New Delhi has woken up to the new year with much lesser traffic, thanks to the new #oddeven rule put in place by the Delhi government. I found a very interesting gif image on ibnlive depicting the traffic situation in Delhi today.
Let’s hope that this translates into a noticeable
impact on the pollution levels as well. While the authorities are doing what
they can, what can we, as HR professionals, do to make this initiative
successful?
- Carpooling – The first thing that comes to mind is to encourage carpooling. What the HR team can do is program manage the car pooling initiative in office. This would require a certain amount of discipline and getting used to. However, positioning it as a win-win situation (a chance to develop new friendships, network, and even gossip :P) can go a long way towards employee engagement.
- Office Buses – For organizations that do not already have this option, give the employees the luxury of relaxing in a comfortable ride home which is managed by the office. Believe me, this will take away a lot of stress for them in terms of thinking everyday about their commute hassles. Plus it’s a much safer option as well.
- Healthy options – This can be used as an opportunity to drive health initiatives. Try and get a place where employees can park their bicycles if they use those to come to office. A further step would even be incentivizing this behavior to encourage employees to start using this mode of transport.
- Workplace Flexibility – Employees will love this. Try and institute a policy of working from home once a week. Ok, I know I’m pushing my luck here but at least some flexibility in working hours would go a long way in soothing the frayed nerves of employees every morning.
Do write in with your suggestions as well to make this
a hassle-free transition for everyone.