Why Gas Money Is the Latest Worker Benefit
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Here's your Money Briefing for Friday, June 24th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. With gas prices hovering around $5 a gallon, many Americans have started to pull back on driving. And that's making it harder for companies to get workers to start commuting to the office again. Some employers have found a fix.
We're seeing gift certificates to gas stations, one-time bonuses, as well as cost of living increases.
Our workplace reporter, Catherine Dill, has been checking into this, and we'll talk to her about it after the break.
We've told you about extra incentives and benefits that companies have put on the table as they try to retain employees and fill empty positions. Well, now that companies are encouraging workers to return to the office, you can add another item to that list, gas money. That can come as a relief for some workers, but it can also be a tricky financial balancing act for companies that are hoping to keep costs in check. WSJ Workplace reporter Catherine Dill joins us with more. Hey, Catherine, thank you so much for being with us.
My pleasure.
So, Catherine, why is it important for companies to do this?
Well, companies are still in most places struggling to hire workers and to hang on to them once they get them. And so as workers contend with rising prices, it's a significant consideration for companies looking to retain those workers. Many companies are also hoping to bring workers back to the office. an increasing number of days per week starting in July. And it really coincides with these prices just spiking across the country.
Why are employers offering gas money as a new workplace benefit?
Companies have been trying to get back on their feet, get workers back in the office, but now they have to contend with this new obstacle where it may be too expensive right now for some workers to get in their cars.
How are companies helping employees afford rising gas prices?
We're seeing companies try an array of things here. You know, we're seeing gas reimbursement per mileage, which is the longer standing benefit for some companies. But we're seeing them go even above and beyond that. We're also seeing gift certificates to gas stations, one-time bonuses, as well as cost of living increases with the price of gas in mind.
Now, aside from directly helping out employees financially, what else are some companies doing to help ease the impact of the pain of the pump?
Some companies are really leveraging remote work to the extent that they can, either pulling back on some of those planned return to office policies or, you know, introducing more potential work from home days each week to cut down on those commuting costs.
OK, but not everyone can do their job from home. How are companies dealing with that?
How are rising gas prices affecting employees' willingness to commute to the office?
Right. Lots of workers actually have to be on site to perform their jobs. So one of the companies I spoke with in Seattle developed a formula to determine roughly how many gallons of gas each worker might potentially need to get to the office each week. And they started adding a $1.50 per gallon stipend to each paycheck this spring.
And this isn't the first time gas prices have caused companies to take steps like this, right?
No, we've seen really high gas prices in the past, certainly, you know, $3.78 a gallon back in 2008. And so companies have explored some of these options before, but many of them point out that they're facing a little bit of a perfect storm right now of conditions, and the gas prices is just one of the concerns right now.
Wow, $3.78 a gallon? I think we could all deal with that.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:06
2
Why are employers offering gas money as a new workplace benefit?
2:06–3:05
3
How are rising gas prices affecting employees' willingness to commute to the office?
3:05–4:01
4
What specific gas-related benefits are companies providing to employees?
4:01–4:55
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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