Managing parking can be a constant challenge for HR and facility managers. How often do you hear employees voicing their frustrations about limited parking spaces, the lack of EV chargers or the struggle to find a convenient spot? These complaints land on your desk, and without a clear, efficient parking policy, the frustration only grows.
If this sounds familiar, it’s time to rethink and optimise your company’s parking strategy, making life easier for both you and your employees. In this article, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of creating an optimal parking policy and show you how data can transform your company’s car park into a fast, efficient experience for everyone.
What is a workplace parking policy?
A parking policy is a set of rules put in place by your company or a local authority to manage how and where people can park. For most companies, that means defining who gets to park where, and under what conditions.
The main reason why companies create a parking policy is because they have to make optimal use of the limited number of parking spaces and EV charging points at their employees’ disposal throughout the day. But that’s only the beginning: many companies also use their parking policy to promote sustainability. The right policy can reduce car dependency and encourage sustainable transportation options, for example. So, your company’s parking policy has an impact on your company’s overall mobility strategy, even outside the car park.
Why parking policies are so important
Each company’s parking policy is unique and depends on the size of your car park, the number of vehicles you need to accommodate, and other factors, like your company’s sustainability targets. You can tell your policy is effective when it delivers the following benefits:
1. Employees love it
Transparency and communication are essential for building strong employee satisfaction and a positive working experience. Your parking policy can help. With the right approach, it creates clarity for your employees the minute they arrive at the company premises. A lack of policy, on the other hand, means employees will be more likely to start their work day off in frustration.
2. It optimises how you use your parking facilities
A carefully constructed parking policy lets your company get the most out of its limited number of parking spaces. It ensures each spot is allocated efficiently, based on clear rules that everyone understands. It can also prioritise drivers based on their role or other factors.
3. It promotes workplace safety
Your parking policy also keeps employees and guests safer. Clear rules on how and where to park prevent unsafe situations, such as blocked emergency exits or illegal parking.
4. It cuts CO2 emissions
Sustainability starts with your company’s commuter vehicle fleet, which is why parking policy is such a major priority for companies right now. It enables you to incentivise green alternatives, like cycling, public transport, or carpooling. As a result, it can lower your company’s carbon footprint while also making the car park less crowded.
How data can help
As with nearly every other area of modern business, data is playing a vital role in optimising parking. There are two types of data in particular that you can use to optimise your parking policy:
1. Employee data: This is data your company already has on hand, such as information on employee’s home addresses, job titles, and who drives a company car.
2. Real-time parking data: These are insights collected by smart parking management systems. For example, the systems enable you to track peak usage times, no-shows, and overall demand.
Employee data
To ensure your company’s parking spaces are being distributed fairly, start with your existing employee data. You might, for example, choose to give priority to drivers based on how long their commute is, how long they’ve been with the company, or whether they drive an electric vehicle. Using clear data like this ensures your parking policy is logical and fair.
Real-time parking data
If you’re interested in creating a modern, fully optimised parking policy, employee data is not enough. It’s essential to also have real-time data into what’s really going on in your car park. For example, you may find that you’re reserving spaces each day for senior members of staff who are now regularly working from home.
If you want to add sophistication and precision to your parking policy, consider implementing a smart, data-driven parking management system. It gives you full visibility into actual parking patterns, so you can adapt your policies to ensure a dynamic, data-driven and employee-friendly parking experience every day.
Collecting data with a Smart Parking Management System
Many companies already use access control systems, such as barriers, to manage their car parks. However, not all businesses have adopted a smart parking management system yet.
With this system, employees and visitors can reserve a parking space in advance and enter the car park seamlessly using automatic number plate recognition. The data is then displayed in a clear, easy-to-use dashboard. When are your busiest days and peak hours? How many people actually park after making a reservation? What is the occupancy rate across your various sites?
By analysing this data, you can create a new parking policy or adjust your existing one. On average, we see a no-show rate of 25% among our customers. This means you can free up those parking spaces for other employees. Are your parking spaces empty in the evenings? Simply open them up to short-term parkers and generate additional revenue.
Data: the key to a successful parking strategy for APG
Developing an effective parking policy doesn’t happen overnight, but one thing is clear: data is the key to success.
APG was also missing crucial data and functionalities needed to shape its new parking policy. With Toogethr Smart Parking, APG now has real-time insights into daily occupancy, site-specific usage, and no-shows. This data has helped optimise its parking strategy, leading to improved occupancy rates and happier employees.
Want to learn more? Contact our parking experts for more information today.
