Master Thesis
Peak hour avoidance from a company perspective
Student: Saskia Cornelissen // 10647937 MSc. in Business Studies – Strategy Track
Amsterdam Business School – University of Amsterdam
Supervisor and first assessor: Prof. Drs. J.G. de Wit Second assessor: Drs. E. Dirksen
2 ABSTRACT
This research set out to explore the mobility field of study by researching the company perspective on peak hour avoidance (PHA). The company perspective has thus far been underexposed, whilst having a major influence on traffic congestion. The goal was to discover the contribution of PHA to the public issue of congestion, the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and company productivity. To research these issues, a qualitative multiple-case study has been performed. Seven interviews were conducted with six different companies in the educational, ICT and financial industries. These revealed that there are no explicit PHA policies in the researched companies that directly lead to PHA. However, there are implicit PHA policies that indirectly lead to PHA. Findings suggest that implicit PHA policies contribute to solving a public issue, to CSR and to company productivity. This shows companies the benefits of PHA and creates an incentive for implementing PHA policies to congestion problems. Future research should show whether these effects are the same for explicit PHA policies.
3 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 5
2. Literature review 7
The public problem 7
The corporate problem 10
Research questions 13 3. Research methods 13 Research design 13 Research sample 14 Data collection 15 Methods 16 Interview guide 17 Data analysis 19 4. Results 19 PHA projects 21
Implicit PHA policies 21
Corporate social responsibility 22
Nature of the policies 29
Increased employee productivity 29
Behavioral change 31
5. Discussion 33
PHA and the public issue 33
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PHA and productivity 38
Changing behavior 39 Inter-industrial differences 41 Contributions 42 Limitations 42 Future research 43 6. Conclusion 44 7. References 46 8. Appendices 49
5 1. INTRODUCTION
In today’s society road congestion during peak hours is a major issue and it is expected to worsen (Ben-Elia & Ettema, 2011). Between 2008 and 2012 traffic decreased by one third in the Netherlands due to road alterations, such as the construction of commuter lanes, and traffic management (KiM, 2013). However, congestion problems remained and are also expected to increase in the coming years.
In the Netherlands 50 % of all journeys is done by car (KiM, 2013) and every morning and afternoon many roads are clogged. The morning peak hour is between 7:30 and 9:30 (Ben-Elia & Ettema, 2011) and the afternoon rush hour between 16:00 and 18:00 (Wehner, Birmili, Gnauk & Wiedensohler, 2002). Over the past decade there has been an overall increase in commuting (KiM, 2013) which leads to congestion, particularly in the peak hours. Congestion is a public (social) problem; it has great influence on both individuals and the government. It affects individuals mainly because they experience the consequences of congestion every day, and government, since congestion is an issue in government policy. These two perspectives have been researched before and potential solutions have been assayed.
It takes commuters more time to commute to and from work because of traffic congestion. This can negatively influence the quality of their work because employees need more time to recover the longer they work (Jansen, Kant, van Amelsvoort, Nijhuis & van den Brandt, 2003). To try to avoid the congestion problems during peak hours, there is a research piece on peak hour avoidance (PHA) in the Netherlands, called ‘Spitsmijden’. This research explores how people can be motivated to travel outside the peak hours (Ben-Elia & Ettema, 2009). The ‘Spitsmijden’ research focuses on the commuters’ aspect and how they can be motivated to change commuting behavior. Besides the individual perspective, the governmental perspective on PHA is often
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explored, for example by implementing road pricing (Yang & Bell, 1997). The government tries to solve the current congestion problems by exploring measures that could be implemented. However, hitherto there is no true solution to this social problem.
Besides being a social problem, the congestion problem also is a private (corporate) problem. However, a company perspective on PHA is still underexposed. The daily struggle of many employees commuting to and from work also affects companies. Companies can experience economic effects, for example through their employees’ decreased productivity (Jansen et al., 2003). Employees also experience stress due to congestion (‘Spitsmijden werkt jaar later nog’, 2014), which is neither beneficial to their productivity. It is understood how employers can motivate their employees, for example by flexible working hours, and, depending on the company size, what would be the most suitable kind of transport to encourage for PHA (Vonk Noordegraaf & Annema, 2012; Van Malderen, Jourquin, Thomas, Vanoutrive, Verhetsel & Witlox, 2012). However, these measures still focus on employees. So the question remains why companies and/or employers should engage in PHA. Until now research did not touch upon this subject, although companies have a great influence on the travel behavior of their employees (Van Malderen et al., 2012) and so could make a difference to the congestion problems.
The company perspective can be considered from three different angles; corporate interest, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and human resource management (HRM). The crossing point where these three meet, could contribute to the issue of how companies could be involved in stimulating PHA.
As long as companies do not have an incentive, a corporate interest, to promote PHA, it is unlikely anything significant will change with the current congestion problems. Meanwhile, congestion is not distributed linearly; only a few companies can already cause a significant effect.
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That is to say, if a few companies would promote PHA, the congestion problem could be solved to a great extent (KiM, 2013). Consequently, if it becomes clear what the corporate interest is, not only companies would benefit from it, it would also be of a public interest. This means there could also be a CSR component for companies in PHA. Although CSR has many different definitions, in this research CSR is considered as ‘a balanced approach for organizations to address economic, social and environmental issues in a way to benefit people, communities and society’ (Leonard & McAdam, 2008, p.27). Finally, in PHA, HRM should also be considered from a company perspective. HRM can have a beneficial influence in three ways; the attractiveness of the company, promotion of CSR and it can contribute to employees’ productivity (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004; Gond, Igalens, Swaen & El Akremi, 2011).
In short, most research on PHA is done focussing only on commuters and not on companies. The company perspective of PHA is still underexposed. This study is an exploratory study of this issue. The next section contains a literature review in order to explore what is already known and to find out what should be further researched. Then the research methods and data will be presented, followed by the research results. Subsequently these findings will be discussed and the research questions will be answered. Additionally, some research limitations and contributions will be presented. Finally, this study will end with a conclusion in which any final remarks will be discussed.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW The public problem
As mentioned, congestion is a major public issue in the Netherlands. Half of the commuters travel by car and mobility is increasing; there is an increase in the distance travelled as well as in the number of journeys (KiM, 2013). As a result, traffic congestion is a major problem and
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unlikely to decrease. Consequently, people travel longer than necessary. This affects individuals, has a negative environmental effect due to increased emissions and so negatively affects the entire society. To try to solve this problem, individuals, government regulations, and the potential impact of PHA is examined.
PHA can be achieved in many different ways, for example, through flexible working hours1 and teleworking2. Abkowitz (1981) conducted a research on the factors that influence the timing decisions of commuters. There are obviously many factors that play a role, however, some factors proved to be more decisive than others. Abkowitz found that work schedule flexibility, occupation, income and age are influencing factors. Some of these factors are under a companies’ influence, such as work schedule flexibility, meaning that companies could have an influence on when people travel to and from work. However, companies could wonder what is in it for them, why would they, for example, adopt flexible working hours. As mentioned before, when working hours are longer, employees have less time to recover (Jansen et al., 2003). Shepard III, Clifton & Kruse (1996) also found that flexible working hours have a positive influence on employees; it increases their productivity. This can lead to positive economic effects for companies. This is supported by Eaton (2003), when flexibility policies are perceived positively and are thought to be feasible it has a positive influence on productivity. However, Eaton did advise to form better measures for productivity in future research, and also Shepard III et al. (1996), advised a more thorough research and more precise measures.
Apart from flexible working hours, another possibility in today’s working environment is teleworking. Through the use of computers and phones people are not bound to work in the same office at all times, they can work from home or other places. Teleworking is increasingly used by
1 See Appendix A - Glossary for the definitions used in this study 2 See Appendix A - Glossary for the definitions used in this study
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employees (Ruiz & Walling, 2005) and has proven to cause a decrease in travel times of individuals (KiM, 2013). Besides decreasing travel times another benefit of travelling outside peak hours is that teleworkers in general tend to travel less (Hamer, Kroes & Ooststroom, 1991). So teleworking could also be encouraged for the use of PHA. Teleworking has several advantages for individuals, companies and society such as increased autonomy and flexibility, increased HR capacity and savings and less environmental damage. The disadvantages are in terms of a sense of isolation and detachment in employees, that is to say, employees feel less involved with the company they work for (Harpaz, 2002). Besides, teleworking demands new working structures, such as an intranet through which employees can easily communicate remotely. This is a costly investment for companies (Harpaz, 2002). When trying to promote and implement the ‘Spitsmijden’ project at a company level, these different effects should be considered.
Besides the current technological advancements, the government also attempts to influence the travel behavior of people. Yang & Bell (1997) in their research focused on whether traffic could be distributed more evenly by using road pricing. The research shows that road pricing has an influence, but it is not exactly clear what that influence is. Research also shows that road pricing evokes resistance. Commuters agree that current traffic and environmental problems need to be solved, but they do not unthinkingly accept travel demand management, which are strategies, such as road pricing, in order to influence travel behavior (Jakobsson, Fujii & Gärling, 2000). There are several factors that influence how easily people accept road pricing, such as income and social pressure. Ben-Elia & Ettema (2009) found that a system of rewarding works better than road pricing. People do not want to be charged for something they have to do every day, like travelling to work. But if they are rewarded for travelling outside peak hours they can be
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motivated to do so. Some constraints mentioned by the researchers were unwillingness to change behavior and work-related constraints. It has been shown that trying to change people’s behavior, for example into teleworking, can be difficult (Jager, 2003).
Addressing the issue of difficulties and unwillingness to change behavior it becomes clear that at some points in life people are more open to changes than at other points (Schäfer, Jaeger-Erben & Bamberg, 2012). It is stated that during life changing events, like childbirth or a new job, people more readily change their behavior. Since many things are already changing and they are trying to find a new balance people are more open to suggestions of change. This could possibly also apply to people’s travel behavior. For example, when people change jobs, the government or companies could respond to this by offering different ways to travel or different travel schedules. As well as life changing events, the behavior of one person can influence that of others. When one family member is engaging in teleworking, it has proven to decrease the travel frequency of other family members as well (Hamer et al., 1991). So, by motivating one person for PHA, others could be influenced at the same time. Both this and life changing events could provide good opportunities to promote PHA and so help to solve the congestion problem.
The corporate problem
The congestion problems undermine social welfare. But, as well as being a public problem, traffic congestion is a corporate problem. There are many costs involved with congestion, of which half are borne by companies (KiM, 2013). With this in mind, it is remarkable that PHA is usually researched only from a governmental or individual perspective, and that most researches neglect the companies’ perspective. Moreover companies’ potential influence on their employees’ travel behavior is not mentioned at all. However, there does seem to be space to take into account this new and underexposed perspective, especially since in several researches the
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influence of flexibility in work schedules and work constraints is touched upon. This is also indicated as a recommendation for future research (Vonk Noordegraaf & Annema, 2012). Several factors are researched to be of importance such as, company size, business sector and feelings of responsibility towards employees’ commuting behavior, which influence employers’ opinions on PHA. Promotion of PHA might persuade employers to implement PHA policies or at least make it easier to avoid peak hour.
As previously mentioned, the company perspective on PHA can be seen from three different angles. It is most likely that companies view their own interest as the most important angle. Supporting PHA can yield several strategic advantages. As previously mentioned, flexibility leads to more productivity of employees, this productivity most likely leads to better economic results for companies. As well as the advantages PHA offers to companies, it could also benefit social and environmental aspects, which touches upon the second angle, CSR. Consequently, companies could come across as being socially responsible, which adds to the companies’ reputation. CSR is not only beneficial per se; it also contributes to the strategic advantages of the company. Finally, HRM should also be considered in PHA from a company perspective. HRM can have a beneficial influence in several ways. Firstly, HRM can positively influence the attractiveness of an employer and a company; by creating and showing that there is a good work environment, (potential) employees’ general perception of the company improves (Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004). Secondly, HRM can promote CSR, for example, by increasing the involvement of employees with CSR (Gond et al., 2011). It influences CSR in many different ways, such as responsible leadership, which stimulates CSR involvement (Gond et al., 2011). Since the company perspective on PHA is still underexposed the benefits of the three different angles are not yet thoroughly researched, and could possibly be of significant influence on current
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congestion issues. Furthermore, as mentioned before, a small decrease in congestion could cause a major difference in the congestion problem (KiM, 2013). Besides, recent research showed that the majority of employees that are motivated to avoid peak hours during a project, continue their new travel behavior after the project (‘Spitsmijden werkt jaar later nog, 2014). So, exploring the underexposed perspective could be the final step towards solving the congestion problems.
PHA is not possible for, or meaningful to, every company. It is stated that PHA would not work for every company;; ‘the best way of promoting an alternative mode of transport depends on a company’s characteristics’ (Van Malderen et al., 2012, p.10). The expectation is (TNO/CBS, 2011; TNO/CBS, 2012) that, due to work schedules of certain industries, PHA is not possible, and that some companies, due to their location or size, will not have a great impact on the congestion problem through adopting PHA. However, if there are many small companies that engage in PHA this could add up to a significant change. Also some companies are not situated in areas where there are congestion problems. The problems exist predominantly in the Dutch Randstad. The most traffic and the longest travel times are to be found in this area. (KiM, 2013). In particular, companies in the educational, ICT and financial industries experience inconveniences from congestion problems and are already trying to solve this by PHA (TNO/CBS, 2011; TNO/CBS, 2012). Van Malderen, Jourquin, Pecheux, Thomas, Van De Vijver, Vanoutrive, Verhetsel & Witlox (2013) state that the mobility manager has a great influence on a company’s transport plan, which confirms that it differs in each firm whether encouraging PHA would be effective or not. HRM is also important in PHA. HR managers can influence how their employees work and travel. They also have more insights into the workforce and so could become involved in the life changing events of employees and steer them towards changes in their travel behavior.
13 Research questions
There is currently a research gap in the theory on PHA; the company perspective is underexposed. By finding out what the benefits of PHA are for companies, companies could be persuaded to encourage PHA and implement PHA policies. By doing so, they not only work for their private interest, which is already beneficial per se, they also work on their CSR. This is good for both the company and for public interest. As the study by Roby (2010) has shown, there is potential to align PHA with companies’ interests. By showing companies what is in it for them, there could arise a win-win situation for companies as well as for the public cause. This leads to the following research questions: Traffic congestion is a major problem in society, if companies
would develop a peak hour avoidance policy would this contribute to solving a public issue? Would solving the congestion problem also contribute to the corporate social responsibility issue? And would peak hour avoidance contribute to company’s productivity?
Answering these questions will contribute to existing literature. This study could initiate a new branch in the field of mobility, the company perspective of PHA, which could be important to companies, governments and individuals. This study could also shed light on a new perspective in the Dutch ‘Spitsmijden’ research.
3. RESEARCH METHODS Research design
Given that the company perspective has not been studied in depth before, this study requires research of an explorative nature. Qualitative research methods and analysis are appropriate since it allows for a contribution to literature and expansion of the knowledge in the field of mobility, specifically from a company perspective (Tracy, 2010;; O’Dwyer, Owen & Unerman, 2011). The qualitative research is guided by theory and research on PHA. The data collection
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was conducted by a multiple case study and was collected from several sources, as will be discussed in the ‘Methods’ section of this chapter. The literature review was the starting point for this research in order to determine which studies, if any, had already been performed focussing on a company perspective in the field of mobility. The literature review provided an insight into suitable industries from which to select companies to interview. Now the literature review is conducted a research design can be set up. This design consists of the research sample, data collection, research methods, the interview guide and the data analysis. These will be discussed in more detail in this chapter.
Research sample
Large companies, with a minimum of a 1000 employees and located in the Dutch Randstad were chosen in order to conduct the research. More specifically companies in the educational, ICT and financial industries were chosen. These industries are particularly affected by congestion issues, which allowed for the best measurement of PHA effects. Additionally, larger companies are big enough to have a significant influence on the public interest. This influence enables connections to be made between PHA effects and, for example, CSR and so offers insight into this field of study. Finally, the selected companies are pioneers in the researched field and already have several PHA policies in use or forms of ‘Het Nieuwe Werken3’, which could lead to PHA, as these could give information on its use and effects.
It was decided to conduct research in several companies from within the selected industries, if possible more than one per industry. It is desirable to perform multiple case studies as this reduces the chance of bias, caused by homogeneity, for example, and provides a better representation of the research field (Hill, Knox, Thompson, Williams, Hess & Ladany, 2005). However, as Hill et al. (2005) recommend, not too many interviews were performed since it
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takes time to process all interviews and the quality of the research should not be at the expense of the sample size. In addition, for this study there was only limited time available. This should be acknowledged and balanced with the quality.
Many suitable companies in each industry were approached to participate in this study. Eventually six companies were willing to cooperate. In the educational industry, one company was interviewed, in the ICT industry, two companies were interviewed and in the financial industry three companies were interviewed. In three of the six companies it was possible to interview two people, one company from each industry. In the other half, one person per company was interviewed. The interviewees were employees of the companies and involved in PHA or practices that potentially lead to PHA. This way it was possible to determine the companies’ policies and their effects. The second interviewees were more specialized in HRM. This enabled to determine how PHA policies are introduced and how employees receive them. Researching companies in different industries enables the provision of a clear overview of PHA policies and effects, and simultaneously compares the different industries. Although this research is analyzed on a company level, any striking inter-industry differences can be mentioned.
Data collection
Contact with the companies was made through my own connections and by contacting suitable companies by e-mail. As mentioned, the primary criteria on which to approach companies were their location and the industry they operate in. The annual reports of companies that fall into the categories were analysed to determine whether they invest in, or are occupied with, PHA or any forms of ‘Het Nieuwe Werken’ which could lead to PHA. Initially, companies that engage in a form of PHA were contacted by e-mail or phone. This led in most cases to telephone and personal meetings. During these meetings companies gave a brief overview of what they were
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currently doing in the PHA field. This allowed for an assessment as to the suitability of the company for this study. Subsequently the research questions and objectives were discussed to determine whether the companies were willing to and could cooperate in this research. Afterwards, the interview guide (see ‘Appendix B’) was sent to the participants and dates were set with the companies who agreed to participate to conduct the interviews. One company withdrew after the meeting.
Methods
To explore the field of PHA and CSR seven interviews were conducted within six different companies. The interviews took place between April 2014 and May 2014 and lasted approximately 45 minutes each.
These were semi-structured interviews. Both the key themes of the interview as well as several interview questions were determined beforehand and written in an interview guide. However during the interviews questions were asked in a different manner or were added or opted out and there was no specific order in which the questions were asked (Saunders & Lewis, 2012). This enabled flexibility in terms of the trend of the interview and focus on the main themes of this study.
Prior to each interview the interviewees were asked for permission to record the interviews. The recording device could be temporarily switched off during the interview at the request of the interviewee. All companies permitted recording of the interview and none of them asked to switch off the recording device. Six of the interviews were held at the companies’ offices and one via Skype. They were all recorded on an iPad in with the permission of the interviewees. The interviews were recorded and transcribed in order to analyze them as accurately as possible (Mays & Pope, 1995). All recordings were fully transcribed (see ‘Appendix C’) and then sent to
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the interviewees in order for them to agree upon using the interview for this study and to check the accuracy (Hill et al., 2003). Only one company requested to remove a small part of the transcription due to confidentiality issues.
Subsequently the transcriptions were analyzed. This was done using NVivo. A combination of a deductive and an inductive approach was used; prior to the interviews several codes were determined, this ensures more objective coding and so minimizes the chances of bias (Miles & Huberman, 1994). During the analysis several codes were added in order to capture the essence of the interviews and so enhance the accuracy of the analysis.
Additionally, all interviews were held with employees within the Dutch offices of the participating companies and the language spoken was Dutch. The transcriptions and the analyses were also written in Dutch. This was done to ensure accuracy. However, the data used in this research and presented in the remaining chapters of this study was translated as literally and accurately possible. The original Dutch information processed in this study can be requested from the author.
Interview guide
The interviews conducted for this study were carried out with help of an interview guide (see ‘Appendix B’). In this guide key themes and several key questions were determined before the interviews. The guide gave structure to the interviews and helped to keep focus on the key themes of this study. Furthermore, the guide assisted with the retrieval of the correct information and so eventually facilitated answering the research questions. The themes were structured in such a way that they incrementally led to the main theme, the potential and effects of PHA, while exploring the related fields in order to get a good overview of this subject in the different companies.
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There were six key themes discussed during the interviews. The first was about policies, in order to get an idea of how a company is dealing with PHA. These could be policies companies have in place that could lead to PHA or specific PHA policies, since there is a major difference between the possibility of PHA and actual PHA. Policies that are focused on PHA are called explicit PHA policies4, policies that are implemented to achieve other effects but indirectly lead to PHA are called implicit PHA policies5. After the policies were explored questions were asked concerning the application of the policies; whether the policies are actually applied in the companies and if so, to what extent. Since literature indicates that PHA policies can be beneficial to companies (Jansen et al., 2003;; ‘Flexibel werken verhoogt de winst’, n.d.) enquiries were made into the usefulness of the policies. For example, potential positive outcomes or changes since the introduction of the policies were discussed. When the PHA field was explored sufficiently the link to CSR was established. Besides the advantages for companies, PHA can also help address social and environmental problems. By implementing PHA policies companies can give the impression of being socially responsible, which adds to a company’s reputation. Companies were asked whether PHA is part of their CSR plan; whether by implementing policies the company consciously contributes to social and environmental issues. Thereafter, questions were asked on the barriers companies face when implementing PHA policies, in order to get insight into factors preventing companies to implement PHA policies. Finally, since research addresses the difficulties and unwillingness of employees to change their behavior (Jager, 2003; Schäfer, Jaeger-Erben & Bamberg, 2012), some additional questions were asked about HRM of companies.
4
See Appendix A - Glossary for the definitions used in this study
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Although the themes were addressed in a logical order, they were used in a loose manner, ‘the sequence in which issues were addressed varied throughout different interviews’ (O’Dwyer, Owen & Unerman, 2011, p. 39). Subjects brought up by the interviewees were always discussed immediately, regardless of the theme discussed at that moment.
Data analysis
As previously mentioned, in order to perform a good analysis all the interviews were fully transcribed. These transcriptions were analyzed through the application of three processes: ‘data reduction;; data display and conclusion drawing’ (O’Dwyer, Owen & Unerman, 2011, p. 39;; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Data reduction was done by coding all transcriptions using NVivo. An example of the codes can be found in ‘Appendix D’.
Once all codes were determined the transcriptions were coded in order to find patterns, relationships and differences to eventually be able to answer the research questions. The codes enable the display of the key findings that are recorded in tables, organized per subject, and can be found in the next section: ‘Results’. This is the start of the interpretation of data and helps when drawing conclusions. Conclusions that can be drawn from the results are then connected to existing literature in order to explore a new part of the theory on the potential of PHA seen from a company perspective.
4. RESULTS
In order to answer the research questions the coded interview data is assessed. Subsequently, this is organized into tables to display relevant data. The findings are presented on a company level. However, the frequency of companies per industry that yielded similar results is indicated to give a better insight into the findings and to reveal any noteworthy results. The main finding of the analysis is that there are no structural and explicit PHA policies in any of the researched
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companies. However, every company is familiar with PHA. The companies mentioned several reasons for not having PHA policies (Table 1).
Table 1 Rationale for not having explicit PHA policies
Rationale Frequency of respondents Example of sample comments
Part of a bigger goal 4 (1 Educational, 1 ICT, 2 Financial)
‘Mainly we do not talk about PHA but about structurally changing travel behavior because we think that PHA only considers a small part of the problem, when you want to address and solve it in its totality.’ (Educational company)
Not urgent 3 (1 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘PHA specifically for
sustainability, no. Currently it is not a pressing issue, because we do not have real traffic jams anymore in Utrecht.’ (Financial company)
Cannot force employees 3 (1 Financial, 2 ICT) ‘PHA is enabled by
infrastructure, however it is mainly the employee’s choice whether they avoid peak hours or not.’ (Financial company) Taking clients into account 2 (ICT) ‘We have to take into account
what our clients want, so that is difficult.’ (ICT company) Government’s responsibility 1 (ICT) ‘I really think that is a
government target (…) we want to reduce our
environmental impact, that connects perfectly to government’s targets in
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achieving PHA.’ (ICT company)
PHA projects
Three of the companies, one educational and two financial, did participate in temporary PHA projects initialized by the government. These projects were designed to decrease the amount of traffic during road construction. Both financial companies participated in projects in which employees were offered a reward in the form of cash when they travelled outside peak hours. In the educational company the government subsidized employees’ public transport cards. These projects were introduced to employees and promoted within the companies. However, they never became part of the company’s policies. When these projects ended, the companies did not implement any PHA policies as an extension of the projects neither continued with them. The companies indicated several reasons for this, for example: ‘Manpower, pure manpower. I work here together with my colleague, so two people on sustainability. HR is very busy as well’ (Financial company).
Implicit PHA policies
Since there are no explicit PHA policies, it is necessary to approach the research questions from a different perspective. Although the researched companies do not have explicit PHA policies in use, they have implemented work styles or policies that are applied on a large scale that facilitate PHA; implicit PHA policies (Table 2). Consider the following comment:
‘We enable to travel outside the peak hours (…) that is facilitated as well, partly with our regulations (…) but we do not have any specific objectives towards it’ (Financial
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The companies acknowledge that PHA can be a side effect of the implemented work styles, meaning that implicit PHA policies could provide companies the opportunity to indirectly contribute to solving a public issue.
Table 2 Implicit PHA policies
Work style Frequency of respondents Example of sample comments
Teleworking 6 ‘If you think you want to
avoid peak hours then you do so. But employees are not allowed to work from home with the reason to try to avoid peak hours.’ (ICT company) Flexible working hours 6 ‘When people can work their
own way, in their own time, working from home or coming to work later, start working from home, they can travel outside peak hours (…) but it is not directly intended that we do this to avoid peak hours, but indirectly that is the idea.’ (Financial company)
Output oriented 6 ‘It is not targeted at present, it
is not checked whether people are in the office from nine to five or are logged in, there is targeted at the delivered output.’ (Financial company)
Corporate social responsibility
There are different reasons for companies to implement implicit PHA policies, varying from environmental and social reasons to company’s own benefit (Table 3). Consequently, this may
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directly or indirectly contribute to the CSR issue. One of the companies mentioned the following, which was repeated by most other companies in similar phrasings:
‘We are flexible and can adapt to personal circumstances, we have a lot of arrangements but few strict guidelines (…) in order to always be able to make arrangements and offer customized arrangements. We think that is important in the relationship with our employees (…) besides, since 2009 we have had environmental objectives, mainly on CO2 reduction and business mobility which is still the biggest part of our footprint (…) in the third place it simply cuts costs.’ (ICT company)
Companies notice their policies have different impacts, which they experience to be positive.
Table 3 Rationale for implicit PHA policies
Rationale for policies Frequency Example of sample comments
Environmental impact 6 ‘Reducing mobility
movements is motivated by the ambition of [company] to be CO2 neutral in 2030. From our calculations we know that 80% of our CO2 emissions comes from commuting.’ (Educational company)
Image 6 ‘Being a sustainable company
naturally we encourage our employees to travel as sustainably as possible. The more employees do this, the less CO2 emissions we have. This is beneficial to the environment, fits our reputation and that way we show our customers that we try to be sustainable
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chain.’ (Financial company) Preparing for the future 4 (1 ICT, 3 Financial) ‘I think that companies that
are not occupied with sustainability will get a hard time in the future, so we want to switch to a sustainable business in time.’ (Financial company)
Spending cuts 4 (1 Educational, 1 Financial, 2 ICT)
‘You can do that by creating a meeting point, and work that does not have to be done at the office, you do at home. This means you can save around 50 % on your housing costs.’ (Financial company) Increases in productivity of
employees
4 (1 Educational, 1 ICT, 2 Financial)
‘The new working style for [company] is not a goal in itself, it is a means to achieve the higher [company] goals, to become more productive.’ (Financial company) Being an attractive employer 3 (1 Educational, 1 ICT, 1
Financial)
‘We are flexible and can adapt to personal circumstances, we have a lot of arrangements but few strict guidelines (…) in order to always be able to make arrangements and offer customized arrangements. We think that is important in the relationship with our
employees.’ (ICT company) Promotes collaboration 3 (1 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘Working elsewhere from time
to time can lead to interesting collaborations with the people you work with there.’ (ICT
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company)
Work life balance 3 (1 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘The new work style enables employees to create a better work life balance, which will make him happy.’ (Financial company)
Financially attractive 3 (1 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘It is long term, sometimes you have to invest in the beginning so that you can benefit later.’ (Financial company)
Transforming to a new culture 2 (1 ICT, 1 Financial) ‘We wanted to create a different culture.’ (Financial company)
Accessibility objectives 1 (Educational) ‘Put forward very straight, we also have accessibility
objectives and parking
problems, so for the company itself we need to develop policies to reduce the amount of cars.’ (Educational
company)
As can be seen in Table 3, in most cases companies indicate a form of corporate interest being the reason to implement implicit PHA policies. However, other aspects are considered as well. All the researched companies take environmental aspects into account when implementing implicit PHA policies. Companies are aware of their environmental impact and want to take responsibility for it in a variety of ways. This is often achieved by linking sustainability to mobility: ‘We stimulate a different way of travelling, also from a sustainable point of view’ (ICT company). However, as mentioned in Table 1, they consider PHA to be part of a bigger picture,
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it may contribute to sustainability, mainly by reducing CO2 emission. The companies have implemented several sustainability policies, of which some can contribute to PHA (Table 4). It is emphasized however that PHA is not the reason for the policies: ‘It is a nice side effect’ (ICT company) and ‘It [policy] is not so much to avoid traffic jam, that is not how we start’ (Educational company). Most strikingly is that besides encouraging the use public transport, companies implement many and diverse policies, there is not one universal method, as can be seen below in Table 4.
Table 4 Sustainability policies
Sustainability policies Frequency Example of sample comments
Stimulating public transport 5 (1 Educational, 1 ICT, 3 Financial)
‘I think that linking
sustainability and mobility, we have done that for a long time already, we stimulate public transport and we assume that employees make use of public transport.’ (Financial
company) Stimulating electronic
mobility
3 (1 Educational, 2 Financial) ‘It is no longer an excuse to come to work by car in the morning because you have a work related trip during the day. Therefore we have sustainable alternatives available: electronic cars, scooters and bikes.’ (Educational company) Create awareness 3 (1 Educational, 2 ICT) ‘You cannot always reduce
how much someone travels with projects et cetera. However you can influence someone’s way of driving. It appears that a steady way of
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driving can save up to 10% of fuel.’ (ICT company)
Restriction from parking 2 (1 Educational, 1 Financial) ‘Someone who enters our parking lot has to pass a barrier with a pass, so they simply will not be permitted.’ (When you live within a certain distance to the office) (Financial company)
Gamification 2 (ICT) ‘We can also introduce game
elements, gamification, not to urge people to travel less, but to reduce fuel consumption.’ (ICT company)
Individual sustainability targets
1 (Financial) ‘The targets every employee must meet every year are expanded with a individual sustainability target.’ (Financial company)
Carpool website 1 (ICT) ‘We are exploring the
possibilities to set up a carpool website, because many people own a lease car. The main advantage is that you get to know people and why shouldn’t you travel together occasionally when you travel in the same direction anyway.’ (ICT company)
Reluctant to grant lease cars 1 (Financial) We are very reluctant to grant lease cars, it is an exception when it happens. It is only for a very limited group, to reduce the usage of cars, and there is included a maximum CO2
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emission in lease agreements.’ (Financial company)
Besides a corporate interest and environmental factors, companies take social aspects into consideration as well:
‘It [traffic congestion] has an adverse economic impact, it causes pollution, which is a major problem in Utrecht, and finally the major theme, how do we leave the world behind for coming generations. So, I think this social aspect will become increasingly important’ (Educational company).
Several companies also feel they have a responsibility towards society and also link this to mobility (Table 5).
Table 5 Social responsibility
Rationale behind social responsibility
Frequency Example of sample comments
Responsibility towards society 5 (1 Educational, 2 ICT, 2 Financial)
‘We think we have a certain responsibility towards society’ (ICT company)
Responsibility towards the future
3 (1 Educational, 2 Financial) ‘What is a valuable future? When you cannot live properly on this planet because there is pollution everywhere. That is something we always communicate when we talk about mobility. Your responsibility as a company and as a human being
contributes as well.’ (Financial company)
29 Nature of the policies
Companies have diverse views on how to approach and employ implicit PHA policies. In some companies employees are forced to comply with policies, for example, as can be seen in Table 4, they are restricted from parking at the company parking lot. Other companies however can decide for themselves whether they want to apply policies or not, for example: ‘You cannot force someone to work from home’ (ICT company). However, besides the two mentioned companies (Educational and Financial) that restrict parking at the company parking lot, none of the researched companies pose any restrictions on employees’ travel behavior. Although one financial company admits that to actually trigger a change in mobility there should be stricter policies:
‘If you actually want to do something about it we are not going to make it by facilitating or making it easier by giving a reward or something. No, then you have to consider someone’s intrinsic motivation and then rewards will not get you very far, you really have to be more strict (…) if I want to change something it goes very slow maybe, 1% or 0,5% per year, otherwise you have to take action, policies for example that you cannot come to work before 10 AM, then the percentage will rise.’ (Financial company)
This is not actually practiced by this financial company however. All companies indicate that they facilitate or encourage a change in their employees’ travel behavior. This is done mainly through the implicit PHA policies, like flexible working hours, mentioned in Table 2. Some companies stimulate this more than others, as shown in Table 4.
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As mentioned, in none of the researched companies are policies implemented only because of their social importance, there is always a corporate interest, as one of the companies mentioned: ‘We are of course a company, which means we have customers, the more customers the better it is for the company. So that has to do with it as well’ (Financial company). In every interview companies indicated how policies were beneficial to them, which indicates the importance of corporate interest. Thus, in order for them to have an incentive to implement (implicit) PHA policies, there should be benefits. Several reasons mentioned in Table 3 can be reduced to the beneficial effects of employee productivity, which stresses the importance of identifying factors that increase this. The researched companies mentioned several factors, resulting from implicit PHA policies (Table 6).
Table 6 Factors increasing employee productivity
Factors increasing employee productivity
Frequency Example of sample comments
Work life balance 4 (2 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘If you allow your employee to have a better work life balance s/he will be more content, which always yields a better quality of work and more productivity than a discontent employee.’ (ICT company)
Working efficiently at home 3 (1 ICT, 2 Financial) ‘Many people indicate that they can do some things more efficiently at home.’ (ICT company)
Increased health 2 (1 Educational, 1 Financial) ‘Some people told me that they experience positive effects on their health, and from research we know that that improves the quality of
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their work.’ (Educational company)
Sense of pride 2 (1 Educational, 1 Financial) ‘I think that, considering major organizational goals, it is really important that employees are proud of the company they work for because that increases productivity.’ (Educational company)
Peak hours are non-productive 1 (ICT) ‘When you consider transport, mobility, it is not productive to always travel to work by car and subsequently to be stuck in traffic.’ (ICT company)
Behavioral change
All the researched companies indicate that employees’ resistance is a restricting factor in implementing policies. One of the companies gave an example of the difficulties faced when attempting to change travel behavior: ‘We still notice difficulties in getting employees out of their cars. It [commuting by car] remains easier, it is something they are used to and actually it is a real change in behavior’ (Financial company). For employees to conform to implicit PHA policies they have to change their current travel behavior. HRM is directly connected to companies’ employees and so can positively influence employees’ travel behavior. There is a variety of ways in which HRM of different companies deal with this (Table 7). Additionally, all companies were asked whether they make use of life changing events in order to influence employee behavior. None of the researched companies are currently using this. However, two of them (Educational and ICT) admit they think it is worth considering: ‘When it is registered that
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someone is going to move closer to the office that person could be approached and asked whether s/he has considered a different way of travelling to work. I think that is an interesting possibility, currently this is not done’ (ICT company).
Table 7 HRM measures to deal behavioral change
HRM measures Frequency Example of sample comments
Indirect rewards 6 ‘When you use your public
transport card wisely, for the people who do not use a lease car, you save money, there is a financial benefit to using your public transport card wisely.’ (Financial company)
Mobility coach 4 (1 Educational, 1 ICT, 2 Financial)
‘We have a kind of advice center on hand, people who really did not know what to do just got travel advice.’
(Financial company)
Identifying groups 2 (1 Educational, 1 Financial) ‘Now we know that a bigger employee group live further away than we anticipated. So the potential of an (electronic) bike is smaller than we
expected, therefore we now increasingly stimulate public transport.’ (Educational company)
Informing/training managers 2 (1 Educational, 1 Financial) ‘We assist managers. We offer training focused on output, that he really makes agreements with his employees.’ (Financial company)
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information meetings to help people think of possible [commuting] alternatives.’ (Educational company) Letting go of nonconforming
employees
2 (1 ICT, 1 Financial) ‘We might have let go people who really could not adjust.’ (Financial company)
The presented findings display data that enables to answer the research questions. Consequently conclusions can be drawn on the effects and uses of explicit and implicit PHA policies.
5. DISCUSSION
The aim of this study has been to explore the field of mobility, specifically from a company perspective on PHA. Given the findings, it is clear that the researched companies do not have explicit PHA policies. Since the findings are presented on a company level the discussion will also be on a company level. However, several striking and noteworthy inter-industrial differences will be discussed as well, they give an additional interesting insight into the field of study.
PHA and the public issue
Although the usage of cars in the Dutch society has stabilized, still half of the journeys is done by car, of which a significant proportion comprises commuting (KiM, 2013). Congestion is a burden to society; the roads are obstructed causing unnecessarily long travel times and it is an inefficient way of travelling. Additionally, it has a negative effect on the environment. This study asks whether companies could contribute to solving this problem if they would implement PHA policies.
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The findings showed that the researched companies do not have any explicit PHA policies. Therefore, the research questions are approached from a different angle in order to still be able to answer them. However, the findings indicate that companies have implemented several implicit PHA policies. The researched companies are all output oriented, which is one of the main aspects of ‘Het Nieuwe Werken’. This forms the basis for teleworking and flexible working hours (Bijl, 2007). Research indicated that ‘Het Nieuwe Werken’ also supports PHA through the use of flexible working hours (Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu, 2014). Companies also state that output oriented work allows PHA and that it is supported as well. However, it is not the purpose of the implicit policies: ‘If you think you want to avoid peak hours then you do so. But employees are not allowed to work from home with the reason to try to avoid peak hours’ (ICT company). This confirms the assumption that teleworking can be used to encourage PHA; employees are enabled to work outside the office, at home for example, which can be seen as a form of PHA. This is confirmed by previous research that indicates that teleworking is proven to decrease individuals’ travel times (KiM, 2013). Additionally, employees who telework, tend to commute less (Hamer et al., 1991). Although companies do not implement teleworking as a means to avoid peak hours, it can be viewed as an implicit PHA policy.
Like teleworking, flexible working hours are also researched to encourage employees to avoid peak hours (Vonk Noordegraaf & Annema, 2012), although research focuses mainly on the productivity effects (Shepard III et al., 1996; Eaton, 2003). The results of this study expand on these researches; like teleworking, it is indicated that although flexible working hours, which are applied by all researched companies, are not implemented as a means to avoid peak hours, they do facilitate and encourage it: ‘We do challenge them (…) that they first read their e-mail at home, and travel to work after peak hours and vice versa go home early to avoid peak hours and
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finish the day at home’ (Financial company). Both teleworking and flexible working hours are supported by what is called output oriented work (Baane, Houtkamp & Knotter, 2010). There are no attendance targets, employees only have to achieve the set goals: ‘You can organize your own work as long as you deliver’ (Educational company). Thus, as mentioned, although companies do not intend to avoid peak hours they do implement policies that facilitate this.
Implicit PHA policies are part of a new working style that many companies are starting to implement (Van der Kleij, Blok, Aarts, Vos & Weyers, 2013). The researched industries are pioneers in this field and have been chosen for this research because of this attitude. This enabled research into the possible contribution of PHA policies. The findings indicate the potential of implicit PHA policies. It facilitates PHA and since the results suggest that the implicit policies are applied on a large scale, employees’ travel times might increasingly change and diversify. As the literature indicates, a small change might cause a major difference in the congestion issue (KiM, 2013). Meaning that if the number of people travelling during peak hours would slightly decrease, this could be enough to solve the entire congestion issue, it could be the necessary push. So, implicit PHA policies might have a significant contribution to solving the public issue of congestion. This clarifies the potential of PHA policies. Implicit PHA policies already appear to contribute to solving a public issue. However, they are not focused on PHA; it is allowed for and facilitated. If a company would focus their policies specifically on PHA they could have a significant influence, as one of the companies mentioned: ‘I realise that if there would be policies that would compel it [PHA], for example that you need to avoid peak hours for one or two days a week, that larger numbers of people would apply this’ (Financial company). Besides, as the results show, temporary PHA projects proved to be efficient as well. It is very likely that if
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companies would develop a peak hour avoidance policy this would contribute to solving a public issue.
Although PHA seems to offer potential in solving a public issue, there are two limiting factors. Firstly, it is striking is that the majority of the companies mentioned that PHA is part of a bigger goal; it is not an end in itself. Companies want to contribute to a sustainable environment, however they do not want ‘to limit’ themselves to PHA. Therefore, they are concerned with mobility and implement implicit PHA policies. As one of the researched companies mentioned: ‘Sustainability is mainly found in that people can reduce the amount of kilometers they travel because they can also work at home (…) that really is the new way of working, it contributes to sustainability and the sustainability targets of [company]’ (Financial company). Baane et al. (2010) support the findings that teleworking and flexible working hours contribute to companies’ sustainability goals. However, the fact that companies do not want to focus on PHA inhibits the potential of explicit PHA policies. In order for explicit PHA policies to be implemented and succeed companies must understand or be shown their advantages.. The fact that companies take on a broader perspective links with the second limiting factor; the notion that PHA is not urgent: ‘Currently it is not a pressing issue, because we do not have real traffic jams anymore in Utrecht’ (Financial company). The findings suggest that companies do not experience or notice the effects of peak hours. Here again, showing the importance of PHA to companies could allow them to see how they could contribute to a public issue.
PHA and CSR
It is clear that implementing PHA policies has potential. But besides contributing to a public issue, PHA could have a wider effect. It could also contribute to a CSR issue, since PHA policies affect several aspects. As one of the companies indicated: ‘The knife always cuts on three sides.
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That people, planet and profit aspect is involved in everything we do concerning sustainable mobility’ (ICT company). So, by implementing implicit or explicit PHA policies public, environmental and economic aspects are affected.
The contribution of PHA to the public issue surrounding traffic congestion is discussed above. In addition, as the results indicate, companies mentioned their share of responsibilities towards society. Not only the current society is considered, but also next generations. The companies’ sense of social responsibility is linked mainly to environmental and sustainability aspects.
As described, one of the main reasons for companies to implement implicit PHA policies is to become more sustainable, by achieving CO2 neutrality, for example. When employees work at home they do not have to commute so do not create any CO2 emissions. When they avoid peak hours, although the commuting distance does not change, the travel time does, which also reduces emissions. Besides, but also as part of, teleworking and flexible working hours, companies are occupied with encouraging alternative ways of travelling to work. First of all an attempt is made to reduce car usage, for example. As the results show, the majority of the companies encourage the use of public transport; some also deter parking or car leasing. Additionally, employees are made aware of electric mobility, an e-bike or car for example. Although these measures do not lead to avoidance of peak hours, they do discourage employees from travelling by car and so avoid congestion and contribute to sustainability. What should be noted is that ‘a reduced CO2 emission does not compensate the increase in car mileage’ (KiM, 2013, p.15). Currently, car mileage is still almost 75% versus 13% covered by public transport (KiM, 2013). So, in order for companies to actually contribute to sustainability they should focus less on CO2 emissions and more on car usage. Avoiding congestion by using public transport, would not only help solve congestion issues, it would also have a significant contribution to
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sustainability. However, public transport capacity allows for only minor modal shifts from the car to public transport.
In order for PHA to contribute to CSR it must not only contribute to public and environmental aspects, but also to the economic aspect. Costs of traffic congestions amount to billions of Euros (KiM, 2013), of which half are borne by companies. Consequently, the influence of congestion, which is mainly external, on companies affects their own economy and so, indirectly, society’s economy as well. Solving the congestion issue would have a beneficial influence on the economic aspect of CSR. The results indicate that part of the reasons companies implement implicit PHA policies are to reduce costs, which are more short-term effects, but are beneficial to the economy. Implicit PHA policies also yield more long-term strategic advantages. For example, as the results show, they improve company image and prepare companies for the future. As Burke & Logsdon (1996) argue, these long-term strategic investments lead to the highest pay-offs for companies as well as society. By solving the congestion issue, companies contribute to the short-term and long-term economic aspects of CSR.
The results suggest that solving the congestion problem would contribute to the CSR issue. This is reasoned from the effects that implicit PHA policies yield. Through these policies, that have the potential to solve congestion problems, companies aim to affect the public, environmental and economic aspect. Therefore, if the congestion problem would be solved it is likely to have similar effects.
PHA and productivity
Companies are less inclined to implement policies if they do not benefit from it themselves. Several short-term and long-term strategic advantages have already been discussed. To underline
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the advantages of PHA and show companies what is in it for them, the effect of PHA on productivity is researched as well. Although this is an underexposed field of research, literature does indicate its potential (Jansen et al., 2003). Bijl (2007) also indicates that one of the main reasons for companies to implement implicit PHA policies is to increase productivity.
The main findings are that implicit PHA policies enhance a better work life balance, which, according to the companies, leads to higher productivity. This is in line with findings of former studies conducted on work life balance (Van Haterd, 2010; Van der Kleij et al., 2013). It is also stated that employees work more efficiently at home. This is confirmed by recent research that states these two factors as the main reasons to allow teleworking (Van Echteld, Vlasblom & de Voogd-Hamelink, 2013). Implicit PHA policies have several productivity enhancing effects.
The findings suggest productivity increases are induced by implicit PHA policies. However, it is difficult to determine whether PHA alone would increase productivity, since, contrary to implicit PHA policies, it is not focused on output. Explicit PHA policies do not lead to a good work life balance or teleworking. They do, however, allow for more flexible working hours since otherwise PHA would not be possible. Implicit PHA policies have positive effects on company productivity, which leads to a win-win situation; public and CSR issues are addressed, while companies contribute to their own productivity. This shows the potential of explicit PHA policies. However, since they are less focused on output the effect could be smaller.
Changing behavior
The benefits of PHA are clear. However, companies have a limiting factor: their employees. When developing PHA policies their effect on employees should be taken into consideration (Jakobsson et al., 2000). The size of the effect depends on the nature of the policies. Obligating
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people to apply policies triggers resistance (Yang & Bell, 1997), but at the same time accelerates implementation. To have an actual and long-term influence on sustainability it is best to address employees’ intrinsic motivation. As Bosch, Cook & O. Fuglie (1995) researched, voluntary policies are most effective since they have an educational effect. As the results show, the researched companies in general have implemented voluntary policies; employees can decide themselves to what extent they want to apply them. However, the policies still meet with resistance, many employees would rather remain working and travelling the same way they always did. They do not want their employers to interfere with their habitual behavior: ‘In almost every conversation employees are starting to resist, they come up with arguments why it [alternative ways of travelling] is not possible’ (ICT company). To change employee behavior, as already proven to be effective (Ben-Elia & Ettema, 2009), all researched companies reward desired behavior. They also make use of several ways of trying to educate their employees like a mobility coach or information meetings, as Bosch et al. (1995) advised. However, as much as companies try to encourage employees to change their behavior and offer a diverse range of alternatives, many employees remain resistant.
As well as rewarding and educating employees, the literature indicated that life changing events could be of significant use to companies trying to change employees’ behavior (Hamer et al., 1991; Schäfer et al., 2012). However, as the results indicate, currently none of the companies is applying this technique. Although two companies were interested in it, others preferred to focus on their existing strategies.
According to the findings one of the main restrictive factors, that is important to take into account when planning to implement PHA policies, is behavioral change. Companies can implement either implicit or explicit policies but many people will try to avoid these. In order for
