Completed on 11 September 2026
Crédit Mutuel Asset Management is an asset management company of groupe La Française, the asset management branch of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale.
European Mobility Week will take place from 16 to 22 September. This European Commission initiative encourages individuals, local authorities and businesses to favor sustainable modes of transport: walking, cycling, car-sharing and public transport. For the second year running, the theme is "Mobility for everyone"1.
For companies, the topic spans two ESG dimensions.
- 1. Environmental: employee commuting2 falls under Scope 3 emissions, which can account for up to 90% of a company's total carbon footprint3.
- 2. Social: the availability of affordable, sustainable and suitable transport determines access to employment, healthcare and wellbeing. This is this second dimension which we will focus on.
A shrinking recruitment pool
Across the European Union, the Eurocities network4 and the public transport association UITP5 have been warning for several years about "transport poverty": where the cost, availability and accessibility of transport prevent part of the population, particularly those functions that cannot be performed remotely, from accessing jobs, training or essential services.
For a company, this goes beyond a matter of public policy: it determines the size of the recruitment pool around its sites. An industrial or logistics facility poorly serviced by public transport sees its catchment area shrink automatically, effectively excluding candidates without a car. The risk weighs most heavily on sectors that rely on large volumes of lower-skilled or geographically dispersed labour: logistics, manufacturing, retail and personal services.
The commute as a component of attrition risk
Several recent studies establish a link between commuting conditions and workplace performance. Research published in 2026 in the Journal of Transport and Health shows that commuting stress erodes employee productivity6. A PageGroup study7 of more than 12,000 professionals shows that this stress varies significantly by mode: on average, 38% of employees describe their public transport commute as stressful, compared with 34% for those travelling by private vehicle. The gap widens sharply in countries where the public transport network is perceived as underdeveloped. Long journeys also weigh on recruitment: they reduce the number of candidates available for a given role and are associated with a higher rate of declined job offers. For an employer, the quality of the commute therefore becomes a component of attrition and disengagement risk in its own right, alongside pay and working conditions.
Active mobility, a measurable prevention lever
Active mobility (walking, cycling, e-biking) offers a well-documented counterpoint. A study published in 2025 in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living shows that it introduces light-to-moderate physical activity into the daily commute, limiting the risks associated with prolonged sedentary behavior while reducing exposure to vehicle pollution8. For a comparable journey time, these employees report better physical and mental health than those using passive modes, which in turn translates into higher assessed professional performance.
For companies, the point is therefore not simply to offer incentives (secure bike parking, showers, the French sustainable mobility allowance), but to treat the quality of the commute as a real driver of absenteeism, engagement and, ultimately, team productivity.
A further consideration, largely overlooked in financial analysis, is the effect on healthcare costs. A 2024 Finnish study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, covering public sector employees, shows that a high level of active mobility (61 km per week on average) reduces the likelihood of sick leave by 8 to 12%, and of long-term sick leave by 18%.
Prevention rather than cure: an economic trade-off
The case of Bank of America is telling: the bank spends more than $250 million a year on GLP-1 anti-obesity treatments for its 211,000 employees (roughly 13% of its total healthcare budget) justified by the expected reduction in cardiovascular risk over the medium term9. Specific to the US healthcare system, where employers fund medical coverage directly, the example illustrates by contrast the economic case for upstream prevention, which is considerably cheaper than curative treatment. Applied to the French context, where employers have since 2016 been required to fund at least 50% of contributions to group supplementary health cover, the same logic holds: by limiting conditions linked to sedentary lifestyles, an active mobility policy can help contain the rise in insurance costs borne by the company.
Far from an internal communications topic confined to one week a year, the social dimension of mobility deserves to be treated as a full component of human capital, with measurable repercussions for recruitment costs, workforce stability and, ultimately, operational performance.
This commentary is provided for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed by Groupe La Française are based on current market conditions and are subject to change without notice. These opinions may differ from those of other investment professionals. The information contained in this publication is based on sources considered reliable, but Groupe La Française does not guarantee that it is accurate, complete, valid, or relevant. Published by La Française Finance Services, headquartered at 128 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, France, regulated by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel as an investment services provider, no. 18673, and registered with ORIAS (www.orias.fr) under no. 13007808 on November 4, 2016, a subsidiary of La Française. Crédit Mutuel Asset Management: 128 boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris, is an asset management company authorized by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers under no. GP 97 138 and registered with ORIAS (www.orias.fr) under no. 25003045 since April 11, 2025. Public limited company with capital of €3,871,680, RCS Paris no. 388 555 021.
1 EUROPEAN MOBILITY WEEK | The campaign
2 https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/2022-12/Chapter7.pdf
3 Environmental supply chain risks to cost companies $120 billion by 2026 - CDP
4 European Mobility Week: Making mobility for everyone - Eurocities
5 Mobility for Everyone: European Mobility Week Spotlights Inclusive Transport Solutions - UITP
6 The hidden toll of commuting: How and when stress travels from the road to the workplace – Transportation Research- via ScienceDirect
7 Le trajet du travail des européens: calme et détendu, ou stressant et inefficace? | Michael Page
8 Frontiers | Incorporating active commuting into daily life: a narrative review of e-bikes’ impact on health and urban air quality
9 Bank of America CEO: GLP-1 drugs for employees cost $250M a year
