Delhaize

In April, Delhaize launched a new motto: "Living life to the full". A wonderful claim, a promise which Delhaize has been living up to for over 150 years. The supermarket - Europe's first ever - always fully keeps up with the latest trends. And this also applies to mobility. About 12 500 people work at Delhaize, so there are large numbers of people who have to get to their place of work.

128 stores: this means lots of cashiers, shelf fillers and store room assistants do not need to travel far to work. "Many employees in our stores live locally. On average, they live 14 kilometres from their work, which is below the average home-work distance of Belgians. It is logical that many employees choose public transport, leaving their car at home. Delhaize offers a range of options to make using public transport attractive. In addition to season tickets and multimodal tickets for De Lijn, the MIVB Brussels local transport network or the Belgian railways (NMBS), we also for instance offer our workers and office staff a bicycle", explains Shelley Heugen, mobility manager at Delhaize. "Of course there is a major difference between our stores and our head office in Brussels where people usually come from further away. We offer company cars but naturally also draw their attention to the alternatives."

By now there are about 600 Delhaize employees who make use of De Lijn services. The intention is to further increase this number. "We run a pre-payment scheme, which means that our personnel does not need to advance the costs of a bus and tram season ticket and we have less administrative work. Evidently a win-win situation."

Delhaize and De Lijn joined forces in 2010. "Apart from De Lijn, we also work closely with MIVB and NMBS, whose City Pass we offer, for instance. Delhaize certainly remains open to other partnerships and to new products. We always keep abreast of the latest developments and we consider whether they are relevant for us", concludes Heugen.

It is striking that many Delhaize employees prefer to cycle to work. At present, more than 2 300 company bikes are in use. "Thanks to our bicycle programme, this has become an attractive option to get to work. We purchase bicycles and make them available to our workers and office staff: both conventional bicycles and e-bikes. Delhaize has drawn up a unique charter for cyclists which requires people to go to work by bike three days per working week. We want our employees to deal with mobility as flexibly as possible."

Delhaize not only lends a helping hand, it also gives people a nudge in the right direction. Everyone who takes up a job with Delhaize attends a presentation by way of induction. It shows what is expected of them. "One of the topics in the presentation is mobility. We want to make it clear to our personnel right from the start of their career with Delhaize that giving some thought to the best way to travel to work is highly appreciated. Efficient mobility is also promoted locally, depending on the manager of the particular branch. If a store manager comes up with a question or suggestion, I will see how I can help to get them the right information" says Heugen. Delhaize wants its employees to take as wide a view of mobility as possible. This makes sense in terms of quality of life and is at the same time more sustainable. And it is the only way to remain up to date over the next 150 years.

• pre-paid scheme: easy for Delhaize and for its personnel
• season tickets for bus and tram, possibly combined with the train
• good contacts with De Lijn's customer management

Delhaize was established in 1867 and now has 787 stores in Belgium and Luxembourg. It employs about 12 500 people.

Visit Delhaize at www.delhaize.be.