SQUAKE

As a growing startup, SQUAKE needed a mobility benefit that wouldn't eat itself up in administrative effort. The requirements were clear, and not trivial to reconcile with one another.

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The offer had to work both for colleagues in the Berlin office and for team members working remotely. It had to align with the company's sustainability values, positioning it as more than just a fuel subsidy. It had to provide real financial value, not a symbolic gesture. And it couldn't tie up a dedicated HR role. Once set up, it needed to simply run on its own.

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Many traditional employee benefits fail to meet exactly this combination of requirements in practice. A fuel subsidy might check two boxes but falls short on sustainability. A job ticket works for commuters but leaves out remote employees who have no access to public transport. A meal allowance tends to feel more symbolic. SQUAKE was looking for something that carried all four points at once.

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In April 2024, SQUAKE introduced NAVIT as the central platform for employee mobility. At its core are three combinable offerings: the Deutschlandticket, discounted as a job ticket, the NAVIT Mobility Card as a Visa card for individual mobility, and the digital NAVIT fuel and charging card.

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Employees choose for themselves what fits their situation. Commuters from the Berlin area reach for the Deutschlandticket, while remote colleagues use the Mobility Card or the fuel and charging card for trips to other cities, fuel and charging costs, or shared mobility services.

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"Flexibility is the deciding factor: the Deutschlandticket for most of us, a mobility budget for our remote colleagues. Nobody gets left out."

Siddharth Dhanuka Head of Finance & Operations, SQUAKE

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Setting up the mobility benefit was quick and easy. Employees register themselves in the NAVIT app in under 30 minutes, without HR needing to walk them through it. A one-time alignment with the payroll team clarified the correct booking on payslips. Since then, the process has run automatically: the monthly NAVIT report feeds directly into payroll, with no duplicate data entry or manual intervention.

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Both the company and its employees benefit from the platform's automatic tax optimization. The Deutschlandticket as a job ticket can be subsidized tax-free by the employer. The Mobility Card follows a tax-optimized benefits-in-kind structure. The effect: employees end up with more net income than an equivalent salary increase would provide, while SQUAKE, as the employer, saves on the non-wage labor costs that a straightforward pay raise would carry.

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Fitting its identity as a climate protection company, SQUAKE also benefits from the automatic, certified CO2 offsetting of all trips, which NAVIT handles in the background. What seems like an obvious feature for a mobility provider is rare in practice, and for SQUAKE, it's the bonus that makes the benefit fit its own brand.

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"As someone who watches every line of the P&L, NAVIT is a rare stroke of luck — employees love it, administrative effort is practically zero, and as a company we even save money. I can't think of another benefit that checks all three boxes."

Siddharth Dhanuka Head of Finance & Operations, SQUAKE

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Nearly two years after launch, the results can be quantified precisely. Platform adoption stands at 100 percent which means every employee actively uses their benefit, consistently, month after month. Average budget utilization reaches 93 percent, representing an almost complete use of the amounts provided. The Net Promoter Score sits at +100, the highest possible value, and CSAT is a perfect 5.0 out of 5.0.

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These figures are exceptional. An NPS of +100 means every single employee would actively recommend the benefit. The near-complete budget utilization shows that the offer isn't just formally accepted, it's genuinely used.

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On the company side, monthly effort is limited to around one hour. Three mobility offerings, one NAVIT report, and therefore no manual consolidation of different providers, no separate contract and invoice management. All that's left is checking the report, handing it over to payroll, and approving the invoice.

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What Siddharth Dhanuka, Head of Finance & Operations at SQUAKE, particularly highlights is the rare combination of three qualities: high employee enthusiasm, minimal effort, and a positive impact on the P&L. The effect shows up beyond the direct metrics too. When employees talk internally about what makes SQUAKE a good employer, the mobility benefit comes up as an active argument.

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"Colleagues mention NAVIT when they talk about what makes SQUAKE a good employer. In a competitive hiring market, that matters."

Siddharth Dhanuka Head of Finance & Operations, SQUAKE

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In a talent market where every referral counts, a benefit that genuinely works becomes a recruiting advantage, not through marketing, but through the workforce's actual experience.

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Conclusion: When a Benefit Pays Off on All Three Fronts

SQUAKE's example shows that a mobility benefit can meet employee expectations, payroll requirements, and finance department standards all at once. For a company that sells sustainability as a product and lives it internally, NAVIT has become part of its own identity, and at the same time, a line on the credit side of the P&L.

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