by
Shift San Diego
| Aug 29, 2016
Illumina is a large employer in the Golden Triangle area helping employees take advantage of alternatives to driving to work alone. The company goal is to encourage employees to explore carpooling, vanpooling, taking the COASTER, or biking as alternate ways to get to work.
Building on its culture of openness and collaboration, Illumina hopes to improve employee quality of life by making commuting a positive experience. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) refers to programs and strategies that manage and reduce traffic congestion by encouraging the use of transportation alternatives. Illumina`s TDM efforts encourage an employee to ride a bike to maintain or improve one`s health and wellness while getting to and from work. It also highlights how people can foster camaraderie in a vanpool while reducing traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. Kelsey S. assists with Illumina’s commuter benefits program. Check out what she has to say about their TDM efforts.
Q: How is Illumina working towards your TDM goal?
A: Illumina is supportive of alternative transportation modes and offers commuter benefits such as a vanpool subsidy, a shuttle to and from the COASTER station, and special parking spaces for carpools and vanpools. Additionally, iCommute has helped us by showing our employees the benefits of commuting alternatives. iCommute helps the employees keep track of the changes they are making and how they are not only benefiting themselves, but also are helping decrease the amount of traffic in this area. By logging in trips in their free iCommute account, a person can see their impact on reducing CO2 emissions, burning calories, and even saving money. We even held a vanpool event to match employees for vanpools.
Q: Describe your recent success with promoting vanpools.
A: Our vanpool program has been doing really well. It is constantly growing and is projected to continue growing for the rest of the year. We started the beginning of the year with three vanpools, but we are now at nine. This is exciting!
Q: How does an employee learn about commuter benefits?
A: Our focus on alternative methods of commuting starts at employee orientation. We also communicate the benefits on our intranet and internal social network. Now that the program is up and running, we will be highlighting employees who carpool and vanpool throughout our campus to continue to build awareness of these programs for Rideshare month and to share with other employees their positive experiences.
Q: How do you keep employees engaged in communicating TDM goals and successes?
A: It is important to have open communication with our employees here at Illumina. Employees can share an idea or a goal and give feedback in coordination meetings and via internal postings. We look to our employees to suggest ways we can continue to support and improve the commuter experience.
Q: What are the top challenges in getting people to change the way they commute?
A: The top challenge is to reassure employees that using alternative transportation modes (carpool, vanpool, transit, walk or bike) doesn’t mean you are stranded or out of luck for emergencies or unexpected events. People like that safety net of being able to leave whenever they need or want to, and we want to use this challenge as an opportunity to offer a solution.
Q: What are the solutions you are working on to address this challenge?
A: iCommute offers free enrollment to the Guaranteed Ride Home Program. A participant receives three vouchers within a year for emergencies. This covers the use of a cab or rental car. These vouchers can help reduce anxiety, ease the mind, and provide reassurance that using alternative transportation can be done.
For more information on how you, as an employer, can participate in the iCommute program, visit http://www.icommutesd.com/Employers/employer-services
