A lack of parking spaces can cause serious problems for employers. We’ve all had the misfortune of working in a place where parking has been a nightmare. Here’s a simple guide to managing a lack of parking spaces for your business.
Firstly let’s have a look at why a lack of parking spaces is challenging for employers. In a competitive recruitment environment ensuring a modern workplace experience is pivotal. Parking has often been seen as a must have for many employees. Particularly those with young families or who live far away from the office.
“Traditionally companies have had lots of parking spaces. As our cities get bigger space is at a greater premium than ever. Parking problems at work can cause a lot of issues from employee stress to excess emissions.”
So what are the best solutions to tackle a lack of parking spaces for your business.
1. Parking Management Software
Let’s start with the best option first. For a long time managing parking was problematic for employers. Over the last number of years an exciting new industry has emerged, employee parking management software.
The best way to get to grips with parking management software is to watch this cool explainer video.
Employee parking management software does exactly what it says on the tin. Innovators and entrepreneurs who recognised the problems parking poses for employers and employees have developed world-class solutions specific to the parking problems experienced at large-scale offices. This opens up a new world of possibilities for business owners, office managers, facilities managers and workplace experience professionals.
The headline functionality for most employee parking management softwares is their ability to increase parking availability. Market leader Wayleadr can increase the number of parking spaces available for employees by up to 40%.
This sound too good to be true? How does it work?
“Parking has been structured poorly at workplaces for a long time. Companies with a lack of space often prioritise parking for senior staff. Yet staff spend lots of time away from the office at meetings on holidays or working from home.”
The work-from-home revolution catalyzed by COVID-19 is only amplifying this. With such a fluid workforce, can companies afford to have large amounts of parking lying empty because the designated space holders are not in the office. Meanwhile other staff members may need to resort to paying for parking off site or nervously taking public transport.
Employee parking management software monitors who is due to be in the office and when. Software can seamlessly allocate your parking spaces to those who are going to be in the office on any given day. The beauty is you can tell the software how to prioritise staff. This ensures those who need parking most always get access to space.
Other great benefits of employee parking management software include robust data and reporting, the ability to digitise car park access and tracking the environmental impact of your employees commuting habits.
2. Manual Management
I’m going to put it out there that there are easier ways to manage employee parking than the manual approach. In certain circumstances were budgets are super tight or when you have a very small car park, it can work.
There are lots of ways of doing this . You start by creating a way in which people can communicate the days that assigned spaces will not be used. Most companies like to do this via WhatsApp, Slack or Excel. Other employees then tend to snap up the spare spaces on first come, first served basis.
It is worth noting that if you are looking to manage more than around 10 staff sharing 5 spaces that this will become a very onerous process to manage.
“Frequently you hear companies complain that managing a small amount of parking spaces has become an admin nightmare.”
Transform your employee parking today
Explore how Wayleadr's employee parking management can streamline your parking operations
Learn MoreFor what it’s worth, most companies are better paying the small fee to use parking management software.
3. Renting Extra Space
For a long time this has been the default approach of many employers. Your company does not have enough space so surely the easiest solution is to find more spaces? We have gone through this approach in much more detail in another blog, however here’s some of the main points.
Finding extra space to rent can be challenging. Most urban areas suffer from a deficit of available parking space for rent. This means that available parking spaces orphan are rented at a large premium.
In any major global city you will spend hundreds of euros or dollars acquiring new spaces on monthly leases. It is advisable before you go down this route to investigate how employee parking management software can unlock additional availability for a fraction of the cost.
If you are maximised already and need extra space the best approach is to contact your office letting agent to see do they have any additional spaces on their books. Alternatively most major cities will have one or two small real estate brokers who specialize in parking for offices. Ask around to find the best broker in your area.
4. Solving The Parking Problem Once And For All
Of course there is one way to solve the parking problem once and for all. This is to reduce or eliminate the need for employee parking. While there are massive benefits to walking, cycling and public transport as outlined in the linked blogs, many employers report frustrations with low take-up.
There is one proven method to dramatically reduce the amount of staff who drive to work. The introduction of employee parking charges. this can be a very political issue for a lot of employers.
However if you are serious about cutting down on the amount of staff who are driving to work for either environmental or cost reasons this method will drive the best results.
Simplify your employees' parking experience
Try Wayleadr's employee parking management and provide your employees with a hassle-free parking experience
Learn MoreLeading employee parking softwares like Wayleadr allow companies to automate employee parking payments. One of the major benefits of a software driven solution is flexibility.
“Prior to COVID employee parking payments tended to be fixed monthly payments. The increasingly flexible approach to working means people no longer work from the office full-time.”
Employers can now unlock flexible parking payments where employees only pay to park on the days they are in the office. This can seamlessly integrate with commuter benefit softwares, payroll softwares and access control software to ensure optimum employee experience.
Parking causing issues? Join industry leaders from companies like Sanofi, Indeed.com & CBRE, schedule a demo with Wayleadr.com today and solve your parking problems in the click of a button.
One Response
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