Small Business Webinar
All, right everyone welcome to today's webinar. Better, commute happier. Staffs enhancing. The employee. Communiques, Tyrians my name is Norma and I'm with the SBA. Massachusetts. District, office here in Boston, Massachusetts and. Today. We're, lucky to be working. With. Adam. Arnold who, is the program management lead with urban trance. Adam. Works with mass, rides the Massachusetts, travel options program to encourage Massachusetts. Commuters, to choose more sustainable, travel options. Building. On over a decade of experience in, this field, Adam currently, works with government, agencies property. Managers employers, across the US and Canada to develop, and deliver commute. Option, programs. Committed. To building capacity and skills in this field, Adam frequently, leads, professional. Development workshops including a popular series with, businesses, as they. Prepare. For the 2015. As. They prepared, for the 2015. Pan Am Games in Toronto. He's, based in Toronto and. Dedicated. Year-round bike, commuter for, having the winters on two wheels as a self-proclaimed, biking. Biker. If, you haven't, signed up for the fbms, uses. Email. Alerts sign, up at sba.gov backslash, MA and, we got some, other. Great events coming up but I'm going to hand it over to Adam now to start this presentation. Wonderful. Thank, You Norman and, thanks. Folks for joining today, certainly. A pleasure, to be here this morning. I am, from, Toronto but I I'm, actually doing this presentation from Boston is a pleasure to be down in Massachusetts, and. Connecting with you folks. What. We wanted to talk to you today a little bit about is the. Impact, that the, commute and improving commuter. Particularly. For you as a as a small small. Business so, mass rise has put together a. Really. Helpful guide to, start looking some these issues and help you this business address, some of those issues and we. Wanted to give you an overview of that guy point you in the direction of it and get. You thinking about some of these these, ideas, that maybe help improve, employee commute and improve, how. Your staff feel about their trip and then hopefully how they feel about work. I'm. Just going to start scrolling through here so really the goals of the session today, threefold, so we want you to understand. How. Can you options program can benefit your employees, we're, going to learn a little bit how. To identify and, act on certain opportunities, that can improve that employee can you and, give, you some insights, into program, support, that might be available to, your workplace so you will talk about a lot of things today that, you might think much these are some big ideas, I'm not real sure where I get started, to Paulo the aim, of today is to introduce you to some of the support that's available, so. You don't feel that you have to be sing on your own and if you see value in it know who to reach out to it and connect with so. Before yes so I think this is as, I mentioned our commute options program, toolkit so this is talking. That's available online commute. Comm you can go on there and we will give you the website, address at the end of this presentation. That. Song it has a lots of great information on, how, a commute, option program can work for small medium-sized, employers, and. Practical. Idea template. Different. Tools that you can use so, this presentation, this webinar is to introduce you to that certainly. Recommend that you go and take a look at that if these things that are interesting use a lots more detail, in there lots more things you can find out we're not going to go through every element of it too. Much to cover in an hour and I think you, may fall asleep but we want to give you kind of a taster that it to you interested. In exploring, a little further, so. To take a little setback and Norma. Gave us a bit of an introduction just, to give you information about math right which, you may not be familiar with the matter is a free program of, the. Massachusetts, Department of Transportation it's. Really designed to help reduce traffic congestion and, improve air, quality and, mobility so it's about how people move, around the, state and reducing.
The Congestion. That we have one, second as, close. Reducing. Congestion and obviously than the the, subsequent. Impact on air quality so, mass rides primarily works with employers and, commuters. And in the Commonwealth to promote the use of communes, so it's really focusing, on employers. Where the. Reason that most people are on their own in the morning in their evenings because they're traveling to work so mass wise works with those those, audiences, to look at what other options are available to, encourage, people to drive less and think about alternative, options, you. Know they might be carpooling, like cycling. Transit whatever those different options are so, each year the efforts of mass tries to help lessen traffic, congestion by reducing more than 23, million miles driven keep, more than 10,000 tons of pollution out of the air we breathe so we these programs have a significant, impact and we want to make sure we can kind of open them up to some, of our smaller employers that they can contribute. To that impact, so, what do we mean by commute, options program, here's my textbook definition, a, collection, of strategies designed, to reduce roadway, congestion, and demand for single occupancy vehicle travel by redistributing travel, demand to alternative, travel modes of types and routes easy, for me to say what, do we really mean when we talk about commute. Options program, what. We're talking about is again decreasing, the amount of traffic, on the road decrease in congestion reducing, the number of cars traveling around decreasing. The amount of miss admissions, that we create through all that driving so, very simply reducing, those those those, factors. And then looking at increasing different. Modes of transit so increasing. Them people running the bus increasing, the number of people carpooling, number, of people riding a bike the number of people walking to work giving, people the option so they can choose those alternatives, and, make better choices to, really acts, on those. Reductions, that we're looking for but why should you care you're. A small business you have lots of things going on perhaps. Availability. Being green it kind of an interest to you but it's really not a major factor within your business operation, you, know maybe another tree hugger maybe it's, not something that you're concerned about so, I want, to make the case to you as to why you should think about these elements and, through, the toolkit you'll see outlined these, five main areas and you'll see I think at a quick glance none of those says save, the planet now those says you. Know environment, this is all about impact, when it has on your organization. And in your operations so. Reason is five key areas and we'll go through these fairly, quickly first. In tax benefit, corporate. Culture, impacts. On cost reductions, for you start, recruitment, and retention and, then finally business continuity so, these are kind of some of the reasons that you might want to think about a canoe options program. So. Very, quickly will give an overview I won't profess to being any kind of you know tax expert, but again, give you a heads up this is something that's out there and you can look to the toolkit for more information, there, is a community choice federal tax benefit available, based. On that section one three to the federal tax code it, allows you as an employer to offer employees, financial, incentives, for using alternative, communes, so commuters pay for a qualifying transportation, expense, transit, passes sample. Fares and more and then they get a tax benefit, on that there's. A number of ways that they can access that. Either. With. The employee paying so the employee can use up to two hundred twenty-five dollars of pre-tax, income per.
Month To pay for transit or a vample, seat. Through, their payroll deduction and we'll talk a little bit about vanpools, if you're not quite sure those are so. Similar to a sensible savings, plan so, there's no income tax paid on that benefit, employer stays then, through the reduce payroll taxes, so that's a few employees paying. On. The. On. The other side if the employer chooses to pay so an employer can give up to two hundred fifty five dollars a month so the cost of a transit, or a vample fair and. The employer then receives a tax deductions the amount given and also that saves over, providing, that same value in gross, income so again as a, saving, available, to you there as a small business all those accommodative combination, of the both of you lawyer can pay a bit employee, pays a bit and and, there's a pre-tax, payroll deductions, to that as well so lots of opportunities. To to. Access that for employees obviously taking a great benefit for employees but impact. Against for, you specifically. As a business owner, there's. Also within the state a massachusetts. Commuter deduction, so that's something that's available to your employees, through. Their individual, tax return so that can be a certain amount of. A. Deduction, for weekly or monthly transit, passes out of MBTA, or your local transit. Agency or for, evening car so, again there's lots of information on this certainly take a look through that toolkit, to get some more details on that and, you and possibly find the relevant section through the different tax. Information sources but again just something to be aware of this is something that's available to, you. So. Looking through those other those. Other circles, of why this might be of interest to you so corporate culture is a significant, piece so obviously, a corporate, culture a good, friendly. And productive, corporate culture and it helps your business succeed, and a canoe program can really help address. Some of those issues, there's certainly great synergy with corporate wellness programs so when we talk about cycling, and walking to. Work that's a great fit if you're encouraging, yourself to be more more, active and more healthy and certainly. Been shown to improve employee, productivity and, reduce stress so its, employees, arriving at work and maybe they they, weren't stuck in traffic or, they you know they weren't late because of being stuck in traffic even have that stress of driving we will be you know and we're driving I was kind of white-knuckling it through traffic. Congestion people, arriving near, more calm and more likely to be more productive they're more likely to be on time that's always a huge benefit to you reducing. That late arrivals, and absenteeism, you, know often. We find folks in particularly retaining, transit tend to be on a more reliable, regular, schedule. Because. You know those types. Of modes tend, to be more reliable in themselves they mentioned the physical health benefits, so not only with walking and cycling increasing. Activity people, who take the bus or the train and the MBTA they're, likely to be walkers too unless you were very fortunate to live above exactly, where your bus station is chances, are you water your bus stop when you water at the end of your group so again that's boosting, that physical activity it's. Also a great opportunity to showcase your. Business as a positive member of the, Society, of local, community great wave shows that you've got some green credentials, so maybe you are not personally, invested in the environmental, message but showcasing, that that's the kind of organisation, if you are the you value environmental, sustainability. That can again, add value to you as a corporation. As an organization, so. The cost reduction. Having. Few people drive to, your office and your workplace can reduce the need for parking so it can reduce the need for building, new parking expanding, it but even so maintaining, that parking parking.
Easily But could cost you. For. Some organization, gene you don't charge your employees for that but you are incurring some costs around that so if you can happier people parking it's gonna cost you a little less money we, have fewer cars on the road you, can easier, access and traffic flow for goods movement so, you're producing goods. You're getting them shipped around the state around the country this, is less traffic it's much easier and quicker thing to move those things around it in all of our interest to reduce, that congestion on the road and then, finding it on a very specific level, and this is only really applicable. Participating. In a master's program can, help you meet Department. Of Environmental Protection rideshare. Regulation, program implementation, and reporting, requirements that. Is applicable if that means anything to you this is applicable if it doesn't mean anything to you you don't have to worry about it but again it's something that can help address some of those those, barriers in, cost. Self. Recruitment, and retention hugely. Valuable again. We mentioned your commute options programs, can help in productivity, they help result. In higher morale knowing, that you your, workplace, have. Access to different. Modes different ways of getting to, work can, make employees happier to work that is not a stressful time not having to worry about that can you is one that thinks that, they. Have to think about day to day and, and. Makes your workplace more attractive, to them you can certainly help recruit some of that top talent, we, know with the Millennial workforce, and new workforce entrants, commute, options are really in high demand so it's a very important. Factor to allow. Start. To have different commute options we, know multiple, situations where the. Companies had to struggle. To hire folks talent. Has turned down jobs. Because there's. A new options package for them there you know, any old may not have access to a vehicle they need those alternatives, so it certainly makes you more, attractive to that top talent. So. When we talk about alternative. Commute modes I mean we're really talking today primarily, about carpooling. And cycling in transit but even, thing but telework flexible, working they, are really important, to again new entrants to the workforce having, that flexibility, to work from home that can be part of your commute or program, too so, offering that makes you more attractive also. Giving that better access can give you access to lower income workers who maybe don't have access to vehicles again if you've got a location. Is not. Accessible by transit for example, but you have a large workforce you don't have access to vehicles how do people get there how are you making sure that you can access that that workforce as well and. Then business continuity. You. Know a great way of making, sure that you prepare to deal with things, that can that can come up to that first picture there this is this, is a picture of the collapse. Of the i-85 in Atlanta which you may have seen a few months ago, this. Is a program when all of a sudden a major, highway collapsed, and people can't, get to work so, a commute options program, can, help support your operations, when the unexpected occurred, so when that road closes, down when something you weren't expecting, to happen happen can, your company can your workplace, still keep tracking people home, can, they find different ways of getting to work if we wrote closes, to make sure that operations can keep going they might happen through office through natural, disasters, weather, events it might be temporary, closures, special events maybe. Maybe Trump. Is coming to town maybe there's different shutdowns, on transit, that you need to allow for how do we make sure that the eggs start to move around as their, external, situations, change.
So. That's kind of why. Again. You take a look through the toolkit and see and, you can get some real good understandings. Of some of those other reasons. To think about these programs how, do you go about building a program again, we know you are busy people we. Certainly don't want to suggest this is a massive. Undertaking that, should, distract from what you're doing day to day but, it is valuable to build a program building a program that has some formality, to it helps. Provide self without those engine options so as, you'll see the toolkit we, really have life out learning in 3 3 main areas of thinking, the planning and the acting so. I'm going to take you through those that the first page being being, thinking about how you can you build up programs to, real key elements, in that one, is the, identification of what we call an employer transportation. Coordinator that. Is someone who is really literally, Azon between a group might matter eyes you have all this information can provide all the support can. Give you great ideas on, on different programs on transit, information on cycling, on carpooling, and then, but also that person has the year of the start they're the person who can getting it out you can put a poster up you can do, you know understand the staff to, know what kind of programs are going to work better there and then, a workplace, assessment, is understanding, really a lot more about your workplace it, what kind of programs are useful to you what makes sense what doesn't so, again, when we talk about the employee transportation, coordinator there the person reading is going to be responsible for leading that program it might be coming with an office manager, it might be someone in Human Resources really depend on your organization, on the size of it but it's usually someone who has great connections devoted other Department, is. Interested, in this subject potentially, but has it set an understanding. Why this might be useful. Because. It could be an office manager it could be someone in sustainability, if you have that kind of team it could be your facilities guy doesn't, really matter, as long as they have that connection and, knowing. That is the best fit for your workplace, we. Often find that senior employees can be more successful because they have the ability to make decisions on these programs and saying this is something that we want to implement but, obviously we need to balance them, having the time to do something like that with the ability to say that something. Like that can some, kind of programming can happen so again. I think that the key message is the, right person for your workplace you probably know already, as I say those who would be in your workplace the best person to to do this kind of thing when.
We Talk about assessing, need again, this doesn't need to be particularly heavy-handed. Some key things that you want to know about, your workforce though where, are people living and how do they get to work that's, the significance. If. You know that most of your employees live within five kilometers maybe. It's worth talking about in cycling, as an option. However. If you know that most your employees live you know thirty kilometers, away and none of them are really close to a transit line then, maybe you need to think about a program like a carpooling program, we're going to the details of what we mean by those programs in a second but knowing, where people live and how they can t get to work helps you understand, their, current situation it's, also useful to understand how you can what, the kind of things you can provide to start to encourage them to change their behavior so. What's interesting what's going to make someone think about, taking a carpool is it, a parking, space is it a financial incentive is it any bills you could find someone to match with all different things so understanding. That those, those motivations, is important. It's something that you can do through a survey, a very simple survey and again something that master ID can can, help you with if you're a much smaller organization, maybe there's four or five you there you might know this stuff already you. Might be able to have it discuss, it over lunch but, understanding. That it's going to help you build that program, some. Other factors to consider too, though or business travel so where are people going through the week are people in and out of the office do they need their car for a particular reason other ways of. Having. People travel, differently for work during the week in the travel by transit, can they make a poool, trip those kind of things and, do you offer things like web conferencing, or other technology, the. During. This session today as, a webinar helps us to reach a lot more people and. It may be helped, from. Your perspective enables, people to travel let you know maybe they don't need to go to every meeting off site they can do things more remotely and then. Understanding, a little bit about your site itself, do. You have any parking issues is that a major concern for you are. You close to a transit line you close to a bike route and do you have something like a sustainability. Strategy strategy something that said yeah we are committed to improving. Environmental. Sustainability, this, is something that we could contribute to so, understanding, all these elements can help you kind, of figure out okay we know what, we want to offer we, know the kind of people that we have these are the kind of idea. That we should we should think about. And. Now there's really the, exciting part is thinking about how you develop that time so you've got a good understanding of your workforce, you've got to get an understanding of the needs of people what. Are you actually going to do for them what kind of things can you offer so, what I want to take you through is it's. Really that some of the strategies that you can look at and again if, you take a look through the toolkit the toolkit that's available there's, a lot more detail in there about all these different elements ideas. For programming, examples, and such but this is really just to give you a little, bit of an overview. So.
As I said at the start when we talk about too many options we're talking about these different ways of moving around outside of driving alone one. Of the major ones is Austin carpooling, so carpooling I think in familiar to most people the idea of sharing a ride to work and with. A colleague someone who lives near you and works me or even same office sharing. That ride the, obviously the benefits there are significant. In reducing. The. Amount of driving to under the amount of money we spent on gas takes. It any a car off the road every time someone's sharing that ride it. Also gives you access to things like high occupancy vehicle lanes which may get, you to work more quickly, avoiding, some of that traffic so. It's only an. Easier, thing for, employees, to get involved in something that can be flexible, doesn't, have to be something that they can make sure every day something, that can be picked up and again within a small workplace often this is very easy to do you know, who, lives near you and you know every couple of every. Couple days we're going to we're going to share a ride together, so. From, the employer, perspective it's, really about having encouraged people to to, find that that's arrived in each other so finding. Connections. Informally. Or finding connections, through something like new right so new ride in the website provided. By mass rides that. Employees. Can go on and find, a carful match so they can put their information in turn coming from this particular location I'm traveling to, this destination is there anyone in this area that I could connect with and find a match with a. Great, way to connect specially for a smaller business where perhaps, maybe. There's not a huge pool of people within your organization but. You're in an area where there are a lot of other small businesses so maybe you find someone who works at the business next door or down the road something like that so, again that's something that employees from setting take a look at think, about from your perspective providing. Things like reserved parking for carpoolers so, if your parking lot is full people, always fighting, over that one spaces, near the front door especially, in the winter, you know can you provide a reserved parking space, so sometimes carpooling, is a great benefit for them you know tangible, benefit that might encourage them to say you know what this is worth my time. Sharing, our over someone because I get this great space in the summer. Making, the next step. Think, about how can you financially, intent to, carpool so maybe if, you charge for parking although, a. Lot. Of union charges for parking can, we give them a discount if a carpool can, we give them at some kind of daily allowance, to saying that we set if you carpool we're going to get me through about today's are doing it this is certainly something we've seen some. Workplaces do and, it's a really great motivator, for an individual, to say you know I'm going to get a little bit of cash my pocket if I choose to carpool so again, some, broad ideas around carpooling, and a lot, more sort of detailed within that within that toolkit, when. We talk about transit. Obviously. It depends on your, location I mean closer transit, but, encouraging, employees to take the train or bus to work to be really effective it's a great way of going to work if it's convenient, for you it's you. Know a great amount of time if you're not driving it's out on the Basking is your chance to read to work check. Facebook whatever reasons you want to do. Certainly. Something. That we definitely like to encourage how do you get employees to do that, in. Addition to providing. Information so, letting people know that there is a bus stop outside work and this is where the bus goes to that can be certainly, a significant. Piece think, about offering a discount transit, pass to lots, of the local transit, agencies have transit. Passes discount, programs that are available to employers that you can provide to, give them a break on that on that cost think. About also that information, piece is really key so a lot of people one, of the big barriers to transit, it's not necessarily, that they don't, have a bus route that serves them but they just don't know where it goes they see that same bus stop outside their office every day it, might not have any idea that it takes them pretty close to home so using, something like a trip, planning tool through Google Transit.
Very Easy be used in the same way that you might get driving directions you're plugging in directions of where you want to go click, on the little bus up icon on the Google map and find, out exactly you know how long it's going to take you to get home you might find out you know it's only going to taking about 10 P 10 minutes longer but it's a really easy route and I get to read my book on the way home so, giving that information can help people, sort of see that this, might be a realistic option for them. Cycling. Again you know something. That we love to promote obviously. Great for keeping help being great for saving money we've, recognized it's certainly not feasible for everybody, either because you they're too far from work maybe, you don't want to bike in the winter and everyone's crazy means which. I totally understand. But. Think about how quickly an option for people some other time what kinds of opportunities around, there and. Again there's different ways of thinking about some of it is around information many, people know it's, convenient, to buy. Good it might only take in 20 minutes and again something like Google can, help me map that kind of route thing, where things like bike share programs, as well so, why. Share is, amazing, in Boston we have a hub way program, bike, share programs are really the opportunity to borrow a bike for a set period of time well the nice thing about bike share might not be suitable for for. Getting to and from work but it might be something that someone could use for example during a lunch hour to, run an errand or go to it and go on a business site. Visit or a trip, to a client something like that which means that they didn't leave their car that day so maybe they could take the bus in because during the day they don't need access to their own vehicle. There. Are things like bicycle, use a group so we often see this in smaller, firms where the, folksy do cycle, is the collectivism they're already keen they're a network they will feed off each other this year bike routes that, can be great for new cyclists too because one of the big barriers as I said is you know I don't know so maybe it's a safe I don't know my way I don't, know which route to take so connecting with people who already do find, their bikes is a great way to build confidence for.
Individuals, On the. Employer, side to thinking about the infrastructure, you allow so bike, storage is really important here where do i lock my bike we know some people spend all the money I was a very fancy bikes you, know you spend that 2,000, bucks on this beautiful road. Bike, right. Where do you want it where do you want to store that so making sure that someone's secure it might be a rack, outside it might be internal it might be as, part of your parking, structure, so thinking about where they can safely store is really important. Additionally. Shower and locker facilities, so yeah, well we talked about shouting you're right maybe not in writing in the bad weather also, writing you know whether like we have this, week was really hot little steamy people, might be reluctant to write a Sicilian. We're gonna get to work, in a state that I don't want to be be. At it works for giving up some of the opportunity to shower have access to a locker facilities where they can they, can keep their their belongings. Secure is important. Repair. Stations can also be part of that so, repair stations and you may have seen means around that, they begin to pop up more and more frequently so repair stations are really sort of a like a glorified. Bike, pump but it has tools, attached, to it it's secured, so an employee can come they can put some air in the tires anything can tighten up their brakes whatever it is and that's available to them on-site as well and finding, you know information and training letting, people know about how they can move around and. Giving. Them some information on, on. Safe cycling and bike routes that kind of thing. Walking. Kind, of taking a step. Of becoming, more and more sustainable, as we as we move down this ladder. Walking. Is a great option, obviously, if you're close enough to walk to work it's fantastic, it's. Great to use it, employee. I think it encourages, more walkable communities, having people out on the streets it's. A great thing to see obviously people who are walking often, around walking in they're spending money in the community too so people if people are walking through it that's a great option again. In my not work perfect might not live within that walking distance we know that's not an option for a lot of people but I think encouraging, that I think people know that they, can do that maybe having a more relaxed dress code if someone does want to walk to work, you don't feel they have to do it in you're really, uncomfortable, dress shoes for example they can, make that more comfortably, that's something to emphasize, things. Like walking workshops, walking, meetings so, again the idea that maybe someone's, not gonna walk to work but they might be interested in walking at lunch lunch time they might be interested in having a warden Club they might be interested in getting at having a meeting while they're walking what, we tend to find that helps with is getting people, educated about, differences, of walking and how enjoyable walking can be so. Maybe you're never going to walk to work because you live 30 kilometres so, maybe when you get, used to walking at work, you're more employed when you're at home in your neighborhood to, take a walk you're more inclined to walk to the grocery store because actually you know 20 minutes isn't that that, difficult to to try and deal with and. Then, finally in terms of options thinking, about flexible, work so. Really encompasses. All the elements, of working.
From Home, having. Flexible work hours certainly. Been shown to increase. Productivity, improve, job satisfaction having, that flexibility, now one day a week I need to work from home. You. Know it gives me the freedom to do that that's a really, valued by a, lot, of it employees, as I said a little any old enjoy that and it's something that I think we're becoming more and more used, to I think a lot of us especially within the small business world we're probably already doing this and we don't realize every, time you know we check our phones and it's 7 o'clock at night we're sending an email, you know that's working from home that's flexible working so that the infrastructure is there we're already doing it but giving it important the opportunity to do it formally and. Have that option and again, keep, them off the roads is a great option how. Do you do that it can be it, can be complex you. Might have existing. Policies. That you might want to expand or promote if you don't have a policy of something that you would certainly want to work with HR, or an HR human resources consultant to. Understand, you know what kind of policy is going to work for your organization's, what, kind of star for eligible for this who's it going to work for you know it is something that, it. Is suitable for you you, might want to pilot that program for a trial period, you don't necessarily want to say also everyone, can work from home all the time think. About you know maybe once you, days a week for a set number of weeks maybe, a couple of staff we can do so you can understand what works for you, a. Different. Element of a faithful work is then this idea of a compressed, workweek or a flexible, schedule so maybe someone is in the obvious every day but. They're working longer hours so, they and maybe they take a Friday off or their schedule is such that they're starting early and finishing, early that, flexibility. You know it, may. Not necessarily remove, vehicles, from the road but, it what it does is you know might shift some of those travel times so in terms of congestion we have more people traveling earlier. Leaving. And starting, work earlier that starts to spread that load of congestion, and can certainly contribute, to one of those key goals. Other strategies that don't really fall into those particular modes, I mean you might want to think about something, called an emergency right home program, so that's something that we offered in partnership with mass ride emergency. Right home is really an, insurance, program for people who choose these, modes so often we hear from people you, know I would carpool, I would say the but what happens if I get stuck at work what happens is the school calls and I, need, to be able to get my kid and I didn't drive today and I'm stuck so. The emergency ride home program is there to offer you a, cab. Ride home in the event of an emergency that. Cameron isn't reimbursed, through the master's program lots, of more details are going to talk it on the mechanics, of that but it's a great way to take employees, you know you can choose you can try doing this you know give it a try, we've kind of got your back.
In. Case that inevitable, happened. Other things to think about you know incentives. That really can apply to any of those different modes thinking. About you know if you choose those those particular, commute. Maybe get an additional vacation. Day maybe. We have a casual dress day maybe. You get monetary rewards that would it. Might be three, dollars later carpooling, or if you cobble for a set period of time they will give you a gas car to to, pave your carpool gas for a short amount. Of time doesn't have to be huge just something that is, it is a reward, to folks, and they could, be free lunches, we've done things with them with, workplaces you have a lot of cyclists we give them a breakfast every Friday or something like that you know everyone by feeling like this is super hungry they. Get breakfast that more interested on their part, pride rules I think can be important, getting people excited about their choosing, this and public recognition and I might be recognition, within the company to say yeah this isn't doing that doing. A great thing they're. You. Know they're contributing to their environmental, footprint. We want to recognize them or it could be broader than that you know you can say you can say this is something that reflects on us as a company we have great staff who are doing this kind of work. The. New ride program is all traveling the carpool right matching program also, have a trip tracking element in there so if you tractor, it through the Arai so if you say you know what I'm carpooling, you can also y'all know you create account and say I carpooled, twice this week you, can earn incentives through, that program so, they can meet you know. Discount. To two local stores gift, cards. Things that kind, like any other points program you can build those those points up and get some of those incentives, we. Often tie those into the thing about community challenges, so where, we say to people you know we're not going to ask you to take, up carpooling for, the rest of your career, we're going to have a week when we want you to try it twice giving them a challenge who's going to carve all the service who's, going to take this initiative on that, can be something again that certain, intent people and again the the tax benefit I think is a great incentive to to keep referencing for, four stars. Okay, so. How do we choose. Giving, you all these options lots of information you go back to that toolkit, there's all kinds of information in there how on earth YouTube, so, we, have created it's very handy matrix, which, I will say is not quite as exciting as the original matrix but, it. Will help you try, and understand some of the best options. And opportunities that, work, for you I'll show you an example of this again I'll recommend you look at the toolkit so you can see it in more detail but it's really taking all the strategies, I've just talked about rating, them by effectiveness, different. Types of workplace you, know you're a larger smaller urban rural so then what's the best fit for you we know that not everything works for everyone but I think about which works for you so this is just a little screenshot of what that toolkit looks like certainly. You know don't attempt to read it but take a look at the toolkit you can kind of see an idea here's a bunch of strategies what kind of business am i what. Fits best with me is it worth my time putting, money into, reserving. Carpal spaces if I'm a small rural business maybe not maybe, I need to think about something else so that's a great tool that you can make use of to, kind of evaluate some of those those different options. As. You do that and aims you then to create, an action plan so again we've got a great template within that toolkit you can use very, basically and we're not suggesting you need to formalize this process but I think it helps you think through what.
Options Are best what's going to work best for you or your workplace so. The template that we're creating it as a traitor's, action items assigning responsibilities, which is always important, who's going to do it the timelines, when it's going to be done by any result is that you might want to put to it this doesn't have to be a real intensive, program but you might want to throw in a couple of hundred bucks students. Offer them a certain, prizes, or incentives, that kind of thing. The. Other one need to do is identify those opportunities to engage employees in the messaging, so how we're going to tell people about this is. It through orientation so, often, we find a great way of getting people as new staff and come on let's give them information on how they're going to get here give me all this information on your benefits on your, first day what you're going to do how you report you, know how you do, health and safety let's, include transportation, and they commute in that element too so they know the best ways of getting here if you have company newsletters, and you do a company barbecue again. Something that you can use to. Straight to those communities and engage with them. Masking. Is really. A cornerstone of these, programs and again something that math science can help with so it's really about making sure that people can be aware of the. Programs that are, taking place making. Sure that they can act on them and then really, importantly making, sure that they can maintain them, and so, I want to take it quickly through through, this part of the toolkit and again, there's lots more information I'm, not talking it you can see but, to give you an overview of these three, main areas so the first one is awareness. Fairly. Obvious but how do we make sure the staff know about the program, can. Be very traditional can be posters, can be emailed it could be at lunchtime event, something. That lets people know that this is the program that we're investing in that we think is useful for our staff that we want them to do, it to get involved in that. Toolkit has some great templates, and ideas so if we could you know use them as you need to use the wording use the pictures just to get a sense of you know this is a great, way of putting a poster up and saying we're gonna coach. People to carpool for example so. You don't have to start from scratch there's a lot of those materials are there for, you to use and to publicize. We. Talked about action, get. Stuff to give it a try so don't just talk to them about it give them an opportunity or a challenge we could try something do, things like engagement, event there's a shot of two of our very kinky leaders, our. Mass ride team, bugs, and Daffy is from from, Six Flags but, great engagement events to get people thinking about yeah this is something that, that. I could take part in I'm. Gonna try carpooling, to this particular day actually you know what it's kind of interesting maybe I'll give this a go. More. Frequently. And. Then. On the maintenance side of things having to get people to continue doing this behavior this is often the most difficult part, and this is where things like incentives, come in things like the the emergency ride home program, letting. People know if you keep doing this work keep, doing these these, behaviors, you can keep getting rewarded, see. For example here you know if you commute by car by, carpool you could earn a point and you can get a discount on your wine I can't, think of much better an incentive than that and. Certainly. Things to support. The behavior so the emergency right home is if you do this we've got your back in something something, goes awry and, then. Finally really measurement is important, again not something for you as a small business to get overly bogged down and it isn't really the goal of the program but, measuring and seeing what, kind of impact these programs can have can, help me build that internal support can help me say you know this is worth our time doing we should do more of this staff. Really value it there might be something like a before, and after Travel Survey so maybe you've done a survey, to.
Find Out a little bit about your employees you go back a year later and say you know do we do we have any impact we have more people riding, their bike or carpool lane for. Smaller organizations it, might be a focus group and that might be something is the informal sitting around over lunch and think well actually you know what I've noticed that we have way more people people taking the bus now because of some of the programs that we offer. We. Can picture looking at things like absenteeism. Productivity. You know looking at you, have those rate change. Over the course of these programs little more difficult to measure but something that could, be related to to, the improvements, in the communes, and then, on a really easy level look at your parking lot if you have people a few cars in that law actually, tell you something about the effectiveness of these programs and his worth worth, looking into I. Will. Say mash ride is here to help, you. Know I keep stressing this you know the toolkit is there as a resource for you. But. Mattified is there to introduce, these protein, shake. It and showcase some of these example, to share this best practice, to, help understand what's best for for. Your workplace. All. These kind of things that I talked about already, Ryan matching Vanport formation, tax benefits anything on that this whole list that might make you think I don't really understand what that is I'm interested in employee. Origin mapping but how do I do that work. We monetize our there as, a service is available to the business community to access, some of these services and support, these programs, so. Just, before I wrap up just. A reminder why we want you to do it these, are the five things the tax benefits the corporate culture Cost Reduction self, recruitment, retention business. Continuity, definitely, worth your time doing it how, we want you to do it think plan, and act so those four stages, four. Steps that can really, build that plan identify, what's useful to you and put, it into play. Here's. The URL for the the. Toolkit again though if you go on to commute comm you can easily find it on there as well you can create and download that PDF lots. Of great information in, there that's going to help you look. At these different programs maybe you have questions, maybe you kind, of like well maybe I'll I'll give it a thought maybe I need to read a little bit more this is the place to do that and obviously through their contact. Details on how to connect. With us if you have further, questions. So. That's everything I wanted to show you today here's, our contact details you, can connect. With us if you have questions out there and we're more than happy to answer but otherwise you can't move directly offline but. Thank you very much for your time. All. Participants are, now in interactive. Talk mode, awesome. Thank You. Adam. For sharing, that information with, us and our subscribers. Just. Quick, question is, there anybody over. At mass rides that can, work with someone, you. Know like handhold. Them through this process or, should they just follow. Along with so. I, continue. I think the most MS rides on the call that can answer to that I say you know as, a team or. How. Much more dated episodes and their job is to read what, they're ready with those work places I mean we can. Possible. Yeah it's possibly take about generally, with larger employees because of the scale but I think you know there are agents that, are interested in engaging and got some great ideas that's. Right I think. That's. Great. Rebecca. Want to add. Anything before, we close this out, you. Know I think what Adam just answered to Miss Perfect we have outreach coordinators, all over the state so we're more than happy serum, come.
Up To your website synteny, if you introduce ourselves to you help, you identify whatever. Commuter. Solution, or commuter, issues, you have in create some solutions for you and we, just called a today, for commute. Yes. You. Can do that you can also go on to the WWC, commute comm to. Get information, and then we also have a few go to our meet our staff page you, can see the outreach coordinators, who are in your territory you can also email them directly either. One will do thank. You so much Rebecca thank, you to curb, entrace and Adam Arnold for presenting. This information to our subscribers. Again. Check. Out our events coming up by sba.gov, backslash. MA. We, have, Friday. June. 23rd. There's. A managing, export, operations, and compliance, workshop. Is. Also on. Tuesday. June 27th. Is a facebook, business build a workshop over at Harvard eye lab check. It out if, you need to reach me it's Norman Eng. At sba.gov. Thanks. Everyone have, a great day.
2018-03-18 16:13
