You know you have to offer the best benefits to attract and retain quality employees for your business. And you know one way to do that is to offer excellent commuter benefits to your employees.
Since your organization is unique, however, your commuter benefits program will be too. To make the process as easy as possible, it’s best to work with a trusted and reliable provider.
Select the right provider and they’ll help you find a plan that’s simple for you to administer and one that will make the most sense for your employees’ transportation habits.
To help you get started, here are 5 key questions to ask when you start researching benefit providers.
1 – How will they help you assess your company’s needs?
There are many areas to consider. An expert commuter benefits provider will help you look at this from every angle.
In general, though, you’ll need to:
- Review any local and state laws to ensure you’ll be in compliance.
- Determine what types of transportation your employees use now.
- Look at your current workplace in terms of parking, third-party parking lots, and distance to public transit, etc.
- Forecast participation rates.
2 – How will they help deliver the employee benefits?
Employees use many products to pay for transportation benefits. This means you’ll have to decide how you’ll get the products to them.
Your commuter benefits provider will help you with the logistics. But your employees can use vouchers, smart cards, prepaid debit cards, regional transit passes, direct pay or cash reimbursement.
Selecting an option that encourages participation is most beneficial to both employees and your company. The more commuter benefit products are used by employees, the more they’ll enjoy tax savings and your company will save on payroll taxes.
3 – How much customer service do they offer?
Like any employee benefit program, you’ll need some level of customer service. Reliable consumer benefits providers offer a number of options to best suit your needs and budget.
Look for a company that has in-house customer support. Different plans will offer various levels of account maintenance and employee control.
4 – What type of policies should you offer?
Commuter benefit plans are typically flexible when setting up benefits and usage policies.
An experienced commuter benefits provider will work with you to help you determine what policies you need. Those could include:
- Commuting options like public transportation, parking reimbursement, etc.
- Shared commuter options like vanpools
- Dollar tax limits
- Eligibility requirements
- Regulations on proper use
- Sign ups and more
5 – What’s their expertise with commuter benefits?
Do they live and breath commuter benefits? If it’s one of many human resources-like benefits a company administers, they may not be a great fit.
Once a program is up and running, you and your employees will enjoy the cost and tax savings a commuter benefits program offers. Your plan will run smoothly, and employees will enjoy saving money because you were thoughtful enough to offer it.
However, to get there, it’s important to work with an experienced provider. We are proud to say Edenred Commuter Benefit has worked in the industry since 1985. We’ve served Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, top third-party benefit administrators, and now manage commuter programs for three of the largest metro area transit authorities.
When researching plans, it’s important to find an employee benefits provider who provides customized options to best fit your needs and your budget.
If you want to learn more about commuter benefits, download the 101 Guide below:
