How to Create and Implement a Parking Policy

The parking lot in your company is a vital resource. It is essential to how smoothly the company runs, and it aids the mobility management of the organization’s employees. However, it can also be a source of dissatisfaction and animosity within the company. For this reason, there must be rules that guide parking within the organization to satisfy everyone. The way to achieving this is by having an effective parking policy.

At the moment, companies are looking to reduce the parking spaces made available. This is one of the ways of encouraging the adoption of sustainable transportation models. The thought process behind this is to reduce the number of cars used to create more spaces in the urban setting.

However, despite these initiatives, cars have remained a significant means of transportation for workers. 

According to studies, 72 percent of the workers will drive to work when there is a guarantee of a parking space. Fifty percent of the workers will drive to the workplace even if there isn’t a guarantee of a parking spot at the workplace. Studies also showed that 22 percent of staff would switch their mode of transportation based on the availability of a parking lot in the company.

These reasons and more are why a company must issue parking lot policies that work to fulfill the needs of the workers. This will keep everyone satisfied and bring about changes in the mode of transportation adopted by the staff.

What is the parking policy?

The directive given within an organization on regulation within the parking lot is called the parking policy. The parking policy aims to optimize parking management by implementing different solutions and functions based on the variability of the arising problems. On a general note, an effective parking policy ensures the seamless flow of vehicles, whether in or out of the parking space. This parking policy must, however, follow the global mobility management guidelines.

Since the difficulties experienced by organizations are unique, the parking policy must be made explicitly for every organization and adjusted to its necessities, the needs of its staff, and the organization’s culture.

Basically, implementing a parking policy means that you choose the admittance to the parking lot that every staff or guest will be qualified for. Staff will want unique access; for example, the individual in question will have an ensured place in the parking area. Every worker may have a parking spot allocation; however, all staff should reserve a spot ahead of time.

A parking policy should be painstakingly thought out and consider a few measures, for example:

The number of staff and guests, the number of staff that drive to work, the rate of attendance, the rate of occupancy, and the individual needs of each employee.

The importance of parking policy to your company

All might be going smoothly in your organization, and you might think there is no need for a parking policy. Well, here are some of the benefits of a parking policy for you to evaluate how well your current parking system is working. 

There are numerous benefits that you can get by adopting an effective parking policy. The entire system, staff, organization, and community will benefit from implementing an adequate parking policy.

• Assisting in the reduction of the car modal share

If your firm has a modal shift targeted in its movement plan, adopting a parking policy is an effective way to achieve the modal change to a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation. If the goal of your parking policy is to limit the amount of staff that drives to work, you’ll encourage more people to take public transportation.

Some of these staff live close to the workplace but still use their vehicles to get to work. Adopting effective parking policies could impact the movement of people in this category. These policies could see them use other means like walking and biking for the short distance and ultimately reducing parking headaches and traffic jams.

• Better daily living for employees

Some workers may be dissatisfied with an unregulated parking space. When they decide to drive their cars to work, there is almost always no space to park. Adopting an effective parking policy will offer fairer parking regulations in the organization. The parking policy will consider everyone’s needs and provide a suitable solution. This will bring about more satisfaction and improve confidence among workers.

The frustration will reduce among employees who didn’t have assigned spaces for parking when there is parking optimization. The stress levels will also reduce significantly, and there will be no more uncertainty about finding a space to park. According to HR, there will be a reduction in complaints received by the human resource department on unfairness in the parking lot and more time to handle other issues.

How to create the right parking policy for your company

After researching how a parking policy will benefit the company, it is time to act. Making this policy implementing it in your organization’s parking lot requires specific steps. You must take these criteria into account before making the parking policy. Here are some tips to help you.

Before you develop the parking policy, here are some questions that you must answer

To create an effective parking policy in your company, you will need to answer some questions. Once you answer these questions, your knowledge of parking occupancy will improve, and it will help define the criteria to create your company’s parking policy.

Here is a list of questions to answer:

• What is the number of staff that will use the space?
• What mode of transportation does staff use to get to work?
• Do you apply to telework in your organization?
• Is there a fleet of vehicles in your company?
• Are there guaranteed parking spots for some staff?
• Does your staff travel during work hours?
• Are you going to consider guest access?
• What is the access time you are willing to allocate?
• Should certain staff be prioritized if you use the reservation system?
• Will every staff have the same access level, or will some receive some priority?

Answering these questions requires that you ask your staff specific questions prior. These questions include, for example: 

• What are their habits in terms of mobility?
• What are their mobility habits?
• Can they adopt another mode of transportation aside from using their cars?

If you get the answer to these questions, you can define the parking policy according to these needs.

What are the access types in your parking system?

When coming up with your company’s parking policy, one of the decisions to make is the access type that will benefit each employee. There are several types of access, and this includes:

• Preferential access

Preferential access guarantees access to a timetable. This means that staff with this access are guaranteed a parking spot on the timetable, which will be drawn beforehand. If one of the staff benefits from this preferential access is absent daily, another person will benefit from this free space.

• Booking access

Staff with this type of access will have to book a parking spot to access the parking lot. A time period is allocated to each staff member. To work, you will decide the number of days each staff member will have a right to the parking space.

• First-come, first-served entree

Unlike the above two mentioned, this method doesn’t guarantee that anyone will have the right to a parking spot. You get access to a parking spot based on how quickly you arrive at work. The parking spaces usually get filled up quickly for this access type as the staff can park without reserving a spot.

In making the company parking policy, you can combine these three access types. The access types can be allocated based on the staff level and position held.

Tips on implementing parking policy in your company

Implementing the parking policy in an organization is an important move. This is because the company’s parking lot is a resource that has to be adequately managed to satisfy every user. Providing equity and managing staff mobility are goals that the parking policy must achieve. Here are some tips that can help with implementing your company’s parking policy:

• Define the objective of your organization’s parking policy

You must have an objective when curating your parking policy, as the objective will determine how you develop procedures and rules. 

The objective, for example, could be the modal shift to more sustainable means of transportation. The parking policy could shape these habits.

The objective could also be to create more parking spaces for staff who have to drive to the workplace or for clients and visitors—allocating an access type to each staff member will help distribute spaces and allocate occasional and permanent spaces for the staff.

• Notify the staff of intended changes

Notifying your staff of intended changes brought about by the parking policy will prepare them. Explain to them how the new arrangement will work. Informing them about the modernization of the parking lot will help them understand the new rules and feel involved in making this decision. Notifying them will help the company avoid unnecessary questions and help the users to understand the process better.

• Understanding your staff’s mobility habits

Asking your staff the right set of questions on their mobility habits will help you know what they need, how they will adapt, and what is required. Some staff can accept changing their mode of transportation to create more spaces in the parking lot.

Some staff can agree to adopt cycling while others could reduce cars by arranging to carpool. You have to communicate with your staff if you want to have an effective parking policy.

• Decide the traffic flow within the parking lot

Analyzing the traffic flow in your parking lot will help you find out where the issues are. When you identify the problems within your parking lot, you can successfully implement the right solutions.

For example, you can check for the total number of staff and guests that use the parking lot, the amount of staff that drive to work, the occupancy rate, and the rate of attendance.

When you get the answer to these questions, you can successfully develop and implement the parking policy.

• Use parking management software

Using parking management software will help you successfully implement the parking policy through proper management of the parking flow. You can effectively and efficiently implement the guidelines you make within your company, improve staff satisfaction, and save yourself some time.

The parking management software enables the staff to reserve a parking spot when needed and according to the set rules. The parking management software offers you flexibility in managing the parking lot and has everything within a click on one platform.

• Evaluate your performance through a regular workflow

When you set up a follow-up action, you will see the progress that the parking policy has brought. You can do this by getting feedback from your staff on the satisfaction level and adjusting according to this feedback. The staff are the users, and a parking policy could be a massive change for them, and this is why you must listen to them to understand how it fulfills their needs.

Conclusion

Now that you know about the parking policy, how to create and how to implement it. It is time to get started and make everyone happy through the use of the parking lot. It will also bring lots of benefits, not just for the staff but also for the company. The HR department will save more time that would have been used to settle parking lot disputes; there will be a healthier work environment and limited complaints.

Having an effective parking policy isn’t limited to how the employer feels but how the staff feels as they are the primary users. Following through on how well it has satisfied their needs is also a vital part of the whole process.