2 NEWS
Commuting program entices employers
NEWS
Carpooling service, discount passes provide relief from traffic, parking
BRIEFS
BY SARAH DOBSON
SLOWDOWN EXPECTED
BY HR IN QUEBEC: SURVEY
LOCATED IN A FAIRLY urban
setting, surrounded by urban
sprawl, Laurier University has
a limited amount of land to ex-
pand on. And with a student
population that has doubled in
size in the last decade, space is
at a premium.
A big one financially is
to reduce parking demand.
“We really want to head off
traffic congestion, that’s the
regional perspective, we want
to build transit ridership… and
for our private sector partners,
they want to have better employee retention, they want
to provide real transportation
choice to employees and a big
one for them financially is to
reduce parking demand.”
MONTREAL — HR professionals in Quebec expect to see a
slowdown in hiring in 2012,
according to a survey of 366
HR professionals by the Ordre
des conseillers en ressources
humaines agréés (CRHA). The
net difference between hiring
expectations amounted to 22. 6
per cent, compared to 30.5 per
cent in the previous quarter
and 42.6 per cent in the first
quarter of 2011.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE LINKS
TO SATISFACTION: SURVEY
How it works
As part of the program, employees have access to an online carpooling service. Each
Travel Wise organization has its
own ride-matching site where
employees can register and
create a profile. They can then
search for a suitable matching commuter at their place of
employment or one of the 12
other employers involved, such
as Equitable Life, the City of
Kitchener, Open Text, Research
in Motion or the University of
Waterloo.
“People using the same sys-
tem can go on, see if they find a
carpool and if they’re a regular
cyclist or transit user or walker,
they can record their trips on
the same site. It gives them a
sense of how many litres of
fuel they’ve saved over time,
what their impact on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions is,”
said Hill. “So that helps us re-
ally sell the program or show
the benefits of the program to
regional council, to city
councils and to the em-
ployers who have part-
nered with us.”
Employees also have
access to discounted
transit passes for Grand
River Transit (GRT). They can
purchase three-, six-, nine- or
12-month passes with dis-
counts ranging from five per
cent to 15 per cent, depend-
ing on the length of the pass,
which is delivered to the em-
ployee’s desk.
TORONTO — Aside from salary,
38 per cent of professionals
identify work-life balance as
the top contributor to job satisfaction, according to an Office-Team survey of 210 Canadian
workers. Opportunities to learn
and grow ( 20 per cent) and a
good working relationship with
the boss ( 16 per cent) followed.
■ ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
There’s more content available
exclusively online, including:
Getting the word out
When an employer joins
TravelWise, the association
surveys its employees to find
out about their current travel
behaviour and who’s interested in alternatives. About 50 per
cent usually respond and draw
prizes are used as incentives,
said Hill.
The association then asks
employees if they want to receive more information, such
as maps or fare guides, and if
they fill out a form they also
CONDUCTING HR AUDITS
Ruben Benmergui, author of
Carswell’s HR Audit Toolkit
Online, discusses why audits
are important.
You are invited to a free HR Seminar
See Page 6 / PRIZES
To view this video and others,
go to www.hrreporter.com and
click on “Multimedia Centre.”
presented by
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