Short on parking stalls at work? 7 easy solutions

Not having enough parking stalls at work is a common problem. Luckily, there are 7 easy ways to solve these problems.

1. Manage your work parking lot manually

The first option is the most intuitive; doing it yourself. This option is free, which makes it extremely attractive on its own.

Managing your work parking lot manually means taking responsibility for yourself and your organization. You can use a combination of Slack, spreadsheets, and parking permits as a manual parking management system.

This option requires boots on the ground to check work parking permits and lots, so it can be a draw of resources.

Positives:

• Free
• Works great for 10 spaces or less

Negatives:

• Time intensive
• Staff politics and decisions around who gets a space, who doesn't, how it's decided, and if there’s any rotation. This includes consideration for a bias that occurs when staff without kids get a stall first. After all, they arrive first, making staff with kids feel like they can never get a stall because they must drop their kids off.
• No way to manage people parking in the wrong spot. This goes for employees, but especially for people outside the organization.
• Difficult for hybrid workforces to use- some days, there are many people in the office, and others, everyone is working from home, or away on errands.

2. Explore external parking options

External work parking entails finding spaces not directly on your property or designated for your employees' use already. This can be as complicated and involved as leasing additional stalls from local commercial car parks nearby or as simple as allowing staff to find their own parking.

However, leasing different spaces from car parks comes with additional costs, whereas letting staff find their own parking can reduce job satisfaction and retention.

Positives:

• Versatile. Many options for how to solve the problem, from expensive to free.
• Gives you the option to let your employees figure out their own parking, taking the pressure off yourself and your team.
• Takes some pressure off painful commutes.

Negatives:

• It may affect employee morale, affecting staff retention and recruitment.
• It may cost more money if leasing or sub-leasing space.

3. Begin allocating parking stalls at work

For this option, you may choose to begin designating spaces for certain people. Those who already have it may keep their spaces because taking parking spaces in a work parking lot away from people who already have it can negatively affect employee retention. But you can institute a policy of assigned parking spaces for those who don't have them yet.

There are several ways to allocate parking spaces. First, you can create a role internally for parking management, designating someone within the company to manage it and make final decisions.

Another option is to talk to staff about sharing bays amongst themselves or letting parking sharing happen organically. However, these options carry their own issues because office politics and biases can arise during these negotiations, creating a strained work environment and affecting productivity.

Finally, some offices choose to implement a parking permit system that helps decide who gets a spot and when.

Positives:

• It can be a simple fix for smaller workplaces with fewer spaces (such as 10 and below).
• Less expensive to free, depending on your solution.

Negatives:

• It may complicate the workplace, creating tension and stress around deciding who gets a space over others.
• Can affect employee retention.

4. Introduce hybrid parking policies

A common parking management system is to mix parking options between allocated or assigned, casual parking, and visitor parking options.

For instance, if you have a parking lot of 10 spaces, you can save three for visitors, two for management, and five for the rest of the office on a first-come-first-serve or sharing basis. This option can be tailored to individual offices depending on available parking spaces, employee needs, visitor needs, and other considerations, but it can be a very time-involved process with a lot of management needed.

Positives:

• Customizable to the individual needs of each workspace within an organization, depending on available parking spaces versus needs.
• Money-saving opportunities through adjusting leasing spaces, utilizing free work parking spaces, and encouraging employees to share available spaces.

Negatives:

• Management intensive. This option requires a higher degree of problem-solving from management to find creative and streamlined solutions to parking needs for employees.
• It may still require significant input from administrators to keep it running smoothly through enforcement, planning, and scheduling.

5. Encourage other forms of transport

Work parking lots are often a great way to encourage employees to participate in green initiatives such as car sharing, biking, walking, or public transport.

No one enjoys the commute to work, so finding more sustainable options can make it a little more palatable while supporting your organization’s green initiatives.

There are many ways to do this. Even simply researching the available public transportation and making that information available to your employees can be helpful, or even offering subsidized options for public transport tickets. To promote car sharing, you can invest in a parking management system that streamlines car sharing.

Positives:

• Saves money by cutting down on parking space leasing.
• Supports green initiatives.
• It may offer tax benefits if you can show that it supports green initiatives.

Negatives:

• It may not be accessible to all employees.
• May pose logistical challenges for employees and affect morale and retention.

6. Automate workplace parking management

The easiest option for dealing with work parking lots is to automate parking. Using innovative technology in the workplace is crucial, and automation is a significant part of that. Taking a load of parking management from admin or employees and moving it to an easy-to-use, simplified parking management system that streamlines things is an easy way to manage your existing spaces.

Positives:

• Simplicity. Take the job of parking lot management away from administrators so they can focus on other things. With an easy-to-use interface, parking management systems can help you and your employees track and manage parking.
• Flexible and scalable. Parking management systems can work for any type of organization, fitting their needs regardless of size.

Negatives:

• Additional cost, usually in a monthly fee charged by a number of parking stalls.

7. Implement paid parking stalls at work

An easy way to recover costs from parking is to turn it into a profit. Moving from free to paid work parking lots can help change the office's parking culture, encouraging other forms of transportation to the office while bringing in additional profit to help cover costs.

Positives:

• It can be easy to manage with the right parking management system.
• Cost recovery.
• Encourages other forms of transportation.
• Cuts down on leasing costs by reducing spaces required.

Negatives:

• It may not be easy to implement at first as employees get used to paying for parking.

Make the most of your available parking stalls at work

There are many ways to streamline your use of the parking spaces you have available to you. Using a parking management system that gives you incredible flexibility to choose whatever form of parking management you like the most puts the power in your hands.

Talk to Parkable about how we can help you make the most out of your parking spaces.