Reducing how often or how far employees need to travel can save costs for your organization as well as for your employees. In some cases, your pool of potential employees will be larger if your employees don’t need to own or have use of personal vehicles.
Providing a fossil fuel allowance allows employees who use more efficient or low-cost transportation to pocket the savings from their allowance.
Before starting these practices, measure your overall transportation use to have a baseline, then you can measure how much these practices have reduced transportation.
Tips:
- Siting facilities within easy walking, bus-riding or bike-riding can eliminate or shorten employee commutes or make commuting more accessible. This may also expand your pool of potential employees.
- Remote (i.e., offsite) worksites can also reduce the need for travel.
- Using more virtual meetings can save travel, time and expenses; you may need to provide Internet access and devices.
- Educate employees about or offer incentives for using alternative options (carpools, vanpools, buses) to reduce the need for transportation.
- Encouraging employees to use public transportation can help save them money while also supporting more environmentally friendly transportation. Even rural areas may offer options.
- Charging employees for parking can encourage use of public transportation or other eco-friendly means. However, it can also create a barrier to employment for those who cannot afford the fees – you might consider offering incentives to not park instead.
- Some of these practices may initially require incentives or motivation campaigns until they are accepted as regular practices.
