Company Strategies to Deal with Rising Gas Prices

The research is conclusive: 66% of organizations have reported that rising gas prices have had a moderate to very high negative impact on their business operations. We recently conducted a survey exploring how businesses are coping with staggering fuel costs in the United States and what these companies are doing to counteract the trend, or even take advantage of it.

In this release on rising gas prices, there are several interesting findings, specifically:

• Seventy-seven percent of companies have not raised mileage expense reimbursement
• A third of companies are replacing or reducing business travel with web conferencing and other technological alternatives
• Only 4% of companies are offering educational services on how to reduce fuel use

With gas prices not expected to plateau anytime soon (most companies estimate that the average price of gas will top $4.50 in the U.S. by the end of summer - the average is already $4.34 here in Washington State), there are risks and also opportunities for companies who to decide to adjust to today's climate. While there are costs involved with extending gas benefits to employees (such as free bus passes and higher reimbursement rates), can those same costs translate into improved employee retention or recruitment? What about expanded flex time offerings?