Going green: paying employees to buy a Toyota Prius or a Honda Hybrid.

The topic of this article is your company and going green: paying employees to buy a Toyota Prius or a Honda Hybrid.

Going green as a company is becoming more and more popular these days.More and more companies are giving their employees bonuses or supplements in order to encourage them to purchase environmentally friendly cars.Some of the major companies that are really supporting their employees in their decision to go green are Timberland, Hyperion, Topics Entertaiment, Google, the second largest law firm in the world, Patagonia, Clif Bar, and more.For example, Topics Entertainment is giving $2000 to employees who choose to trade in their gas-guzzling V8 cars for a hybrid, like the Toyota Prius or a Honda Hybrid.Hyperion gives employees $5000 a piece for purchasing hybrids.Hyperion's program is first come, first serve, and up to 200 employees per year can benefit from the program.

So why would a company choose to give money to employees for buying a car?Does it have anything to do with the company?Aren't you just throwing money out the window, essentially?Why do your employee's personal decisions have anything to do with you, and can you benefit in any sort of way from helping your employees out?
Let's look at going green from a company perspective.It actually makes a lot of sense for a company to give employees discounts for purchasing hybrid cars like the Prius or the Hybrid.And not all of these reasons just have to do with making money.What you are doing, essentially, when you give employees these discounts is that you are encouraging your employees to use cleaner modes of transportation.These leads to a positive change for society.It helps the environment become cleaner, it makes your community more pleasant to live in, and it also can even help your employees with their gas mileage if they purchase a more fuel efficient hybrid car.The well being of your company is connected to your employees' living habits, which also includes their driving habits.The well being of your community is also connected to your employees' living habits.A better community leads to a healthier company.Your environment has a lot of effect on the value and the performance of your company and also the morale and the health and performance of your employees.

If you are worried about your bottom line, then you should take into consideration the value to your company when it comes to offering benefits to your employees who purchase a Prius or a Hybrid.Offering such an incentive program generates an enormous amount of good will towards your company.Not only will your employees feel happier and more supported by their management, but potential clients and also the community will see you with more good will.While good will is not a concret asset, it is an important part of determining the value of your company.There are many different intangible components that come into play when you, or an outside auditor, is determining the book value of your company.

Going green as a company can be a great move for the environment, for your employees, and also for you as management or as the owner as the company.Any improvement to the environmental quality of your community will benefit you.The support that you show to your employees will improve your morale.And going green also improves your good will, which is an important intangible asset that adds to your company's book value.