Insufficient Number of Parking Spaces, A Sufficient Number of Problems

It wasn’t too long ago when it was common that households shared one vehicle. Nowadays, this is not the case. Most households in America have 2 or more cars and it's rather common that each member of a household has their own car.

While there are plenty of advantages to owning your own vehicle, one thing all car owners can agree on is how stressful the morning commute to work can be when there isn’t enough parking.

Across North America, it was typically standard  for employers to have allocated parking for its employees. However, with the influx of vehicles on the road and a preference to drive into the office, there simply isn’t enough parking to go around.

Imagine your company has 500 employees, but only 250 parking spaces allocated within your lease agreement. Parking becomes an amenity that is provided on a first come first serve system, whereby those not in the first 250 parkers experience the stress of not being able to make it to work on time. Additionally the lack of parking can put great stress on the office/property manager with increased complaints about being late to work, having to pay for parking, and getting parking tickets.

These parking problems can undoubtedly lead to negative attitudes in the workplace. People want to be able to settle in nicely and arrive at work with a good attitude so they can take on their day. However, if you’re 15 minutes late because you had to walk an extra half-mile after finally finding a parking spot, odds are that you won’t be so happy. It’s safe to assume that the lack of parking is a lose-lose situation; employees are unhappy and management has to deal with unhappy employees.

So how can this be resolved?

While working from home can solve these issues, not everyone’s role allows them that flexibility, and in many cases homes are unsuitable work environments.  With a hybrid work-model being embraced by many companies, setting up a rotating schedule of when certain employees come in would ensure the best use of the available parking spaces. Take our previous example - if there are 500 employees and 250 parking spaces, you can stagger the workforce attendance schedule so that 250 come in on Monday and Tuesday while the other 250 come in on Wednesday and Thursday!

Another solution, if all 500 employees need parking spaces, is to contact a space allocation company such as Spacer.com or whereipark.com, who work to source additional convenient spaces to accommodate parker demand. Often, these parking companies have an extensive network of properties ranging from commercial to residential and also have existing partnerships that may be able to source you a more affordable parking solution. 

Parking may seem like a trivial part of someone's work day, however, it can be the very thing that sets someone’s mood and productivity for the day. One cannot expect high output from their workforce if they aren’t able to facilitate simple access to the office.

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Cole Lever is the Corporate Parking Leader for WhereiPark. He develops corporate parking programs for companies that want to provide a proven perk for their employees. He’s worked with some of the world’s largest companies such as Sixt, AirBnB, and Pinterest to provide affordable, reliable, and flexible parking solutions.