Relief from the summer's high gasoline prices may soon come from your boss.
A growing number of Oklahoma City businesses are helping their employees ease commuting costs as high prices stretch budgets. This week, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline has hovered above $3, according to AAA.
Oklahoma City companies are increasing mileage reimbursement rates, offering more telecommuting and encouraging rideshare programs, according to staffing firm Robert Half International Inc., which has surveyed companies on transportation alternatives offered to employees.
Most businesses take on the responsibility to retain employees, said Robert Half's Oklahoma City and Tulsa branch manager Yvonne Rainwater.
"Any time you look at somebody who's maybe commuting or in a position that requires a lot of driving around, you don't want that to start eating into their own expenses,” she said.
The most popular change by Oklahoma City companies is increasing reimbursement for mileage, Rainwater said. Businesses are boosting their rates closer to the Internal Revenue Service optional standard of $0.485. The rate is used to calculate the deductible costs of transportation.
"That's the maximum a company can do, and a lot of companies have started to get close to that if not that on their reimbursement,” she said.
Some companies are eschewing the office and letting employees work from home.
In 2006, business services provider Convergys Corp. in Moore began letting some customer support employees work from home. Before the company offered telecommuting, some Convergys employees drove 30 miles to work, Convergys site director Jim Lisko said. The move is part of the company's national push toward telecommuting.
"Our labor market is in the 10-mile radius of the call center here in Moore,” Lisko said. "What's neat about the work-from-home program is it expands that market so someone who lives in Guthrie can afford to work at Convergys because they don't have to drive back and forth.”
For workers who need to be in the office, employers are paying for gas and organizing car pools.
Physician billing service CompONE Services Ltd. rewards some employees with $10 gas cards during the summer, if the workers have perfect attendance for two weeks. Those who qualify then enter a raffle for another gas card worth up to $100. The company started the program during the summer of 2006.
"I think what it does is it shows employees that you care about them and that they're not just a means to an end,” said CompONE President and Chief Executive Officer J. Paul O'Haro. "Everybody I think should be able to work and make a decent living.”
CompONE also is encouraging the formation of car pools, by offering $20 extra pay per month for those who share rides, said CompONE spokeswoman Carol Hartzog.
So far, three teams of two employees are participating, Hartzog said.
United Mechanical Service, Inc. pays Justin Christensen $15 per day to get from Oklahoma City to Stillwater, wh
