You'd like to help your employees travel to work easily despite I-15 reconstruction. That's commendable.
But just how do you go about doing it?That problem is faced by many businesses, government agencies and other entities with workers who commute through Salt Lake County and beyond.
It's one thing to be supportive of alternate commuting strategies such as carpooling and flexible hours. It's another to implement a full-scale, companywide, transportation-assistance program that meets the needs of everyone.
"There's a lot more involved than sending a memo to a company saying, `You have these five options. Hope you pick one,' " said Cyndi Keller, business-government relations administrator for the Utah Department of Transportation I-15 team. "It's a lot of responsibility to manage a whole bunch of employees that are carpooling or that want to telecommute, and to get all that information out there and manage the whole process."
Wasatch Front employers have had varied responses to the continuous urging from UDOT and the Utah Transit Authority that they help employees find other ways to get to work and home again - methods that involve more than one person in a car driving on I-15.
Some businesses, like IBM, were way ahead of the game. It put workers into the mobile-office mode, for other reasons, long before I-15 became an issue. Others, like American Stores and ZCMI, have had an employee transportation coordinator in place for some time. They offer employees several types of assistance and are studying a range of alternate commuting modes.
But some companies, for a variety of reasons, have nothing of significance in place. Some are not as affected by road work and hope employee-commuting difficulties never become an issue. But, as UDOT officials point out, a widened version of I-15 will not solve the valley's traffic problems when it opens in 2001. It will help, but commuting headaches are here to stay.
With the immediate and distant future in mind, UDOT has created a "coordinating council" to help unify the efforts of the state agencies and local governments involved in promoting alternate commute strategies - from the state Division of Air Quality to Salt Lake County.
UDOT also has declared October "trip reduction month," during which it will promote ways people can cut down on automobile trips. The promotion will be aimed at the general public but large employers and children in particular. It is hoped children will influence their parents' driving patterns.
UDOT also offers a training program for employee transportation coordinators, workers designated by their companies to organize alternate commute programs.
Many state agencies have a committee of employees working on ways to meet Gov. Mike Leavitt's trip-reduction goals. Leavitt, hoping to relieve I-15 congestion and air pollution, wants every state department to lower its number of employee trips by 20 percent.
Each department is free to develop its own methods for accomplishing that goal. UDOT allows some employees to work compressed work weeks, like four 10-hour days and a day off.
"We have core business hours of 8 to 5 and we have to have those covered, so that means you really have to manage how many people you have off and what areas they're in," said Melanie Buck, a UDOT information specialist and one of 15 employees on the department's trip-reduction committee.
"We're trying to encourage carpooling. We have some high-occupancy vehicle parking so you can get better parking if you ride to work together."
Unaffected by the governor's directive, private companies are motivated by other factors.
ZCMI's corporate headquarters and service center at 2200 S. 900 West is near the I-15 construction zone and will be directly affected. For almost a year, Vernon Morgan has headed up the company's effort to relieve employees' traffic stress. In addition to changing driving routes and shipping schedules, ZCMI is looking at whether it can put alternate work schedules, carpooling and vanpooling to use. It also encourages bus travel.
The company began by enlisting the help of UTA, which surveyed employees to find out where they live, what time they work and what alternate commuting methods they might consider.
"They compiled all of the data and then sat down with us and went over the results," said Morgan, assistant director of human resources. "From that, we administered a couple of our own questions and one of them had to do with riding the bus. The interest in riding the bus was not as high as we had anticipated."
Some employees already shared rides with co-workers, so carpool parking spaces were added to encourage more to do so. Flexible scheduling and telecommuting were among other options employees said they wanted, and all are being considered. But so far, Morgan said, the impact of I-15 construction has been minimal and more elaborate efforts haven't been required.
American Stores also hasn't experienced many problems. Employees have been able to reach their downtown offices with few complications, but an employee task force meets twice a month to prepare.
"We have the (UTA) survey results and we're doing preliminary studies as to where our (focus) should be," said Christine Wallace, internal communications coordinator. She said carpooling and bus riding are already popular among employees.
"Telecommuting is requiring a lot more in-depth study. We've got a group that is currently researching that."
IBM's Bob Egan already knows telecommuting works and saves his company money. In 1994, IBM's 50 Salt Lake-based sales representatives gave up their permanent offices and started working out of their homes, customers' offices, motel rooms, airplanes and wherever they might be. In the process, the company reduced its downtown office space from four full floors to a half floor.
"We have given all of the employees the latest IBM laptop computers, a national sotfware program . . . cell phones and pagers. The intent is that the employees can take their offices with them wherever they go," said Egan, a senior location executive for IBM in Utah and the company's North American director for its so-called "mobility" program.
"Our employees don't ever have to go into the office during the rush hour."
If only more companies could say that, future road-widening projects might not be necessary.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Can't cope with I-15 reconstruction? Don't fret - just use these resources
UTA Rideshare: 533-RIDE (4733)
Information on carpools, vanpools, telecommuting, alternative work hours.
UTA bus schedule and detour info:
Salt Lake City area, BUS-INFO (287-4636); Ogden area, 621-INFO (4636); Provo area, 375-INFO.
I-15 reconstruction schedule: 1-888-INFO-I-15 (1-888-463-6415).
I-15 schedule by fax:
Voice: 594-6400; Fax: 594-6401. Have the I-15 work schedule faxed you.
UTA light rail construction schedule: BUS-RAIL (287-7245).
I-15 reconstruction website: www.i-15.com/html/index.htm
UTA website: www.utabus.com
The International Telework Association:
Web site (http://www.telecommute.org)
Gil Gordon Associates:
Web site for telecommuting (http://www.gilgordon.com).
US WEST Home Office Consulting Center:
Free booklet: "Business Success at Home" by calling 1-800-898-WORK.
The American Telecommuting Association: 1-800-ATA-4-YOU.
Telecommuting Success Inc.: 303-770-9385
Telecommuting solutions for companies