Development Project Head. He adds: “our employees’ contributions to commuter traffic cause comparably low emissions, but with a proportion of 1.5 per cent of total emissions, they are still the second largest source of emissions on our greenhouse gas balance.” As a result, for Mobility and Roland, the answer is clear: “we also need to reduce emissions caused by employees’ commutes.”

Several small sustainable decisions

As an employer, Mobility has already played a major part in creating a sustainable environment. For example, since moving its office from Lucerne to Rotkreuz in 2017, the company operates using a flexible working model and has done away with personal work stations. The idea is that employees do their work wherever makes the most sense. This has meant that commuter activity was in decline even before the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic further boosted the flexible working trend significantly. Mobility implements numerous small measures that support employees in making sustainable decisions, even if the impact is rather negligible on account of the company’s emissions as a whole. Examples of these small measures include the movement-activated light control system at Suurstoffi, cold and sparkling water directly from the tap and the idea of the paperless office, which is put into practice on a consistent basis.

Customers as role models

And yet, as far as Mobility is concerned, there are still opportunities for further progress. “We can take a leaf out of our customers’ book in this respect”, explains Nadja Portmann. After all, customers always think twice about which mode of transport they need to get from A to B. “From a strategic point of view, it is also a goal of Mobility’s to bring employees closer in step with this mindset.” According to Nadja, this also helps the company better understand customer behaviour and offer products and process that more effectively meet their needs. It is difficult to argue with that.