ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS PAYS OFF AT FARMERS INSURANCE

One of the major problems faced by the world today is air pollution. Rising levels of air pollution
made cities such as Los Angeles synonyms with smog. In 1989,California passed the Clean Air
Act to combat the increasing levels of air pollution. In this act companies with 100 employees or
more at one site were told to submit rideshare plans to Californias Air Quality Management
District (AQMD) .The target of this rideshare plans was to achieve an employee average vehicle
ridership (AVR) OF 1.5,or 3 employees to every two cars on site by 1999.To take the Clean Air
Act seriously, the AQMD was authorized to fine $25,000 a day for companies without approved
rideshare plans.
Clean Air Act was not successful in every organization. It wasnt easy for companies to make
employees rideshare. Companies offered everything from cash to preferred parking for
employees, but it couldnt achieve much success. Farmers Insurance Group was an exception, it
is one company from California which not only succeeded in the Act but also it is still excelling.
In one year it could reach average vehicle readership from 1.17 to 1.30.Farmers set up an
incentive program to arouse interest in ridesharing, They enabled employees to earn points that
can be redeemed for merchandise ranging from a bird feeder to an inflammatory
catamaran.Inorder to be eligible for ridesharing award program, employees must share half the
distance from home and office, and also they should share rides at least once in a week. For
every rides they share they get one point. Employees earning 20 points receive five bonus points.
Employees who receive 60 points in quarter receive 10 bonus points.
Debbie Dala, employee transportation coordinator at Farmers Insurance Group was the main
anchor behind the success of rideshare plan at Farmers. At first Dala concentrated mainly on
organizing a foundation for the program. After establishing the program she could shift her
attention more towards recruiting new hires.Shey says that Human resources provides me with a
10-to 15 minute segment during the new hire orientation ,so I can explain the program to new
employees. She provides brief history of how Clean Air Act was implemented at Farmers. After
briefing history she shows the merchandise catalog. For new hires who are interested, Dala uses
list of employees currently ridesharing, typical arrival and departure times, and zip codes to put
rideshares in contact with one another.
Dala aimed at advancing the program to keep more people participate in this program. She put
bulletin board consisting of new members participating in rideshare act. Dala put out fliers to
remind people, put slogan and jingle contest once a month. When employees pick up the awards,
their photographs are put on noticeboard.Efforts made by Dala really paid off. People actually
liked this rideshare plan and using the points collected from this to purchase goods. People

started making friends with their rideshare partners. Ridesharing could lead some workers to
reduce stress and work more productively