Today, businesses are actively looking for ways to practice sustainability to attract and retain a modern workforce with value-added office perks, while maintaining their bottom line. One simple way businesses are meeting this objective is by adding commercial electrical vehicle (EV) charging stations to their offices. Brookings estimates that over 76 percent of Americans still drive alone to work every day. One way to improve your employees’ commute is by enabling EV charging at work. Not only can employees take the high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane to work with an EV and arrive faster, they can also charge up conveniently. There are a lot of benefits to installing smart EV infrastructure at work today versus waiting another five or ten years.
Why businesses are adding EV charging for employees
Employee perk
There is fierce competition to attract employee talent in metro hubs like the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston and others. As an employer, it’s also hard to offer solutions that address systemic local challenges like affordable housing, horrendously long commutes times and other things that affect the well-being of your employees.
However, offering EV charging at work is a tangible way of improving daily commutes and employee productivity. By installing smart charging stations for your employees to use, you show that you care about improving their daily routines and the existential threat of climate change. By providing EV charging stations on business grounds, you can easily expect the following results:
- Increased productivity-- Employees are more likely to have improved performance within the workplace such as punctuality and better time management if they don’t have to worry about where and when they will be able to charge their vehicle. Also, many states and provinces in North America allow electric vehicle drivers to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. In California, EV drivers can apply for the HOV sticker and access the “fast lane” during rush hour commute times for up to four years - meaning less time stuck in traffic and valuable hours of productive time added back to employee’s day.
- Happier workers-- Charging infrastructure can demonstrate your commitment to your employees with this perk. If a business demonstrates care for its employees by providing eco-friendly transportation options, those employees are more likely to be content in their positions and therefore yield more positive performance results.
In addition, taking action to reduce your carbon footprint can help instill them with a sense of pride that they work for an employer that values the same things as them. Our commercial customers have found that by offering corporate amenities like EV charging, they’ve been able to increase employee loyalty, which is essential for the longevity and productivity of their business.
According to an interview with Regional Wellness Coordinator Ted Major, "The ability to charge my car at work was a deciding factor in my family's decision to purchase an all-electric vehicle. Our community is currently debating whether to add centralized chargers so we quite literally depend on the availability of the work chargers to keep our Spark on the road!"
EV charging is a benefit that is highly valued by employees who drive an EV, with a DOE survey on workplace charging finding that 90% of employers receive positive feedback on their workplace charging programs from staff. Employers who go the extra mile to provide perks are appreciated by their employees, and with the availability of incentive programs across the United States to cover CAPEX, EV charging can often be a cost-effective way to improve employees’ workplace experience.