Parking scarcity in an organisation can be a headache for the management as well as the employees. It has significant monetary as well as human resources cost. So, it’s very important for an efficient organisation to have a smooth parking system for its employees.
Problems arising out of parking scarcity
If employees are less likely to find vacant parking spaces easily in the office car park, they might arrive in the office very early to get a space and then idle their time away, thus wasting their fuel. If they don’t manage to come very early, they will waste a lot of time and energy trying to find a vacant parking space which will reduce their productivity. It will also cause frustration early in the day and thus reduce their overall job satisfaction.
From the organisation’s point of view, parking scarcity can lead to avoidable competition amongst employees, which can be a source of animosity amongst them, thus lowering employee cohesion. If the office parking is badly managed, it will lead to vacant spaces even when the demand is high. This is a waste of costly real estate. Inefficient parking management can also cause some avoidable administrative costs for that organisation.
How to improve parking
There are various ways and means which can be adopted by an organisation to improve parking for its employees. Some of them are:
a) Have a suitable parking policy
When coming up with your company’s parking policy, one of the decisions to make is the access type that will benefit each employee. There are several types of access, and this includes:
- Preferential access
Preferential access guarantees access to a timetable. This means that staff with this access are guaranteed a parking spot on the timetable, which will be drawn beforehand. If one of the staff benefits from this preferential access is absent daily, another person will benefit from this free space.
- Booking access
Staff with this type of access will have to book a parking space to access the car park. A time period is allocated to each staff member. In order for this process to work, you will decide the number of days each staff member will have a right to the parking space.
- First-come, first-served entree
Unlike the above two mentioned, this method doesn’t guarantee that anyone will have the right to a parking space. You get access to a parking space based on how quickly you arrive at work. The parking spaces usually get filled up quickly for this access-type as the staff can park without reserving a spot.
In making the company parking policy, you can combine these three access types. The access types can be allocated based on the staff level and position held.
b) Use a parking management software
Using parking management software will help you successfully manage the parking flow. You can effectively and efficiently implement the guidelines you make within your company to improve staff satisfaction. It will also lower your administrative costs required for parking management while also giving better results
A parking management app like YourParkingSpace enables the staff to pre-book a parking space when needed and according to the set rules. The app is simple enough for all employees to use and offers you flexibility in managing the car park all within one app.
c) Encourage alternative transport
The ultimate hack to having an efficient parking system is to reduce the overall parking demand. This can be done by encouraging employees who live nearby to walk or bike to the office. Providing parking spaces for bikes would be an effective measure in that direction.
Employees could also be encouraged to use more public transport. You can make monthly bus or tube passes available for the employees in the office premises.
d) Lease more parking space
No matter what you do, your office parking space may still be inadequate. In such a case, you can always get additional parking space on lease that is available near your office.
Apps like YourParkingSpace can come in handy. They are user friendly and can help you book parking spaces on a monthly basis at affordable prices in prime locations.
e) Promote Carsharing
Another great way to have less cars coming into work is by introducing a staff carsharing system. It could be facilitated by setting up a private Facebook group or shared Google doc so that people can organise their carsharing, and you can keep tabs on who’s taking part.
With some simple yet smart techniques, you can vastly improve the parking experience for your employees and also the organisation’s productivity.