Commuter Benefits Programs
What are commuter benefits programs?
What are the advantages of offering commuter benefits to my employees?
Can I afford to offer commuter benefits to my employees?
How can I encourage employee participation?
What are commuter benefits programs?
Commuter benefits programs are the various programs and services employers can offer to their employees to help make their commute to work easier and more enjoyable. Some examples of commuter benefits programs include:
Providing information to employees about commuting options and using forms of transportation other than driving alone to get to work each day. Examples include: carpooling, vanpooling, telework, alternative work schedules, biking, and walking. - Subsidizing an employee's cost of commuting to work using tax-free transit benefits (such as SmartBenefits).
- Allowing employees to pay for their own transit or vanpool costs with pre-tax dollars.
- Providing Air Quality Action Days information to employees. In particular, issuing Code Red Day alerts and letting employees know what actions to take to prevent ground-level ozone from reaching unhealthy levels.
What are the advantages of offering commuter benefits to my employees?
A difficult commute can heavily impact both employees and employers. Productivity, morale, and attraction and retention are only a few examples of the many issues impacted by commuting (see Commuting Issues for more information). Providing assistance in relieving the stress, time, and cost of commuting can be a highly attractive and valued fringe benefit for employers to offer their employees. ATP makes setting up commuter benefits programs simple. We work with employers every step of the way to determine which programs will best suit their employees' needs. We then incorporate the programs into a customized Commuter Benefits Plan and work with your Commuter Benefits Coordinator to administer the plan.
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Can I afford to offer commuter benefits to my employees?
Commuter benefits programs will cost you little to implement, and will often pay for themselves in the long run. For example, the cost of providing subsidized commuter benefits (tax-free transit benefits for example) can be deducted as a normal business expense. Even better, unlike ordinary wage payments, employers do not have to pay their share of federal payroll taxes on subsidized commuter benefits. This payroll tax savings alone is usually more than enough to cover any cost of administering the program.
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How can I encourage employee participation?
Once you make the decision to offer commuter benefits, Arlington Transportation Partners offers these tips for marketing your company's programs to your employees:
- Hold a kick-off event to announce your new program or incentive.
- Distribute a pre-kick-off announcement in the form of a letter from a top manager or paycheck attachment or other broadly distributed information vehicle.
- Include articles or blurbs (for example "Commuting Tip of the Month") in your newsletter several times each year.
- Have an information table or booth at health or benefits fairs. (Arlington Transportation Partners can help with larger employers and large events.)
- Be an Air Quality Action Days participant. Distribute Air Quality Action Days and commuting information, and receive Code Red Day alerts.
- Hold occasional brown bag lunch seminars or informative discussions on commuting issues, with appropriate publicity.
- Post commuting messages periodically on your Intranet or e-mail system.
- Periodically hang flyers on your bulletin boards.
- Put a transportation information table/booth in your lobby. Arlington Transportation Partners can help larger employers do this.
- Have a prize drawing for all employees who don't drive alone, as a way of encouraging more involvment and providing an incentive.