Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Today’s staffing issues, ranging from employee turnover and burnout to constant hiring headwinds, make one thing clear: promoting and supporting employee health and wellness are more important than ever. Enhance your employee wellness efforts in a low-cost way by supporting healthy, sustainable, and more affordable bicycle commuting.

Build a worksite culture that empowers employees to commute by bike through support services, onsite amenities, benefits, and wellness perks. Equipping employees to tap into bicycle commuting can boost health and wellness, while supporting your organization’s workforce, performance, and sustainability goals.

Read on to learn about the many benefits bicycle commuting offers both employees and employers. Plus, get tips on how to support bicycle commuting at worksites and leveraging free resources and tools offered by Get There Oregon and our network of partners.

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Sustainability is a big concern for businesses and governments today. Consumer preferences for more sustainable products and services are on the rise. More employees, particularly millennials and gen z, prefer jobs with environmentally minded, socially responsible companies. There’s been a steady increase in adopting more sustainable lifestyles, too, and public concern about environmental issues and policies have grown.

Addressing transportation, including the commute, as a key part of sustainability offers substantial environmental gains and benefits. Drive alone commuting significantly adds to harmful air emissions and pollution, while contributing to both individual and organizational carbon footprints. By encouraging greener commute options, businesses and governments can reduce a sizable portion of their transportation-related emissions and impacts.

Lead the way in sustainability for a better today and tomorrow by empowering your employees to use greener commute options. Tap into free resources, tools, and support services available from Get There Oregon and our network of partners.

SUPPORT TOOLS & SERVICES

Get support creating a turnkey and cost-effective employee program from Get There Oregon and our network of partners

Tap into Oregon’s free tool Get There Connect to help employees with commute planning and matching up into carpools and/or vanpools (see reverse/below).

Promote sustainable commute options and support services to employees—Get There Oregon and partners can provide employee materials and support.

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Among the key factors impacting employee job satisfaction today, the commute is at the top of the list. Notwithstanding the COVID crisis, employee commutes have steadily gotten longer not only due to growing traffic congestion, but farther distances traveled for work. Skyrocketing fuel costs and inflation are taking more out of employee paychecks, too.

• More workers are commuting from father away due, in part, to the lack of affordable housing.
• Average commuting costs were up 34% to nearly $3,000 in 2022.
• Daily commute times for U.S. workers on average are up to an hour long (55 minutes).

Shared commute solutions like carpooling give employers a competitive edge to retain and attract employees, especially on-site shift workers that can’t use transit or other options.

Empower employees to carpool using free ridematching tools and support services from Get There Oregon and partners—here’s how!

SUPPORT TOOLS & SERVICES

Get support putting together a turnkey and cost-effective employee carpool program from Get There Oregon and local partners.

Match employees into carpools using Oregon’s free online tool Get There Connect. For workers with limited digital access, carpool match cards are available to post up at worksites.

Promote carpooling among your employees and help them match up into carpools. Get There and partners can provide employee materials and program support.

TAP INTO GET THERE CONNECT—FREE!

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Today, work satisfaction plays a big role in employee morale, productivity, and retention that broadly impacts operational performance and the bottom line. Perceived work experience can also make or break a job candidate’s decision to join your team. Painful and exhausting commutes that drain pocketbooks can hurt both employee retention and talent recruitment.

Offering scalable, low-cost commute and remote work solutions to employees can serve many critical business needs. Leverage free resources, tools, and services from Get There Oregon and partners to improve employee commutes and help your workforce thrive and grow.

Why “the commute” matters

Notwithstanding the COVID-19 crisis, employee commutes have steadily gotten longer over the last decade with traffic delays getting worse. Commute pain will continue to resurface with more employers welcoming employees back to worksites. Longer commutes don’t just cost employees time, but money and energy, too.

• More workers commute from farther away due to the lack of affordable housing.
• Commuters now spend 20 more minutes a week—17 hours a year—commuting than they did a decade ago.
• Average commuting costs were up 34% to nearly $3,000 in 2022.
• A 2018 LinkedIn study found that 85% of workers would take a pay cut to reduce their commute time.

And it’s not just employees who “pay” the cost of commuting. Bad commutes present a range of negative impacts on employers from lost employee productivity to hiring headwinds and costly employee turnover.

Employee commute and remote work support and benefits options

The good news in alleviating bad employee commutes is that there are a lot of options that come with all kinds of added benefits. Remote work that reduces commutes helps improve productivity and work-life balance. Employees sharing the ride to work by carpooling or vanpooling can also share the costs. Transit enables employees to save money and get time back they’d otherwise spend driving. Biking affords a host of health and wellness benefits.

There are many scalable, low-cost commute support and benefit options for employers to offer employees. The spectrum ranges from equipping employees with commute options and remote work information and tools to providing onsite amenities, perks, and benefits.

Assessing your employees’ commute needs and interests can help inform what support and benefits to offer. Get There Oregon and partners can provide consultation, identify resources and tools for employee use, and help with employee outreach and commute planning.

You can download the above information as a PDF here.

Need help getting started? Contact Get There Oregon at Info@GetThereOregon.org 

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Bring your workforce a smarter way to commute with vanpooling. Vanpools let employees (typically 4-15) who live near each other and have longer commutes (about 20+ miles) share the ride to work and the costs.

It’s a win-win that makes employee commutes better, serves as a retention and recruitment tool, and helps achieve other business goals.

Connect your employees with vanpooling services from Get There Oregon, local partners, and Commute with Enterprise—here’s how!

SUPPORT SERVICES & TOOLS

Tap into comprehensive employee vanpooling support services and tools at no cost:

Get support putting together a turnkey and cost-effective employee program from Get There, local partners, and Commute with Enterprise.

Match employees into vanpools using Oregon’s free online tool Get There Connect and onsite matching support services provided by Commute with Enterprise (see below).

Connect employees with vehicle rental and maintenance, insurance, and roadside assistance from Commute with Enterprise (see below).

Track and report real-time metrics, including vanpool participation, money saved, and reduced CO2 emissions using Get There Connect.

Need help getting started? Contact Get There Oregon at info@getthereoregon.org; 971-202-9758

You can download the above information as a PDF here.

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues. The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

Today’s staffing issues make one thing clear: promoting and supporting your employees’ physical and mental health are more important than ever. Employers play a vital role in creating workplaces that foster employee wellbeing. Workplace wellness promoting healthy habits can improve employee health and job satisfaction, plus there are all kinds of benefits for employers, too.

Supporting active commute options at worksites—bicycling, walking, an d taking transit—is a great scalable, relatively low-cost way for employers to boost employee health and wellness. Read on to learn about the many benefits of active commuting, and how to build support, benefits, and perks into your workplace wellness efforts.

Tips on getting started…

Here are some strategies to start building active commuting support, benefits, and perks into your wellness efforts:

• Ask employees about what types of active commuting support, services, and benefits appeal most to them
• Factor in organizational needs like improving facilities and amenities and reducing employee burnout
• Tap into local resources and programs—like bike safety and maintenance workshops and Oregon’s trip planning and rewards tool Get There Connect that’s available for free to all Oregonians
• Be flexible and make adjustments based on your employees’ needs

Support, Services, & Benefits Options

There are all kinds of active commuting support, services, and benefits to offer employees, including:

• Wellness credits for purchasing equipment and gear
• Monthly financial rewards for logging active commute trips
• Onsite tools like bike pumps and multitools for repairs and maintenance
• Amenities, ranging from secure bike parking to personal lockers and/or shower facilities
• Bike tune-up days
• How-to Information about active commuting and available onsite amenities
• Peer support and tips to help employees start active commuting
• Active commuting information and resources in new employee packets

Tap into Oregon’s Get There Challenge, Oct. 3-16—turnkey online employee materials available!

Commuting to work is taking more out of employees’ wallets today with high inflation and gas prices, and, as well, commute distances across Oregon have gotten longer. Axios recently reported that commutes are costing US workers about 35% more as compared to last year. Low-cost commute options and hybrid remote work can help ease employee commute pain, while serving critical business around workforce retention and more.

Tap into Oregon’s 10th Annual Get There Challenge, running Oct. 3-16, to make employee commutes better and boost engagement, retention, health and wellness, and sustainability by leveraging remote work and commute options.

Why work experience and the commute matters for Oregon employers…

Employees can join the Oregon Get There Challenge by signing on to Get There Connect and logging commute options trips and remote work and unlocking knowledge and skill-building achievements to earn points towards weekly and grand prizes. Among the prizes are $500 cash cards, Oregon merchant gift cards, Hydroflasks, and Bob’s Red Mill prize packages.

Get details about this year’s Oregon Get There Challenge here, and spread the word among your employees using turnkey materials available on our online Employer Communications Toolkit that includes pre-written employee emails, breakroom materials and website/Intranet content.

Reach out to the Get There Oregon team, info@GetThereOregon.org, if you have questions or any support needs!

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues.  The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

FREE WEBINAR
WORKPLACE WELLNESS & ACTIVE COMMUTES
Sept. 22 ׀ Noon-1pm

Pandemic-related staffing issues and worker shortages have made one thing clear: promoting and supporting your employees’ physical and mental health are more important than ever. Employers can play a vital positive role in creating workplaces that foster and support employee wellbeing. Workplace wellness programs can improve your employees’ overall health, plus increase retention and productivity, improve morale, and even help attract new employees.

Over the past few years local employers have sought new ways to support employee wellness. One approach has been to promote active commute options like walking and bike commuting, which have grown in popularity during the pandemic. Hear from local experts on how you can create an active commute-friendly work culture and enhance employee health and wellness.

Join Get There Oregon and partners in the next free Thriving Workplaces Webinar Series installment on Sept. 22: Workplace Wellness and Active Commutes.

What you’ll learn:

• How local employers are building into workplace wellness relatively low-cost active commute employee benefits and wellness perks, in addition to supporting use through different onsite amenities and services
• Explore all the different types of active commute options employee benefits and wellness perks that can be added into HR and wellness benefit plans
• Tips and strategies for promoting workplace wellness among your employees, as well as administering benefits, perks, and reward incentives

Featured Panelists:

Stacey Brown, Sr. Well-Being Consultant, Providence Health & Services

Stacey Brown, a graduate of Purdue University, is Senior Well-Being Consultant for Providence with 20+ years of experience working alongside executive teams and employees to build a culture of well-being in both corporate and hospital settings. Stacey helps design the well-being strategy and oversees communications across the organization. She is a powerful force in the workplace and uses her positive attitude and tireless energy to empower core leaders and caregivers with the tools and resources to help them feel like they are cared for and valued. Stacey does this by providing top-notch programs and resources supporting mind, body, spirit, and financial well-being.

Sebastian Garcia, Keen HR Workplace Experience Assistant

Sebastian is a native Hoosier, Indiana University alumni and cycling enthusiast. At Keen, Sebastian works as a Workplace Experience Assistant and is responsible for making Keen a wonderful and eco-friendly workplace, as well as organizing fundraising events. Sebastian participated in organizing the Keen Yard Sale for Love, which was responsible for raising more than 60 thousand dollars to benefit Forest Park Conservatory. Sebastian is a passionate advocate of an active lifestyle and uses his platform as a at Keen to push for more environmentally friendly ways to commute.

Nick Gross, Senior Planner & Bike Commuting Champion, Kittelson & Associates

Nick Gross serves as a Senior Planner at Kittelson & Associates in Portland, Oregon. He has expertise in active transportation planning, bicycle and pedestrian facility design, long-range systemic planning, and public involvement. His work focuses on creating livable communities through the implementation of active transportation infrastructure. As a daily bicycle commuter, Nick plays a key role in creating and maintaining a bike-friendly work culture at Kittelson, as well as supporting employee bike commuting.

If you’re exploring commuter benefits as a tool in your recruiting and employee retention toolkit, then we hope you’ll join us!

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues.  The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.

From headlines about “The Great Resignation,” to stories about the heads of major companies making ultimatums for their staff to return to the office, only to be met with varying degrees of pushback, it’s hard to overlook the fact that our culture is undergoing a major shift in its attitude about where work is performed. Other factors are also impacting attitudes toward commuting for work: rapidly rising fuel prices, ever-lengthening commutes, and the stubbornly persistent health and safety concerns associated with COVID-19. If you own or manage a business with employees who worked from home during the pandemic, some combination of these factors is, most likely, making you think long and hard about whether and to what extent you will require your team to reconvene in person.

You are not alone! Join Get There Oregon and partners for the third installment of the Thriving Workplaces Webinar Series, which will bring together leadership from three major, Portland-area employers who have grappled with this exact issue. This panel of experts will have a round-table discussion about their varying approaches to hybrid and remote work, the circumstances that led them to adopt their current policies, and the outcomes of those policies thus far. Panelists will field audience questions at the end of the discussion.

Moderator:

Jeff Pazdalski

Jeff is Executive Director of Westside Transportation Alliance (WTA), a nonprofit that provides member organizations and their employees information, incentives, and assistance to encourage transportation options use, including transit, carpooling, vanpooling, bicycling, and walking, for commute trips in Washington County. WTA creates customized services to meet the unique needs of businesses and their employees and manages incentive programs that are open to anyone that lives or works in Washington County. Jeff has more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience, and he serves on the Board of Directors of the Transportation Options Group of Oregon. Jeff’s passion for promoting transportation options was sparked when he previously spent nearly eight years relying on bicycling, walking, and transit for commuting to work and getting his kids to school.

Featured Panelists:

Cassie Buckroyd

Cassie is currently the Sr. Manager of Total Rewards Experience at Columbia Sportswear Company (CSC). She has worked at CSC for 8 years and started as the company’s first Wellness Program Manager, growing the corporate wellness program from inception to what is currently a global initiative and cornerstone of total rewards and talent programs. Cassie’s current team is focused on delivering impactful Total Rewards programs across CSC’s diverse workforce using CSC’s Total Rewards Philosophy and 5 Pillars of Wellbeing to drive program design and delivery.

Cassie currently resides in Portland, OR. She was born and raised in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and received her Master of Public Health degree from Portland State University and Bachelor’s degree at Oregon State University. She serves on the Board of Directors for two local nonprofits — as Board Chair for the Westside Transportation Alliance, and as the Personnel Committee Chair for Adelante Mujeres.

In her free time, she can mostly be found in the outdoors, hiking and backpacking around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Eric LoPrete

Eric LoPrete is the Sustainability Education Coordinator at Washington County. In this role, Eric helps educate County staff and community partners on sustainability topics such as climate change, energy efficiency, environmental justice, and transportation options. To help support a hybrid work environment, Eric transitioned all the County’s sustainability education opportunities to a virtual format, including live Sustainability Series events and at-your-own-pace online learning modules. Eric has a Master’s in Sustainability from Arizona State University and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Paraguay before returning home to Oregon.

Dave Vernier

Dave Vernier founded Vernier Software in 1981, when he was a Hillsboro High School physics teacher.  The company, now Vernier Software & Technology, just celebrated their 40th anniversary. They employ about 105 people in Beaverton, Oregon. They produce sensors, interfaces, software, books, and related equipment for science teachers. Vernier products are using in over 130 countries. Dave is still involved on a daily basis, promoting the use of Vernier products in STEM education. Vernier Software & Technology has received numerous awards and has been named “One of the Best 100 Places to Work in Oregon” over 20 times, and Best Green Workplaces every year since that competition started.

Brand stories are paid content articles that allow Oregon Business advertisers to share news about their organizations and engage with readers on business and public policy issues.  The stories are produced in house by the Oregon Business marketing department. For more information, contact associate publisher Courtney Kutzman.