Companies go the extra mile

There are now companies that incentivise employees to get them to go in for public transport as well as environment-conscious travel options. These companies also create systems that facilitate the use of these options.

For example, ThoughtWorks offers a 50% reimbursement on employees’ travel expenses every month if two or more employees car pool or cab-pool to work.

The company has also created an in-house car pooling app where ThoughtWorkers willing to offer rides to their colleagues enter in their home-to-office route and work timings.

“Other ThoughtWorkers using the app can join any of these rides along their home-to-office route. The app shows seat availability on a real-time basis,” says Kaushik Ghosh, people head, ThoughtWorks India.

Unisys brought in electric cars to meet the transport needs of its employees.

Unisys uses its networking page – Yammer – to encourage its employees to carpool.

“We have also hired women drivers through transport vendors, to bring more diversity and provide opportunities for women,” says Ajit Pillai, director, Facilities, Unisys India.

Many offices in Gurugram and Mumbai have introduced staggered office timings to help their employees peak rush hour traffic.