My Cheapo Company

[kfergos]

I'm going to vent for a minute.

<vent>
A coworker and I got together and contacted our HR rep about implementing the $20/month bike commuter incentive thing that's gotten so much press. It seems so great -- the company (a) gets a tax write-off; (b) offers another benefit at extremely low cost; (c) looks "green" by supporting alternative commuting. But here's what my cheap-o company decided:

[Outside Contractor Company Name] administers our flexible spending accounts and has proposed the commuter benefit to us in the past. At the moment, we do not plan on rolling out additional benefits that incur a cost to the Company. Being a tax qualified plan we would need an outside administrator to administer the plan. There are fees associated with the implementation and roll out, as well as the on going administration of a plan such as this. We will ask [Outside Contractor] or other FSA plan administrator to include a proposal to include this feature when we revisit all of our benefit offerings in the fall. Please feel free to pass this information along to employees who inquire.

(Emphasis mine.) So basically, it might cost a pittance to tell the people about it, and that's why they're not doing it?!! I don't know enough about the mechanics of offering this kind of benefit or actually implementing the bailout plan, but I'm so frustrated I could spit. They just don't get it, and I don't really have any recourse -- they've "considered" it (although I'm very doubtful about what they actually did; my HR person declined to meet with me to actually talk about it, and told me that she'd "do some research." Why not let me present the results of my research rather than wasting time doing something I've already done?) and that's that. GRRRRRRR.
</vent>

...besides, I could really use that $20 extra every month.

[Eden]

...besides, I could really use that $20 extra every month.

I really don't think it works this way..... If I've understood properly, if your company provides something for bike commuters - like mine provides secured bike parking, locker rooms and towel service - then they can get a $20/month/commuter tax credit. You get the service, not the cash....

[kfergos]

Eden - You're right. Still.

[Crankin]

My husband's company is implementing it (in Natick). They have a FSA program, administered by some company, we have it, but the bike thing is not part of it! HR is implementing it.
They already do a ton of stuff for bike commuters, so there are plenty of them. Maybe that makes a difference.

[ny biker]

But the employer's response implies that this involves a flexible spending account, similar to the parking/mass transit benefit that we have access to where I work. I pay to park at the office, and I can have that amount of money deducted from my pay pre-tax each month, and then I submit a receipt for the parking and they send me the money. It's not extra cash to me, but it reduces my taxable income slightly.

[tab123]

Below is a good lay person's summary of the new benefit:

http://www.trailnet.org/bikecommutertax.php

It is similar to the the commuter/parking benefit that has been in place for a number of years. It is about time Congress recognized that we should encourage bike commuting, and obviously more needs to be done to get us away from our car-centric transportation system. (Has anyone in power actually used public transportation?) However, I can appreciate the response from your company to some extent given these trying economic times.

Since your company uses an outside vendor to administer this program, there is a cost to the company of adding this benefit. (Doing anything different from the vendor's norm can result in substantial costs.) In this time of frozen pension plans, suspension of company matching contributions to 401(k) plans, and increasing health costs for both employers and employees, the HR/benefits department probably is trying to control costs while still providing what are viewed as essential benefits for most employees (401(k) matching contributions, health coverage).

I hope that your company adds the bike benefit later this year! Mine has yet to do so (but I keep asking).