At a time of spiraling energy prices and concerns over global climate change, offering environmentally friendly employee benefits—called green benefits—may allow you to achieve several goals. These benefits help employees cope with rising energy costs while helping to conserve natural resources and treat the planet more kindly. And they can be green in another way: by helping you save money, retain valued employees, and improve the bottom line. To learn more, keep reading.
Record-high gasoline prices
Your employees probably are most affected by rising energy costs when they gas up their cars or trucks. As this article was being written, the average national retail price for a gallon of self-serve gasoline hit a record $ 3.98 and a gallon of diesel fuel cost just under $ 5,according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That was just the average. On the West Coast, a gallon of gas cost$ 4.07 ($ 4.14 in California). That hurts. Many employers are looking for ways to help soften the blow of high energy costs for their employees. Traditionally, they've encouraged employees to carpool or take public transportation, and more recently, they've embraced telecommuting by letting employees connect to their offices over the Internet and work from home one or more days each week. Both approaches reduce the use of cars to get to work and cut employees' gasoline costs.
What makes benefits green
According to information from Environmental Leader (www.environmentalleader.com), the "green benefits" approach covers four areas: work-related, transportation, residential, and personal/well-being. A work-related "green" benefit could include your efforts to make the workplace itself more energy-efficient.
A few employers also have helped subsidize employees' efforts to make their homes more energy-efficient, helping them pay for compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy-efficient windows, solar hot-water heaters, and even wind turbines and wood-pellet furnaces.
What's in it for you? Green benefits can help attract employees who want to work for a socially responsible company. They also can help improve both employee retention and the company's public image and reputation as being a trendsetter. Reports indicate employees appreciate it when their employer helps them save money on basic needs such as transportation and utility costs.
Source: Freeland Cooper & Foreman LLP