MPC Earns National Standard of Excellence by Best Workplaces for Commuters for Second Year

MPC, along with 10 other local employers, was honored by Best Workplaces for Commuters (BWC) at an awards ceremony hosted by Smart Trips on April 30. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, Deputy City Mayor Eddie Mannis, and City of Knoxville Sustainability Director Susanna Sutherland attended the Market Square event to congratulate the winners and offer their thoughts on the program.

Six of the winning organizations met BWC's National Standard of Excellence for the second year in a row: Elizabeth Eason Architecture, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mast General Store, the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission, Red Chair Architects, and Tennessee Valley Authority. Newly designated employers included: Home Federal Bank of Tennessee, Knoxville Area Transit, Knoxville Utilities Board, The Tomato Head, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

Michael Kuczmarski, Marketing Director for The Tomato Head, said the BWC designation aligns perfectly with their company principles. "In addition to incorporating socially responsible practices such as composting and recycling into our daily routine, partnering with Smart Trips and BWC reflects our desire to reward our staff for their personal efforts to improve Knoxville's air quality and traffic congestion."

Each of the employers offers innovative benefits to encourage employees to choose alternatives to driving to work alone. Those benefits might include incentives such as reduced-rate transit passes or "buying back" parking costs for bicyclists. And since all the winning organizations are participants in the Smart Trips program, their employees are eligible to use an emergency ride program and earn gift cards when they log a sufficient number of alternative commutes with the online program.

Smart Trips, which is housed within MPC, is a free, online program that encourages people to take alternative commutes such as walking, riding a bicycle, or carpooling, instead of driving alone to work. Smart Trips helps commuters find carpool partners or learn to navigate the area by bike, bus or on foot while saving money on gas and helping the environment.

Best Workplaces for Commuters is a public-private partnership developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenda and U. S. Department of Transportation. BWC established a voluntary National Standard of Excellence for commuter benefits that serves as the basis their annual awards program.

Posted 05-01-2013. Written by Sarah Powell.