Soaring Gas Prices Spur Employers to React

Anne Fisher, senior writer at Fortune magazine, reports in an article published on CNN Money, that some companies have begun implementing policies designed to help their employees fight off the soaring cost of commuting to work.

The article reports that Chicago outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas polled human resources executives and found that 57% of those surveyed said they've launched at least one program, and more often several, designed to beat the high cost of commuting. The poll results were:

• 23% are now allowing employees to work four 10-hour days per week
• 20% organize employee carpools
• 18% subsidize employees' public transportation costs
• 14% let people telecommute from home at least one day a week

All of these initiatives are steps in the right direction. The discouraging part of the article reports that two independent researchers, Kate Lister and Tom Harnish, analyzed the American workforce and found that 40% have jobs that could be done remotely - yet only 4% actually work from home on a regular basis.