HOW TO SOLVE THE COMMUTING PROBLEM: Local companies are getting creative with how their employees commute in an effort to recruit-and retain--talent throughout the Wasatch range.

AuthorHoffstetter, Rachel

Quick: how much time did you spend commuting yesterday? How much time did your best employee spend? How much time did that dream recruit spend? Chances are, one of those three spent more time than he or she would like.

As the CMO at Chatbooks, I believe that we don't have to work like it's 1999. As we recruit and retain amazing team members from throughout the Wasatch range, one of the challenges we've had to grapple with is how to make commutes work when some employees live 50-plus (often traffic-filled) miles from our headquarters.

Turns out we're not the only ones trying to solve this. One popular solution is to split the difference and locate offices somewhere in the middle. This is why areas at the Point of the Mountain are some of the fastest growing business regions in the US. While this "go to the middle" strategy has several pros, it's not the only logical choice. It usually requires some commute for everyone, and the commute from Park City or the Avenues can still be an undertaking. Not to mention, moving location is a significant undertaking that may not be in the strategic plan for all businesses.

At Chatbooks, a Provo HQ was the best fit for most of our team, but we didn't want our Salt Lake City team dealing with long commutes five days a week. That being said, we do believe that working together-as much as is possible and practical--fosters cross-pollination of ideas, better collaboration, and goodwill amongst colleagues. How could we optimize for time together in-person while improving productivity and employee satisfaction?

We got creative, and came up with the idea of a part-time satellite office in Sugarhouse, where Salt Lake team members can work some days of the week (on the other days, everyone comes to Provo HQ). For us, it's a constant experiment that we continue to optimize, but so far we'd call it a success!

Here are five more creative ideas that local companies are trying as they attempt to help their teams spend more time working and living, and less time in traffic:

  1. SHIFT SCHEDULES

    Park City Culinary Institute (whose main location is in downtown Salt Lake City) lets employees flex their arrival and departure times to avoid traffic-especially the traffic associated with a 9AM start or 5PM finish. Some people arrive well before 9AM. says owner Laurie Moldawer, and leave by 3PM. Or they might arrive after 9AM. and head out after the evening rush hour.

    "It wasn't our idea in the beginning," she says. "But...

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