Bringing Your Employees Back to the Office? Take the Stress Out of Their Commute with These Tips
As businesses across industries invite employees back to the office, the transition from remote work to in-person attendance comes with a significant challenge: the daily commute. For many, commuting ranks among the least enjoyable aspects of the workday, contributing to stress, fatigue, and decreased productivity. However, organizations can play an active role in making the journey to and from the office less burdensome. There are tons of ways companies can support their employees’ well-being while enhancing overall workplace satisfaction with a variety of commuter solutions.
Here are actionable tips to ease commuting stress and ensure a smoother return to office life.
Foster a Culture of Carpooling
Carpooling is an effective way to alleviate commuting stress while benefiting the environment. Sharing rides with colleagues reduces fuel expenses, minimizes wear and tear on vehicles, and fosters a sense of camaraderie among team members. Here’s how to make carpooling an attractive option for your employees:
Establish a Carpool Matching Program: With goCommute’s simple rideshare matching, we connect employees who live in the same area. Specialized tools like the ConnectingVA app can also streamline the process by helping employees find rideshare partners.
Offer Incentives for Carpoolers: To encourage participation, consider offering benefits like priority parking spaces, discounted parking fees, or gift cards for regular carpoolers. A small gesture can go a long way in motivating employees to give carpooling a try. At goCommute, one of our best employer solutions includes real-time data. This data can help you see who amongst your employees are logging their trips most frequently or using the rideshare features. It’s an easy way to foster a little competition amongst your employees that extends beyond their typical work tasks!
Educate Employees on the Benefits: Highlight the advantages of carpooling, including cost savings, reduced carbon footprints, and the opportunity to build relationships with coworkers. Sharing success stories from employees who have embraced carpooling can inspire others to join. When you work with goCommute, we can provide you with informational materials that speak directly to your employees and their needs.
Promote Public Transit
Public transit can be a viable and stress-free option for many employees, particularly in urban areas. Companies can take proactive steps to make public transit more accessible and appealing. Here are some suggestions for encouraging public transit usage amongst your employees:
Subsidize Transit Passes: Offering subsidies or fully covering the cost of monthly transit passes can significantly reduce financial barriers for employees. Many organizations find that this investment pays off through higher employee satisfaction and retention rates. goCommute works directly with local transit provider Hampton Roads Transit to manage the GoPass365 and GoSemester programs. Participants in these programs receive a heavily discounted transit pass that is valid for an entire year on all modes of transit. It’s even valid for use outside of the employee’s working hours, helping to encourage frequent transit use.
Research Your Closest Transit Stop: There’s nothing wrong with taking a quick look at Google Maps or your transit providers’ system map to see the closest transit stop to your business. Whether it’s bus, train, ferry, microtransit, there’s a big chance transit is available near your business. If you’re unsure, goCommute can work with you to identify transit stops or inquire about adding a stop to a route near your business.
Teach Your Employees to Use Transit: Many transit agencies offer travel training, where certified employees of the local transit system take groups out on a pre-determined route to show them how to ride. Think of it as a mini-field trip for your employees! They’ll love to get out and explore, all while learning to use the public transit system available to them.
Embrace the Telework Movement
The bottom line is that remote work isn’t going anywhere. Even if you enjoy being in the office, a good leader remembers that the people they lead aren’t all the same. You aren’t leading a cookie-cutter group of in-office-supporters. Embracing the telework movement and offering hybrid schedules and flexibility can go a long way in employee retention. When employees feel as though their needs and differences are met, they are more likely to stay at a job - and perform their best in that role. If you’re still struggling with the idea of not having your employees under your watchful eye at the office, here are some easy things you can implement that might alleviate some of your concerns:
Stagger Start and End Times: On the days you bring employees into the office, you can reduce traffic during rush hour by allowing your employees to come in and leave at different times. Consider setting ‘core’ hours, such as 10am - 2pm, where everyone should be ‘on’ (either via Teams, Slack, or in-office), but give employees the flexibility to start/end their days before or after those times.
Opt for A Four-Day Work Week: Still want your employees physically in the building you’re paying for? (We get it, rent isn’t cheap, and neither are utility bills these days.) Opt for a four-day work week! Rotate employees’ schedules so everyone’s four-days looks different. That way, at least one person per team is in the office all five days. Giving employees that fifth day ‘off’ also allows them to go to doctor’s appointments, grocery shop, and more, all without being on company time while doing so.
Invest in Technical Tools: These days, there are so many online tools, such as Slack and Teams, that can really go a long way in keeping your team members connected, even in a virtual landscape. A hybrid model doesn’t mean sacrificing teamwork - it’s about finding smarter ways to achieve it! At goCommute, we can work with you to create a meaningful and successful telework program that keeps you and your employees happy.
Consider More than Just Cars
Employees shouldn’t all need a car to get to and from your offices. And, when it comes to commuter solutions, cars aren’t the only option for employees to reduce commuter stress. Here are some additional ways you can make your office commuter friendly:
Adopt a Vanpool Program: A unique solution to reducing the number of cars in your business parking lot is vanpooling. With goCommute, our vanpool programs even provide financial incentives to new vanpools and vanpools who need a little extra support if they lose a member or two. When 7 - 12 people all live along the route to and from work, they can establish a registered vanpool to reduce the number of cars on the road.
Install Bike and Pedestrian-Friendly Infrastructure: Whether you install a bike repair station in front of your business, add designated bike parking spaces, or you place a few benches near your business, creating a space that encourages active transportation can help your employees commute smarter. It gives them a way to stay healthy and active while helping the environment and reducing their commuting stress.
Bring in the Experts: You shouldn’t have to do it all. That’s where we come in! Our team of Commuter Outreach Specialists at goCommute are the experts at finding ways to make your business the model for ways people can commute smarter. Whether it’s detailed reporting, presentations or even attending your internal events, we’re here for you.
The Bottom Line
Bringing employees back to the office is a big move. While there’s a lot of research that indicates working remote is better for the environment and employee satisfaction, at goCommute, we get that there are just some jobs that need to be on-site. Despite the essential status of some roles, employees in a variety of industries can utilize all our solutions to make every commute smarter. Let’s work together!