De Panne launches lease bicycles for employees

It has been possible for employees in the private sector to conclude a bicycle lease contract for several years now. From now on, this is also possible for civil servants. Thanks to the new legislation, staff members can now voluntarily and tax-efficiently exchange part of their end-of-year bonus, holidays or bicycle allowance for an electric bicycle.

“The offer of a bicycle lease is a financially interesting option for our employees: you avoid a lot of taxes and thus buy a nice bicycle,” explains Mayor Bram Degrieck.

Local merchants

The board also involves local traders in the project. The bicycle lease will work with a network to which local traders can easily connect, in addition, local purchases will be promoted among all employees.

De Panne acted as a pioneer by drawing up a joint government contract together with twelve other boards of DVV Westhoek (a partnership with seventeen Westhoek municipalities), in which maximum flexibility for the employees and maximum unburdening of the board were central. This resulted in a collaboration with the Ghent company o2o.