Responding to workers' frustration with soaring prices at the gas pump, employers are beefing up commuter benefits as a way to offer some financial relief, reports the Society of Human Resource Management.
For example, 42% of companies increased their mileage reimbursement to the Internal Revenue Service maximum of 50.5 cents per mile. Last year, only 13% of employers raised mileage reimbursement to the IRS cap, SHRM found.
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Other tactics that employers are using to address the gas price blues include offering flexible work schedules (26%), telecommuting options (18%), public transportation discounts (14%) and a gas card for good performance (14%).
In addition, SHRM indicates that 12% of respondents help workers to organize carpools, and 7% offer priority parking to employees who do so.
"Rising gas prices are cutting into everyone's personal budgets, so employees are taking a closer look at benefits, such as compressed work [schedules] and public transportation discounts to reduce their costs," says Susan R. Meisinger, president and CEO of SHRM.
Employers are offering extra help as a tool to retain employees and improve employee morale, she adds.
Growing trends around commuter benefits also entail providing new non-executive hires help in finding housing closer to the office (4%) and providing a monetary incentive for workers to buy hybrid cars (1%). Yet overall, SHRM found only 2% of surveyed employers offer a cost-of-living raise prompted by gas prices or stipends to employees with long commutes.
To learn more about finding cheap gas for your employees, visit GasBuddy.com.
