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Marc Giauque ReportingSo how long is your drive to work? Amanda Johnson's is 55-miles one way.
"It was getting to the point where I was considering an extra job, like on the weekends, to pay for the gas money. I wasn't considering working somewhere else because I really like it here."
"Here" is Advanced MD Software in Draper. Johnson's home is in Roy. She's one of the workers who are now getting a little salary boost to help offset fuel costs.
"It's covering my gas and I pay my bills normally. and with the new car, obviously I'm doing better."
She used to have a Jeep; now she drives a Hyundai. Company CEO Jim Pack says the idea to help workers came just after the company made a move closer to one worker's home.
"It got me thinking, if the gas price increases were hitting her wallet and are drive time was closer and we just moved the office, what about those employees that were a little bit further from the company?"
So they devised a system.
"What we did was look at the distance that employees drove to work and said, 'what's the impact?'"
So, Pack says some get very little extra money, others get a significant boost. Is it worth the cost? Pack thinks so.
"Obviously, the immediate reaction was one of a very favorable response from the employees. Longer term it's been more of an understanding that we care, and we care what goes on outside the office as well."
You may not be so lucky, but then again you may. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management says more than a quarter of companies are trying to help workers manage commute costs in some way.
"The increase was really great when the gas prices dropped again. But now that they're going back up, things are starting to level out. So it's getting a little scary. But I noticed they were down a little bit more today."
Employers are doing other things too. Some are allowing more people to work four 10 hour days, others are making telecommuting arrangements. Johnson will gladly take what she's given.
