New Employee Perk: Cutting Gasoline Costs
American employers provide plenty of perks to their workers, but helping them cope with the rising cost of driving to work hasn’t been one of them, based on the results of an online poll at HR.BLR.com.
This summer, HR.BLR.com, a Web site for HR professionals, posed this question to site visitors: “What, if anything, are you doing to help employees deal with high gas prices?”
Here’s how the participants answered:
Encouraging more carpooling: 4 percent
Encouraging greater use of mass transit: 2 percent
Allowing more telecommuting: 1 percent
Some combination of the above: 6 percent
Nothing: 86 percent
“It may be that gas prices haven’t risen high enough yet to cause a crisis in commuting,” speculated Kevin Flood, managing Web editor of HR.BLR.com. “There might also be a sense that employees wouldn’t embrace something like carpooling even if management encouraged it.”
Small-business owners are in a unique position to know what their employees need. If the rising cost of gasoline is hitting employees in their wallets, they may be open to ideas that help reduce the expense of driving. By initiating a few gas-saving options, you could add a valuable perk to your employees’ packages.
What You Can Do
Gas-saving programs don’t have to be complicated. Here are six ideas that might benefit your employees:
1. Put together a “Gas-Saving Tip Sheet” and hand it out to all employees. You can find tips at this Web site, www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drive.shtml. It offers tips in the following areas:
Driving more efficiently
Keeping your car in shape
Planning and combining trips
Choosing a more efficient vehicle
2. Make it easy for employees to carpool to and from work. Be accommodating with work hours and schedules so workers who live near each other can carpool.
3. Help employees avoid rush hours by offering flexible schedules. Idling in stalled traffic or creeping along the road eats up gas fast.
4. Encourage workers to ride bicycles to work. Install a bike rack in convenient, safe area. Provide a room for changing into work clothes and storing bike gear.
5. Help employees navigate mass transit options. Put together a package that shows transit routes, schedules and costs. Find out if your small business can purchase monthly transit cards for employees – another great perk.
6. Offer telecommuting if applicable for your business. To find out how to design a telecommuting program, check out “Telecommuting: A Guide to Managing Employees,” a free download from Business & Legal Reports. It includes a case study, sample telecommuting agreement and sample policy. Download the document for free by registering at http://www.blr.com/82008400/PRS31.
