As a business owner, you want to do everything you can to inspire a close knit culture in your company. On a more practical side, you also want to be sure everyone on your team shows up for work on time, every day.
A great way to achieve both of these goals at once is by establishing a company carpooling program. In addition to allowing the full vehicles to cruise into work in the carpooling lane, which can drastically reduce your employees’ commute time, the office ride sharing program can encourage everyone to get to know each other better and promote that family atmosphere you aspire to create. You can even invest in a Wi-Fi hotspot so that employees can take team meetings from the car or collaborate on a project while heading into the office. Fortunately, with some organization and determination, it is not that difficult to set up an office carpooling program. Here are some tips on how to go about it:
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Advertise Your Carpooling Idea
To start a successful carpooling program, you will need a least a few of your employees on board with the idea. Announce your intentions to start a carpooling program at the next meeting, and also send out a general email about the idea. You can ask people who are interested to let you know directly, and/or post a signup sheet in the break room. To launch the program, you really only need a few people to commit to the idea.
Invest in a Larger and Roomier Vehicle
If your car is getting old and seems to spend more time in the shop than on the road, it might be time to invest in a new vehicle. When shopping for a new carpool-friendly vehicle, look for one that can carry a lot of passengers as well as supplies. For example, the Chevrolet Colorado definitely offers the best of both worlds. The pickup truck that offers a car-like ride features a spacious interior with room for plenty of riders; the Colorado offers comfy seating for both the front and rear passengers. In addition to its large pickup bed, which can haul just about any type of office supplies you need into work, the interior of the Chevy Colorado includes a deep center console bin and a huge compartment under the crew cab’s rear seat.
Appoint Someone to Organize It
As a busy company owner, you might not have time to take on the responsibility of organizing the carpool program, so see if you can appoint someone to keep things on track. If an employee is especially enthusiastic about the idea, you might ask her to take on this added responsibility of knowing who is in the carpool and updating the ride schedule as needed. To sweeten the deal, you could reduce this person’s workload a little so she has the time to take on the carpool organization duties. To help make this process as easy as possible, you might suggest that the organizer use an app like CommuteWise that will help with the scheduling and let people sign up to drive.
Set Up Some Carpooling Rules
To help make the company carpool pleasant for everyone, be sure to come up with a set of reasonable rules and expectations. For example, you will need to decide on a driver rotation schedule so that you and your team take turns doing the driving, and you will need a backup plan in case someone is ill and cannot run the carpool that day. You can also determine ahead of time if you will allow food and drink in your vehicles, if people may smoke in your car and if everyone can take turns choosing his or her favorite radio station. While you may want your employees to feel like a family, you certainly don’t want them to bicker like one.
Once you announce that you are interested in starting a company carpooling program, hopefully enough employees will be enthusiastic about the idea and join in. In addition to helping your team arrive to work on time, it can also allow them to get to know each other better and foster a family atmosphere at work. By investing in a roomy vehicle, organizing the program and establishing some ground rules, your office carpool program will soon be up and running.
About Carson Derrow
