Gas Prices Spike: How Employers in One State are Responding

The Employers Association here in lovely Minnesota has conducted research of employers statewide to learn whether and how they are responding to the high cost of fuel.  Nearly 500 companies responded to the very detailed study.   Guessing that what's happening here probably mirrors trends around the country, I thought the results might be of broader interest and worth a post.  Here goes.

Responding strategies are listed below in order of their prevalence among the surveyed group.

Condensed work weeks.  The most common strategy cited by surveyed employers is a move to a condensed work week.  18.8% are already providing a condensed work week and 5.5% are in the planning phase of such a move.

Telecommuting.  Nearly as common as the condensed work week is the move to offer telecommuting.  18.6% of responding employers have a telecommuting program in place and another 5.1% are planning to implement such a program.

Gas cards as rewards.  Interestingly, a number of employers are using gas cards as service or performance rewards - or, in some cases, as a simple form of subsidy.  The survey doesn't, unfortunately, separate those using cards as rewards from those using them simply as across-the-board subsidies, but 9.0% are already using the cards and another 8.0% are heading in that direction.

Car pools.  The promotion of car pools is rising with 8.4% of employers reporting car pool programs in place and another 4.9% planning to implement car pooling.

Public transportation subsidy.  Currently 6.9% provide a public transportation subsidy and 1.4% are planning to put such a subsidy in place.

IRS Section 132.  Pre-tax payment for certain parking and public transportation costs is available through an employer sponsored plan.  Responses indicate that 6.1% of employers have such a plan and another 1.4% are moving toward providing one.

Direct fuel subsidies.  A small number, 2.7%, of employers surveyed are responding to the rise in fuel costs by directly subsidizing employees fuel expenses to and from work.

Honorable mention (miscellaneous).  A number of other interesting tactics were mentioned by individual responding employers, including: 

• Flex start and end times to avoid peak traffic
• At work pot luck for lunch (purchased a grill for employees) to avoid the need for travel
• Collective lunch runs – take orders and drive one vehicle
• Review travel plans relating to client visits and consolidate meeting times with staff from other departments in order to facilitate car pooling
• Use a company provided fund-raising discount card to save $0.03 per gallon
• Use a small number of company vehicles that employees can use for business travel during the work day
• Subsidize bike lockers or install secure bike parking

Creative Common Photo "Pumping Gas" by Future Atlas

Comments

[almostgotit]

Hurray, hurray, hurray!

We are now a one car, 4-bike family, with bus passes in our back pockets and high-speed internet so we can sometimes work at home. BONUS FEATURES: We have also lost weight and saved lots of money. A big surprise was how much time we save, too (daily commutes, traffic jams, and trolling for parking are no more.)

[Amy]

I love all of these ideas and being fuel-efficient is always a good thing. However, I wonder and worry about whether people are reacting to increasing gas prices as if it's a short-term thing? What if it's forever? Do we (employers) continue to subsidize? Anyone else a chronic worrier like me that sees a potentially slippery slope?

[Michael Moore]

Great summary of available options. I happen to think the 4-ten hour day workweek and some options for telecommuting will be adopted by many employers in the next six months. The state of Utah and many municipalities are already adopting modified workweeks even though it means that the government services are available for fewer days.

[Ann Bares]

Almost:

Sounds like you are ahead of the curve... and reaping the benefits!

Amy:

I am with you. I think this is the new norm, not a temporary blip, and we should be approaching it with a longer-term mindset. And subsidies can indeed be a slippery slope fueled by the (apparent) short-term assumption that this is a problem that will eventually reverse itself. What happens if gas prices continue to increase indefinitely, and you've set a precedent for covering the cost? Its enough to make any chronic worrier bite their nails :)

Michael:

If Amy and I are right that this is indeed a longer-term challenge, then restructured work arrangements like the 4 day workweek and telecommuting make good sense and should be adopted by more and more employers. I'd bet that the state of Utah is on the leading edge of what will be a growing trend. All makes sense to me!

Thanks all for the comments!

[HR Wench]

Thanks for sharing this! Good info. Just pointed an HR person from our blogging group to this post as a resource. :)

[Ann Bares]

Thanks, Wenchie! Glad to hear that the info is helpful. That is part of my blogging mission - to put the helpful data that crosses my desk out for the world to access!

[Chris Young]

Thanks for relaying the info Ann! I featured your highlights of the survey as one my top blog picks for the past week which can be found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2008/07/the-rainmaker-1.html

Be well!

Chris Young

[Ann Bares]

Chris:

Cool! Thanks for the feature in your "Fab Five" Blog picks! Readers, click on through to see the other great posts that Chris has featured.