May 2009

SHRM Poll - Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009

Summary: Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices in May 2009

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Top strategies and programs currently in place:

1. Raising mileage reimbursement to IRS cap = 61% 2. Offering flexible work schedule (e.g., compressed work schedule,

flextime) = 48% 3. Offering telecommuting = 35%4. Providing information on alternative ways to get to the office (e.g.,

information on bus routes, finding shorter paths to the office) = 26% 5. Organizing carpools and offering public transportation discounts = 25%

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 3

Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices:

May 2009 Compared With September 2008 and May 2008

 

Percentage of Organizations Providing Assistance

May 2009(n = 453)

September 2008(n = 448)

May 2008(n = 545)

Raising mileage reimbursement to IRS cap 61% 74% 42%

Offering flexible work schedule (e.g., compressed work schedule, flex time)

48% 58% 26%

Offering telecommuting 35% 40% 18%

Providing information on alternative ways to get to the office (e.g., information on bus routes, finding shorter paths to the office)

26% 31% 13%

Organizing carpools 25% 30% 12%

Offering public transportation discounts 25% 24% 14%

Rewarding employees with gas cards 17% 28% 14%

• Between September 2008 and May 2009, there were marked decreases in the percentage of organizations that provided various types of assistance to help employees deal with climbing gas prices.

Continued on next slide

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 4

Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices:

May 2009 Compared With September 2008 and May 2008 (cont’d)

 

Percentage of Organizations Providing Assistance

May 2009(n = 453)

September 2008

(n = 448)

May 2008(n = 545)

Offering IRS Section 132 transportation accounts (pretax transportation reimbursement accounts)

16% 17% 11%

Offering to help new executive hires find housing closer to the office

7% 6% 6%

Offering to help new nonexecutive hires find housing closer to the office

6% 4% 4%

Offering commuter stipend for long commute to the office

3% 6% 2%

Offering employees cost-of-living raises as a direct result of gas prices

1% 5% 2%

Offering monetary incentive to employees to buy hybrid cars

1% 2% 1%

Offering retention bonuses to retain employees with long commute

0% 1%

Note: Blank cells indicate option was not provided during data collection*Organizations were also asked if they had plans to offer the types of assistance listed in the question. Overall most organizations that did not offer assistance as of May 2009 did not have plans to do so.

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 5

A Comparison by Year: Select Types of Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas

Prices: 2005–2009

  May 2009(n = 445)

Sept. 2008

(n = 448)

May 2008

(n = 550)

2007(n = 489)

2006(n = 380)

2005(n = 456)

Raising mileage reimbursement to IRS cap

61% 74% 42% 13% 21% 8%

Offering telecommuting 35% 40% 18% 4% 7% 6%

Organizing carpools 25% 30% 12% 6% 7% 5%

Rewarding employees with gas cards 17% 28% 14% 6%

Offering public transportation discounts 25%24%

14% 6% 8% 7%

Offering monetary incentive to employees to buy hybrid cars

1% 2% 1% 1% 0% 0%

Note: Blank cells indicate option was not provided during data collection. Multiple response options were allowed in the 2005 -2007 surveys.Only options where data from multiple years were available are included in the table.

• Since 2005, organizations have taken significant steps to provide certain types of assistance to help employees deal with the challenge of high gas prices.

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 6

Assistance Organizations Offered to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices in May 2009

Comparison by Organizational Size

• Offering flexible work schedule: Large (63%) > small (38%)• Offering priority parking to employees that carpool: Large (30%) > small

(5%), medium (12%)• Offering public transportation discounts: Large (42%) > small (16%), medium

(19%)• Organizing carpools: Large (48%) > small (9%)

Comparison by Organizational Region

• Offering telecommuting: West (50%) > Midwest (20%)• Offering public transportation discounts: West (47%) > Midwest (23%), South

(9%)

Note: Small = 1-99 employees, Medium = 100-499 employees, Large = 500 or more employees

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 7

Organization Staff Size

22%

45%

33%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Large organization (500or more employees)

Medium organization(100-499 employees)

Small organization (1-99employees)

n = 442

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 8

Organization Sector

9%

21%

24%

46%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Government sector

Nonprofit organization

Publicly owned forprofit

Privately owned forprofit

n = 448

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 9

Organization Region

15%

23%

25%

37%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Northeast

West

South

Midwest

n = 432

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009

Organizational Industry

Industry

Manufacturing—other 15%

Services—professional, scientific, technical, legal, engineering 12%

Health care, social assistance (e.g., nursing homes, EAP providers) 9%

Financial services (e.g., banking) 8%

Government/public administration—federal, state/local, tribal 7%

Educational services/education 6%

Other services (e.g., nonprofit, church/religious organizations) 6%

High-tech 4%

Transportation, warehousing (e.g., distribution) 4%

Construction, mining, oil and gas 4%

Services—accommodation, food and drinking places 4%

Insurance 3%

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(n = 450) Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009

Organizational Industry (cont.)

Industry

Retail/wholesale trade 3%

Telecommunications 3%

Utilities 2%

Consulting 2%

Real estate, rental, leasing 2%

Manufacturing—auto/auto-related 1%

Publishing, broadcasting, other media 1%

Association—professional/trade 1%

Arts, entertainment, recreation 1%

Biotech 1%

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Note: (n = 450) Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

©SHRM 2009 SHRM Poll May 5, 2009 12

Assistance Organizations Offer to Help Employees Deal With High Gas Prices in May 2009

• Response rate = 16%• Sample comprised of 450 randomly selected

HR professionals from SHRM’s membership.• Margin of error = +/- 5%.• Survey fielded the week of May 5, 2009.

Methodology