|
Commuter choice complements many initiatives your company
may already be interested in:
Work-Life Balance
Sustainability, Global Warming, and the Environment
High Gas Prices
Corporate Citizenship
Comprehensive and Competitive Benefits Package
Employee Health and Wellness
Work-Life Balance
Commuter
choice is one more way you can be responsive to the personal
needs of your employees. Benefits of work-life balance have
been well-documented. A recent study by the Society for Human Resources
Management reports that employees who look favorably on
their organization's efforts to support work/life balance
expressed a much lower intent to leave the organization.
Back to top
Sustainability, Global Warming,
and the Environment
These days, everyone wants to know:
□
What is your company is doing to address climate change?
□
How are you addressing sustainability?
□
Are you part of the environmental problem or solution?
In the last decade, and the last couple of years in
particular, we have witnessed a sea change in public concern
about global warming.
Celebrities, newspaper editors, and politicians
across the spectrum have voiced concern.
Polls find that the majority of Americans are
concerned or very concerned about global warming.
At the same time, “sustainability” has become a major
buzzword.
People are concerned about our ability to maintain our
quality of life without leaving a mess for our children and
grandchildren.
Companies are under increasing pressure to behave in
environmentally friendly, sustainable ways and to be part of
the solution to the global problems we face.
Transportation is the
largest
contributor to smog-forming air pollution in Santa Barbara
County, and the second-largest contributor to global warming
in California (second only to power production).
An effective Commuter Choice program can send a powerful
message about what your company is doing to lessen its
impact on the environment.
Instead of just complying with regulations, it is a
proactive step that reduces our ecological footprint and
makes our community healthier.
Back to top
High Gas Prices
With gas prices on the rise for the last couple of years,
many commuters are feeling the pinch.
Instead of remaining silent and letting employees
make difficult transportation and life choices alone,
offering a Commuter Choice program provides them options to
avoid the drain of high gas prices on their family’s budget.
Wouldn’t it be great to offer a transit pass, an opportunity
to vanpool, a carpool matchlist, or the ability to telework
to employees faced with long commutes?
Advertisements for our Clean Air Express commuter service
from north county to south county asks, “What would you do
with the money you save?”
By taking a commute coach service instead of driving,
an employee might be able to save thousands of dollars a
year. You may
be able to hold on to good employees by offering them an
alternative to driving alone, and give them an “indirect pay
raise” in the process!
Back to top
Corporate Citizenship
If everyone does their part, our communities can be models
of sustainability and livability.
We all want to preserve the quality of life in our Santa
Barbara County communities. But no one company or agency can
do it alone. It takes civic leadership and broad
partnerships to create win-win situations for our
communities.
Participating in Commuter Choice and encouraging
commute options for employees can help reduce traffic
congestion and pollution. Beyond the benefits for your
employees and your company, these social benefits have a
huge impact on the places we live and work.
Encouraging Commuter Choice makes your company part of
the solution.
Back to top
Comprehensive
and Competitive Benefits Package
Due to the high cost of living, recruitment and retention
are among the top challenges human resources professionals
face in Santa Barbara County. Companies are constantly
competing to lure the best and brightest, and offer the most
compelling benefits packages. The high cost of living
also means that some employees are pushed further and
further from their jobs...and must commute!
The price of Commuter Choice programs is small compared with
other benefits, but the impact on employees lives can be
huge. Consider the stress and cost of driving alone
from Santa Maria to Santa Barbara versus the comfort and
cost savings of an employer-sponsored
vanpool. It's not a big cost to your company, but
it's a huge benefit for your employee -- they gain two hours
a day of productive time and save thousands of dollars a
year. Likewise, the ability to
tele-commute one day a week
or have a flexible or alternative schedule can make a huge
difference in employee's lives, while having a neutral or
perhaps even positive effect on your bottom line.
Employees are more attracted and loyal to companies that are
responsive to their personal needs. If you are serious
about recruiting top talent, why not develop a comprehensive
plan that includes this valuable set of benefits?
Back to top
Employee Health and Wellness
Did you know? In 2002, the National Academies' Institute of
Medicine doubled the previous Surgeon General's
recommendations for daily exercise to "one hour every day of
moderately intense physical activity". Stress
and sedentary lifestyles take a terrible toll on our health.
One in three Americans are considered overweight, and
another one in three are considered obese.
With today's busy schedules, you can help your employees
maintain a healthy lifestyle by encouraging active commute
modes like walking, biking, even walk/bus or bike/bus.
You can help by providing bicycles at the workplace
for lunch trips and quick errands, and convenient parking,
showers, and lockers for active commuters.
Active transportation to work also improves one's mood and
reduces stress. In a study Traffic Solutions conducted
of our Team Bike Challenge participants, over 70% listed
"Improving my mood" as an important or very important
motivator to ride for transportation. Over 88% listed
"Fitness" as important or very important.
Encouraging active commutes for local employees fits in very
well with an overall Employee Health and Wellness
initiative.
Back to top
|
