In virtually every company, parking spaces are at a premium. Organizations seek to invest in making their space as productive as possible, and car lots simply don’t achieve much. That said, there is a necessity for getting workers into your office.
This is how business parking problems – such as cost, space and management – start to appear Thankfully, there are a number of incentives to reduce these issues and we want to share them with you here.
Corporate Parking Problems
What are the most common problems when it comes to business parking? Specifically, there are two key, intertwined issues:
- Cost. Managing lots of spaces costs money, through both monitoring the spaces and general maintenance. This is a cost that scales up when you expand, too.
- Space. Parking takes up a lot of space and few companies have endless real estate to choose from. When parking is an increased demand, businesses have to choose more lots at the expense of genuine expansion.
For employees, there’s also the fact such in-demand parking is far from relaxing. Trying to find a space every morning only adds to the stress, while such a high number of vehicles leaving and arriving at the same time (since most businesses operate in shifts) only creates traffic bottlenecks as well.
In other words, it creates company parking problems for everyone. Nobody benefits.
Corporate Parking Cost Reduction Programs
So, how can you solve such company parking problems in your own business? Here’s a run down of some of the most popular and effective approaches.
Cash-out
This is about as simple as it gets: offer employees a direct cash incentive for giving up their assigned spots. Specifically, this needs to be a monthly fee, not a one-time payment.
Getting the exact figure right is key. After all, it needs to be meaningful enough to the employee, but at the same cost as managing the spot itself.
Also don’t forget that you’re not providing any specific means of alternative transportation here, just the incentive for employees to find their own way. If they decide to use public transport, this is a cost to them (and something your cash-out incentive needs to cover, at the very least), so please keep this in mind – not everyone will immediately take up such an offer due to other factors.
Bike & Walking Incentives
Similar to a cash-out program, you can offer fiscal incentives for those that choose to walk or use a bicycle. The benefits towards business parking problems is clear: bicycles take up much less space, while walking takes none at all.
Many such initiatives exist around the world already, and they come in many forms:
- Many company’s offer an ‘earn-a-bike’ program. If people commit to enough rides to work in a year, they get vouches to cover (some or all) of the costs of a new bicycle.
- Regular incentives, even just a few dollars a day, to ride to work will keep employees motivated. This can also apply to those who walk.
- Free vouchers or public transport passes are also a great idea. Bad weather can happen, so there will be days people don’t want to talk or cycle, but still need the motivation to give up their vehicle.
It’s important to have a flexible system to support people who live in different areas. For those who live further away, carpooling (which we’ll get to soon) and public transport are the most likely options, whereas those that live closer may favour cycling and walking. By ensuring every option is encouraged, you’ll readily eliminate these expensive company parking problems.
Park Management Apps
For those that do still drive to work, you need a way to manage the limited spots you already have. We already developed Parkalot to solve this issue. By managing places through an app, people will know when they do – and do not – have a space reserved for them. Likewise, spaces that are otherwise unused can be assigned to waiting drivers.
Why is this important? When staff know they have a reserved space, they have nothing to worry about. On the other hand, when Parkalot lets them know this is not available, they can make other arrangements, whether its alternative transport or public parking, for example.
Furthermore, it also shows your staff how limited your parking truly is. They can see how often they’re likely to get a space and, hopefully, this should encourage some to consider one of the above options, instead of relying on their own transportation every day.
Work From Home
This one is a little different, but do your employees always need to come to work everyday? Many companies already offer flexible programs, wherein staff are allowed a number of ‘home offices’ each week or month.
Why do this? It enables staff to take days off when they need to be at home (such as when children are sick) or when they’re only working for a few hours that day (thus making the commute less vital). Allowing staff to take their less-vital days at home removes further strain on parking spaces.
The catch here, however, is to ensure that staff are trusted and can continue working from home. Such an incentive may be restricted to certain positions, or only on the condition that work performance doesn’t drop, for example.
Carpooling
Ridesharing aims to maximise the amount of occupants in a car, in turn reducing the number of parking spaces needed. Poola, for example, was created to solve this very issue.
By connecting people that live on similar routes, carpooling lets employees band together when driving to and from work. Dedicated support is essential because it eliminates all the hard work – staff don’t need to find or plan their own rideshare.
What’s more, from the employees side, they’ll all save costs, as they’re sharing the expenses between the group, in addition to any further incentives you choose to offer. You can, for example, offer similar cash-out rewards, or even offer prime parking spots for carpoolers only.
Similar to bicycle and walking incentives, however, it helps to have a ‘fall back’ option to support your team. What if the day’s designated driver is suddenly unavailable? Don’t leave the rest of the carpool without an option; support them with taxis for these difficult days, so they don’t feel the need to rely back on their own car. If they go back to using their own vehicle, your company parking problems will start to reappear, too.
How Can I Solve Corporate Parking Problems With Poola?
A centralised app such as Poola let’s your organization embrace all the wider benefits of carpooling.
- Planning. One of the reasons ridesharing often doesn’t take off is due to all the planning required. Poola solves this by offering a singular source of updates and information.
- Connecting Employees. Most of the time, people only know their most immediate coworkers, so planning a shared trip is difficult. Poola, on the other hand, connects people based on their locations, creating ideal rideshares – and help employees integrate further!
- Analytics. Because all the carpooling action happens through Poola, you can get weekly and monthly reports with everything you need to know. This will better help you understand your parking lot needs and how much strain is being reduced as a result.
How Do I Get Started?
Setting up a carpool community might seem daunting, but we’re here to help. Poola isn’t just an app – we’ll provide our ongoing support to set it up and even establish incentives (like all those listed above) to help it take off within your organization!
Do you think carpooling can benefit your company? There’s really only one way to find out – and that’s giving it a try. Contact us today and let’s see how much it helps!
