"Helping" Employees with Gas Prices

“Helping” Employees with Gas Prices

“If you don’t help me out on what it costs me to drive to work, I’m going to go find another job!”  This frustration is being heard by more and more employers with the increase in travel expenses that all employees are experiencing.  There are many traps that an employer can fall into in this situation, so here are a few suggestions:

• Remind them that everyone else’s costs (including yours’) are going up as well, so their situation is not unique.
• Realize that anything you do for one employee you will eventually have to do for every employee.  Few employees keep their pay/compensation a private matter between them and their employer.
• Encourage them to car pool and group their trips to work.
• If they do threaten to quit, ask them to sit down and “do the math” for their new job.  Sometimes employees only look at one financial issue when changing jobs, and don’t take everything (benefits, work schedule, job security, etc.) into account.
• If you do decide that you want to help all employees with gas prices, make it a business arrangement.  Have a time period for the benefit (i.e. reviewed every three months), have a price limit for the benefit (i.e. if gas goes below a certain level, the benefit ends), have a set value of the benefit in $/month or $/week—or gallons/month or gallons per week, and have all of this IN WRITING with their signature.  This sounds like quite a hassle, but I’ve seen too many times that employees have (after a few months) made assumptions about these sorts of benefits—always in their own favor….
• Another way to help is to only help those who car pool and provide some gas for the person who drives their vehicle.
• Another alternative is to request that any person who has a company vehicle to drive to and from work has to give rides to any other employee “on their way” to work.

Additionally, if you decide to help with gas costs, do not let employees pump their own gas even if it has to be recorded.  There is too much opportunity for excessive use, and no real way to find the abuser if several people are using the pumps.