As companies grapple with how to manage their office space post-pandemic, over a quarter of businesses are actively in the process of reducing the size of their employee car parks according to a new survey, The State of Employee Parking 2021. The study from parking management software firm ParkOffice.io polled 105 corporate leaders who manage employee parking across 15 countries.

Of the businesses surveyed, 7.3% are aiming for a large reduction in employee parking, while 19.5% of employers are looking to implement small reductions. Interestingly, it’s not all one-way; many companies are expecting parking demand to spike when employees return to the office, with 15.9% of companies looking to increase their parking allocation.

Other interesting takeaways from the research include:

• 30% of companies believe that employee parking will be considerably harder to manage when employees return to the office due to increased flexibility.
• 47% of employers identify employee parking as a problematic issue for their business. It is particularly challenging for companies with over 1,000 employees.
• 57.5% of businesses are more conscious of the negative impact of employee parking on the environment than they were five years ago.

Speaking about the research, ParkOffice’s Daithí de Buitléir remarked:

“COVID-19 has been a real watershed moment for employee parking. Employees don’t want to return to the commuter chaos which used to dominate their lives. For lifestyle, cost and environmental reasons, we are going to see companies aggressively downsize their parking lots over the next few years. Whole industries exist trying to answer one very simple question, how can we get fewer people to drive to work?

“According to the 2016 Census in the US, 76% of workers drove to work alone. Obviously, these figures were dramatically reduced overnight with the onset of COVID-19. However, large questions remain as vaccinated communities begin to return to offices. Mainly, how can employers create new cultures around commuting to ensure congestion and air pollution don't become a part of everyday life again.

“Efforts to change commuting behaviours have largely focused on encouraging and incentivising employees to travel to work in other ways. There has been a reluctance to discuss the elephant in the room, employee parking. Many companies have carpooling schemes, cycling infrastructure and subsidised public transport programmes but they have no tangible grasp of what is happening in their car parks."

Employers might want to think about implementing a travel plan to promote more environmentally-friendly travel options, for example car-pools, public transport and walking. Travel plans become an obligation if the business has to implement new measures as a result of problems with parking shortages, congestion problems or large changes to the business.

There are several long-term benefits of having a travel plan in place:

• A travel plan can be used to recruit and retain staff in a more effective manner, while also saving money on car parking spaces and business travel.
• A more streamlined car park can serve to reduce the impact of parking and road use on the local community, resulting in a friendlier corporate image.
• Creating areas where employees can be dropped off and picked up will help with car park congestion.

Continues de Buitléir:

​​“They might know uptake levels for travel programmes, but they have no idea how many people are in their car park at a given time. Are they building the insights and processes needed to reduce their office car parks in a structured way over the next ten years?

“For too long, employee parking has been put on the long finger. People love to complain about it but are reluctant to manage it with a long-term focus on efficiency and the environment. The State of Employee Parking 2021 gives employers an insight into what is happening around the world and can stimulate companies to proactively make decisions about the future of their office car parks.”

The full report is available to read here.