Employers are increasingly aware of the burden created by daily commuting. In response, a growing number of employer organizations have launched purpose-built commuter programs. These programs work to make commutes easier and more productive, with the resultant benefits of employee transportation management generating a long list of positive impacts.
As an award-winning provider of turnkey commuter technologies, Pave Commute has extensive firsthand experience with the transformative results of these programs. Key benefits of employee transportation management include:
Cost savings
Employers can significantly reduce multiple major costs by adopting commuter programs. In many cases, associated investments generate positive returns through the savings they generate.
Organizations can dramatically cut their parking costs by shifting employees away from solo driving. The Pave Commute app offers extensive support for alternative modes, including carpooling, public transportation, and active commuting.
As employees adopt these alternatives, demand for on-site parking drops. This allows employers to spend less money securing and maintaining parking facilities. These benefits of employee transportation management lead to bottom-line savings, regardless of whether you own or rent your parking facilities.
Organizations can also reduce their healthcare-related benefits spending. When employees walk, jog, and bike to work in larger numbers, their physical and mental health improves. Healthier employees tend to take fewer sick days, and recent scientific studies have also linked active commuting with better job performance.
Productivity improvements
Active commuting isn’t the only mode of transportation associated with increased employee performance. Experts have also found evidence linking carpooling and public transit usage with productivity improvements.
Solo driving has long been linked with higher stress and lower mood. Both of these factors can negatively impact an employee’s output. When your best and most important people are affected, the results can really weigh down your company’s bottom line.
Shared modes such as commuter rail, carpooling, and municipal public transit afford employees the opportunity to get a jump on the day. Instead of spending time behind the wheel and stuck in traffic, commuters can get a head start on emails, administration, and other common early-day tasks.
A happier workforce
Happy employees tend to be more productive. They also help build a better experience for customers while improving internal collegiality and teamwork.
Yet, there’s another critically important reason to help improve the outlook of your employees. Higher levels of job satisfaction lead to lower rates of turnover and less spending on recruitment and hiring costs.
Beginning in 2021, the United States, Europe, and other major economies were rocked by a phenomenon experts call the “Great Resignation” or the “Big Quit.” The trend was largely fueled by a desire among employees to secure more flexible positions offering a better work-life balance. It was marked by record numbers of voluntary resignations, which left employees scrambling to fill unprecedented numbers of vacancies.
One of the most impactful hidden benefits of employee transportation management is its ability to improve job satisfaction. Researchers have linked easier and more sustainable commutes with greater happiness and life satisfaction. This helps your organization retain employees and outcompete rivals for talent on the job market.
When possible, employers can also add in flexible telecommuting and offsite working policies to further improve employees’ work-life balance. The best commute is the one that’s never made!
Environmental sustainability
Improved organizational sustainability has positive effects on company culture. It positions the employer within a broader community of interlinked stakeholders who share environmental responsibility. The sustainability benefits of employee transportation management programs generate a long list of positive impacts, including:
- More authentic and powerful organizational branding
- Increased appeal to eco-conscious customers, clients, and investors
- Meaningful reductions in local traffic congestion and carbon emissions
A more appealing organizational culture
Here’s another key job market trend to consider: people increasingly want to work for employers that share their values. With the Great Resignation leading to one of the most competitive labor markets in a generation, employers should make extra effort to build internal cultures with stronger personal appeal to talented job-seekers.
An organizational commitment to employee wellbeing fosters precisely that kind of positive culture. It sends a positive message to both job-seekers and current team members, which can lead to greater recruitment success and higher rates of employee retention.
Key strategies for generating the benefits of employee transportation management
Gamification
Gamified commuter programs generate buzz, excitement, and a strengthened sense of team identity. Programs like commuter challenges engage participants and enhance the benefits of employee transportation management.
Incentives and rewards
Employers can offer both direct and indirect incentives and rewards programs to people who participate in commuter programs. These may include:
- Parking cash-out programs
- Earn-a-bike programs
- Free or subsidized public transportation passes
- Reward- or prize-based points programs
Some employers have gone as far as introducing cash rewards to team members who commute sustainably. People become highly motivated to participate when they can earn such valuable perks.
Support for active commuting
Employers can encourage commuters to adopt active modes by offering:
- Secure bicycle parking
- Lockers for storing active wear and equipment
- On-site showers
For more, check out these tips for promoting active commuting in your organization.
Carpool matching programs
Transportation demand management software like the Pave Commute app offers powerful built-in features that connect people looking for carpools. Commuters can use it to find buddies to ride with, or passengers to join them and share costs.
Employers can also develop bespoke in-house programs that match carpool drivers and passengers together.
Pave Commute helps organizations of all sizes realize the powerful benefits of employee transportation management
Pave Commute makes it fast, easy, and affordable for employer organizations to enjoy the benefits of employee transportation management programs. Our innovative app instantly connects commuters to a comprehensive set of sustainable, locally available alternatives to driving.
The employer-end side of our software platform generates rich, data-driven insights into program effectiveness and participation rates. Pave Commute makes it easy to build powerful, high-impact commuter programs that generate both short- and long-term organizational benefits.
You can launch your new Pave Commute program with just a few easy clicks. Get started today with a free price quote.
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