More Employers Helping Employees Deal with Gas Prices

More than 40 percent of employers have taken steps to help employees deal with higher gas prices this year, up from 25 percent in 2005, according to a poll on HR.BLR.com and Compensation.BLR.com.

The combined results of this year's poll on the two sites show that 43 percent of employers have tried at least one tactic to assist employees in response to higher has prices.

●  11 percent of respondents said they are encouraging more carpooling.

●  6 percent of respondents said they are allowing more telecommuting.

●  5 percent of respondents said they are encouraging greater use of mass transit.

●  15 percent of respondents said they were trying two or more of the above angles.

By contrast, just 25 percent of respondents to a similar HR.BLR.com poll conducted in 2005 said they had taken one or more steps to help employees with rising gas prices.

The 2008 survey, which included a total of 436 respondents, found that 57 percent of employers had yet to take any action to help employees in response to higher gas prices. Higher gas prices can affect employers' recruitment and retention efforts. In a previous poll by Compensation.BLR.com, for example, 31 percent of HR professionals reported that an employee had left their company because of rising gas prices in the past 12 months.

A recent poll by Robert Half International had found that among employees whose commute has been affected by higher gas prices, 30 percent said they were looking for jobs closer to home. Twenty-five percent of respondents said they were seeking higher compensation to offset higher commuting costs.