Employers take note: Human resources and commuter options experts say that a combination of factors -- including gas prices that have topped a dollar a litre, greater demand for work-life balance and growing concern for the environment -- is making employees clamour for less costly, more convenient and Earth-friendlier ways of getting to work.
Nearly 85 per cent of respondents to a recent on-line survey by Monster Worldwide Inc. said that eye-popping prices at the gas pumps have affected their willingness to commute to work. And 44 per cent of respondents to a 2003 survey by Ottawa-based think tank Canadian Policy Research Networks said the length of their commute influenced their decision on where they currently worked. Nearly 90 per cent said commute times would influence future job choices.
In the heated competition for talent, experts say more companies are distinguishing themselves as "employers of choice" by offering ways to ease the commute for their employees.
Meanwhile, other employers simply hand their employees cold, hard cash to subsidize travel costs. At G Adventures Inc., a Toronto company that specializes in eco-friendly tours, employees who take public transit to work get $25 a month, says spokeswoman Kira Zack.