How Covid-19 and flexible working changed the way Tonkin + Taylor do staff parking

With Parkable, Tonkin + Taylor managed to transition from a salary sacrifice model to seamless casual parking for everyone

Prior to Covid-19, NZ's third largest engineering consultancy, Tonkin + Taylor, was managing its Head Office parking in Newmarket with an employee salary sacrifice model. Onsite parking was a perk that select employees paid for annually.

However, once remote and flexible working came into effect, and to adapt and create a better experience for staff still coming into the office, the company made their onsite parking available to all employees for an hourly rate.

The problem? This created serious administrative issues of its own.

Manual processes for staff, reception, and accounts

Trying to manage the new ‘casual’ parks created time-consuming administration that impacted Tonkin + Taylor’s staff, reception, and the accounts team on a daily basis.

For staff parking onsite, the workday started and ended with a visit to the front desk to register their vehicle at reception. Plus, with over 400 staff and just 30 parking spots, there was always uncertainty about whether a park would be available.

The administration process for the admin team was also time-intensive. They had to maintain a daily parking spreadsheet and manually check the car park each morning to ensure that everyone was parked in the right spot and checked in.

Finally, for the accounts team, the spreadsheet from reception needed to be checked against timesheet bookings that staff had recorded their parking, and parking costs deducted from the salary of each employee.

Shifting to an efficient, automated system

In August, Tonkin + Taylor decided to ditch the manual processes and launch Parkable’s software to manage staff parking.

"Parkable is very easy to work with, both the platform and the people. They do great work and are very responsive and client focused.”

Julius Moster, Project Manager

Parkable has a seamless payment and monitoring solution, saving Tonkin + Taylor’s reception workers and accountants around four hours of administrative work each week.

Plus, by allowing staff to book a parking spot in advance, there’s no longer confusion about whether a parking spot will be available when employees arrive in the morning. Over two thirds of Tonkin + Taylor staff say that Parkable has made it easier to plan their morning commute, and 74% say it makes parking at work more convenient.