Things A Business Can Do to Spare The Air
Receive Air Alert notifications
Encourage employees to sign up for free Air Alert notifications of Spare The Air days on their home e-mail or via digital text messaging (cell phone or pager). Sign up at www.SpareTheAir.com.
Appoint a Spare The Air Coordinator
Designate someone in the office to be the company’s "Spare The Air Coordinator." Have that person sign up for Air Alert and distribute Spare The Air advisories to employees when they are received via Air Alert or the Sacramento Metro Chamber. Some of the ways companies distribute advisories are via e-mail; signage in the employee’s break room and public lobby; over the PA system; and via group voicemail announcements.
Distribute promotional items
A company’s Spare The Air Coordinator can contact the AQMD Spare The Air program coordinator at 916-874-4812 to receive free worksite promotional items to encourage employees to Spare The Air.
Link to SpareTheAir.com
Put a link to www.SpareTheAir.com on a company’s home page or Intranet so clients or employees can view the day’s air quality forecast.
Support tele-working
Offer a "tele-work" (work-at-home) option on Spare The Air days to employees who could perform their tasks away from the office. Supervisors will be surprised at the productivity and employee satisfaction this promotes.
Buy lunch on Spare The Air days
The best employers constantly look for ways to motivate and retain good employees. If a business has just a few employees, consider buying them pizza or sandwiches for lunch on a Spare The Air day. That could help your employees save a lot of lunchtime driving trips that contribute to air pollution.
Or, do a bulk lunch order
On a Spare The Air day, the office can phone in a lunch order for everyone, then send just one person to pick up the food. Or, order from a place that delivers.
Try transit
If a business is conveniently located near light rail or a bus stop, encourage employees to try transit to the office or from the office to meetings that might be located near transit lines and reimburse them for the cost of the ticket. The transit system can provide routes and schedules for employees.
Provide a transit pass to employees
Purchasing or discounting monthly transit passes for employees provides a solid employee benefit and demonstrates your commitment to improving the region’s air quality.
Help employees get around
If a business is located in an urban area in which employees frequently head out on brief local business errands to nearby destinations, purchase a bicycle, electric bicycle, or gyro-stabilized transporter (like the Segway) for them to use for these short trips instead of a motor vehicle.
Support ridesharing at your company
Offer support “from the top” to your employees to match them up with other employees whose work schedules and home location might make them natural carpool partners. A business can also promote SACOG Rideshare’s carpool matching service at: www.sacregion511.org.
Join a Transportation Management Association (TMA)
Many areas of the region are served by TMAs—transportation management associations. These organizations help the employees of member companies find convenient, air-pollution-reducing ways to commute.
Purchase low-emission vehicles for the company
Whenever a business needs to replace a vehicle, whether it’s a delivery truck or a fleet car, buy the vehicle with the lowest possible emissions in its class. Find out which vehicles pollute the least on the California Air Resources Board’s “Drive Clean” Web site at www.driveclean.ca.gov. Find out if any incentive funds are available to help replace a delivery truck’s engine with a new low-emission engine by contacting the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District's Mobile Source Division at 916-874-4800.
Become designated a Best Workplace for Commuters
Don’t let the businesses efforts go unrecognized. Find out how your business can be honored as a “Best Workplace for Commuters” by visiting www.commuterchoice.gov.