Employers should model an energy-efficient lifestyle
Worried about the rising cost of gas, a Michigan employer has come to employees’ rescue with a 10-per-cent raise to help cover skyrocketing hikes at the pump.
Recruitment and staffing firm Personnel Management Solutions of Troy, Mich., decided to boost salaries until gas prices reach a more reasonable level. It looks like a good employer of choice move. Company co-founder Steven Muller seems to be going the extra mile to let staff know that management cares about them. When better to show that than during a time of economic hardship?
It’s nice to see a firm acknowledge the impact energy prices have on employees. The commute has suddenly become an added pain in the pocketbook for workers. If prices go much higher, driving to work won’t be economically feasible for many — and that’s a big problem for North Americans who have built cities and transportation systems around the automobile.
While Muller can be applauded for his sensitivity to the financial burden high gas prices place on his workers, his tale also shows that North Americans are failing to look at the big picture. Muller explained to the Detroit Free Press that he came up with the gas relief idea while thinking about how the cost of fuel was impacting his own life. He drives a Hummer H2 and his partner fills up a Range Rover. And there’s the bigger-picture problem.
Muller, and corporate North America in general, need to do more than provide some short-term relief for cash-crunched staff, while hoping that prices will stabilize. Long-term leadership is called for.
Even the most-optimistic of Canadians aren’t expecting gas to return to 70 cents per litre. After paying $1.35 per litre, 99 cents seems like a bargain. Electricity costs are also increasing. And yet for some people wasting energy seems to be a badge of achievement.
Drive through suburban Canada and you’ll see Hummers serving as status symbols. People cleaning driveways with water that municipal pumping stations burn energy to provide. Gas-powered leaf blowers. Christmas lights burning year-round. It’s as if there’s a general sentiment that energy conservation is for the poor.
While an energy-consuming free-for-all is good for companies that sell energy, it’s not so good for the rest of the corporate world. From manufacturing to trucking to every organization that heats a building or handles items delivered by air, sea, rail or road, high energy prices stymie growth and even threaten corporate survival.
Energy prices can only get worse. China’s need for power keeps growing. Republicans in the United States think energy conservation is a dirty word.
If Canadians can adjust to an energy-efficient lifestyle, we’ll be one step ahead as fuel costs buffet the international community in the years ahead. While alternative sources of power are developed, Canadian firms can reduce the impact of energy prices by promoting conservation within the corporations and among employees. That would be a business edge in the global market.
Recruitment and staffing firm Personnel Management Solutions of Troy, Mich., decided to boost salaries until gas prices reach a more reasonable level. It looks like a good employer of choice move. Company co-founder Steven Muller seems to be going the extra mile to let staff know that management cares about them. When better to show that than during a time of economic hardship?
It’s nice to see a firm acknowledge the impact energy prices have on employees. The commute has suddenly become an added pain in the pocketbook for workers. If prices go much higher, driving to work won’t be economically feasible for many — and that’s a big problem for North Americans who have built cities and transportation systems around the automobile.
While Muller can be applauded for his sensitivity to the financial burden high gas prices place on his workers, his tale also shows that North Americans are failing to look at the big picture. Muller explained to the Detroit Free Press that he came up with the gas relief idea while thinking about how the cost of fuel was impacting his own life. He drives a Hummer H2 and his partner fills up a Range Rover. And there’s the bigger-picture problem.
Muller, and corporate North America in general, need to do more than provide some short-term relief for cash-crunched staff, while hoping that prices will stabilize. Long-term leadership is called for.
Even the most-optimistic of Canadians aren’t expecting gas to return to 70 cents per litre. After paying $1.35 per litre, 99 cents seems like a bargain. Electricity costs are also increasing. And yet for some people wasting energy seems to be a badge of achievement.
Drive through suburban Canada and you’ll see Hummers serving as status symbols. People cleaning driveways with water that municipal pumping stations burn energy to provide. Gas-powered leaf blowers. Christmas lights burning year-round. It’s as if there’s a general sentiment that energy conservation is for the poor.
While an energy-consuming free-for-all is good for companies that sell energy, it’s not so good for the rest of the corporate world. From manufacturing to trucking to every organization that heats a building or handles items delivered by air, sea, rail or road, high energy prices stymie growth and even threaten corporate survival.
Energy prices can only get worse. China’s need for power keeps growing. Republicans in the United States think energy conservation is a dirty word.
If Canadians can adjust to an energy-efficient lifestyle, we’ll be one step ahead as fuel costs buffet the international community in the years ahead. While alternative sources of power are developed, Canadian firms can reduce the impact of energy prices by promoting conservation within the corporations and among employees. That would be a business edge in the global market.
