This HR pro developed a vanshare program to help employees get to work

Carpooling isn’t just for moms with minivans anymore.

Services that help to connect commuters and get them to work, particularly outside urban centers, can be a useful recruitment and retention tool for HR, especially for a workforce with limited access to their own transportation.

When snack bars and seed butter manufacturer 88 Acres outgrew its commercial kitchen space in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, it ended up securing a new location in Canton, Massachusetts, about 30 minutes away from its original spot. The facility was expansive enough that management could imagine the company growing there.

There was only one problem.

“Almost all of our team that actually makes the product that fuels every other department doesn’t necessarily have the means to get to this new location,” said Rebecca Short, HR generalist at 88 Acres. “So, what are we gonna do about that?”

Short needed to figure out a way to retain workers after the move. Nearly all of the employees lived within three miles of the Dorchester bakery, according to Short, and she told us that about 70% walked to work or used public transportation. Many didn’t have a driver’s license or access to a car.

“We really wanted to present our team with the solution and not just go…‘We are moving, and we don’t know how we’re gonna get you there but we’re hoping to,’ and have our team leave or just panic,” she said.

AMA re: TMA. Short turned to the Neponset Valley Transportation Management Association (TMA) to help organize a vanshare program and carpools for employees after the company’s move.

The Neponset Valley TMA is one of more than 150 TMAs across the US, according to its director Karen Dumaine. The member-based nonprofit organization works with companies, office parks, and municipalities to develop commuter programs that reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road.

In addition to vanshare programs like the one Dumaine helped 88 Acres create, TMAs help organize carpools, first- and last-mile shuttle programs, and park and rides.

Dumaine worked with Short to create a map using employee zip codes to coordinate how they might proceed.

“We’re able to see [where] those clusters of employees are located, where those densely populated areas are that could be great opportunities for either carpool or vanpools,” Dumaine said.

The deets. Dumaine connected 88 Acres to Commute with Enterprise. Through the rental car company’s vanshare program, it secured one 15-passenger van to help first-shift employees get to work, and a minivan for third-shift employees. Second-shift employees were able to coordinate their own carpools.

The vans cost $1,500 a month through the Enterprise program. Employee participants pay $120 a month via payroll deduction, which comes out to about $3 a ride. The company subsidizes gas and general maintenance. Enterprise covers major repairs.

Two 88 Acres employees are the designated van drivers. Although the company can’t pay employees to drive their colleagues, Short said it does cover the payroll deductions for the drivers to incentivize them to take the wheel.

“It’s essentially their car. They bring it home every night, and it’s in their driveway,” Short said. “On the weekends, if they want to take the van and go to Costco or have a kid’s soccer game, …they can do that.”

Through the company’s membership with the TMA, employees also have access to an emergency ride home program, so no one is stranded at work if there’s a family emergency.

“That emergency ride home program is that safety net, so if you’re leaving your car at home, using any kind of green commute, if you had an emergency…we’ll bring them home by taxi, rental car, Lyft, at no cost to them,” Dumaine said.

Retention and recruitment. For 88 Acres, the vanshare program was an important retention tool. Short said the “extra effort” was crucial to preserving the historical knowledge of its staff.

88 Acres only lost one employee in the move, Short said. She was worried she might lose up to 40% of the team.

Additionally, she also sees it as a future recruitment tool, and one that opens up the team’s recruiting options in other areas or even states as the company grows into its new space. Companies don’t have to move locations to find TMA-related commuter programs useful as a recruitment or retention tool. Green commute programs can also lower stress and increase productivity, said Dumaine.

“This wasn’t easy…It’s like, ‘Get yourself to work; that’s your responsibility.’ Now, it’s partially my responsibility,” Short said. “But for us, it’s worth it because we have a dedicated team coming to work every single day, and a team that we know cares about our organization and is willing to put in the work, and the team that knows what they’re doing.”