Transportation statistics confirm that private motor vehicles still account for the highest percentage of commuter choices in US. In 2016, over two-thirds of Americans preferred this mode of transportation for getting to work, mainly because of its efficiency. Likewise in Europe, cars continue to dominate as the principal means of transport.
All in all, every motorised trip to work ends up in a parking experience. As the demand for parking facilities at a workplace outpaces the supply, parking can be a daunting challenge for employees and a nightmare for companies. The former struggle to find a parking lot, the latter face reputational risk.
Employees who are continuously competing for limited parking spaces can be seriously disappointed and may start manifesting their frustration when things do not get better.
Desperate for parking lots, back in 2017, Tesla’s employees jammed their cars in every available nook of the company’s parking lot with no attention to the parking lines. Some workers decided to leave their vehicles hanging off the curbs or parked them extremely closely to the next ones. Lastly, the staff set up an Instagram account to capture the craziness of the company’s car park that they had to endure on a daily basis.
Stress and exhaustion associated with attempts to find free spots in the area of a company car park can go far beyond. Some staff may decide to use on-street parking reserved for resident permit holders only, disabled parking spots or block fire exits with their cars. Such inconsiderate parking behaviours may not pass unnoticed by the local community groups and can be linked to the employer and his parking management issues. Eventually, inefficient parking facilities have so detrimental effect on the staff’s morale and productivity that push them to quit a job and formulate negative employer review.
Companies used to build their reputation for decades. Strong business reputation contributes to the company’s market value, long-term customer loyalty and general organizational success. Not only is an ethical code of conduct, mission and quality products or services fundamental to enhancing corporate reputation, but also working environment. Good company culture attracts talented employees, improves their engagement, retention and the way how they perceive and talk about the company in the community.
Poor parking management is a serious factor contributing to the employees dissatisfaction at a workplace and reputational damages to the company. Increasing parking supply so that everyone has a place to park is an ambitious parking problem solution, but also quite expensive and utopian. Modern parking challenges solutions, like Parkalot, are much more cost-effective, hands-on and innovative. Parkalot assists companies to develop a culture of smart and sustainable parking management. It guards the company’s reputation by addressing the issues that matters to the employees like unstressful parking work.
Find out more how to respond to organizational parking crisis at www.parkalot.io.