September 22, 2005 | Posted By Diane Pfadenhauer | print this article

Relief for Workers at the Pump

USA Today had an article reporting on recent efforts by employers to help employees with the surging price of gas.  According to a survey by SHRM, here are some of the things employers are doing in light of that fact that gas is about a dollar more than it was a year ago and Hurricane Rita is barreling through the Golf of Mexico:

  • Raising their mileage reimbursement rate to the new IRS rate of $.485/mile (interestingly, I read somewhere that the rate should be upwards of $.80/mile...)
  • Offering public transportation discounts
  • Organizing car pools
  • Offering telecommuting
  • Letting employees work from home

I'd say let's hope that Rita steers clear of the coast, that people are not harmed and the oil production facilities are not damaged.  Unfortunately, it appears that is not likely to happen with the latest weather predictions.  Hopefully lessons learned from Katrina can be quickly implemented in the face of yet another deadly storm.