Outdoor gear and apparel company Patagonia has a long history of promoting environmental causes. For years, Ventura, California based Patagonia has encouraged employees to give up their cars when commuting to work.
Every spring, Patagonia organizes Bike to Work Week events at their corporate headquarters, Reno service center, and retail stores located throughout the United States. The company also offers regular incentives to employees who carpool, vanpool, walk, bike, or use public transportation to commute to work. Patagonia saw Goose’s tools and services as a way to take their company's existing commitment to the next level.
About
Case Study - Patagonia
Introduction
The Challenge
Patagonia has long encouraged and incentivized employees' use of alternative transportation, though tracking employees’ commutes presented a challenge. The need for more detailed data was pushed to the forefront when the company's Reno distribution center received the hard to obtain LEED certification, which is given to buildings that meet strict environmental standards. To keep that rating, Patagonia needed to prove that it was encouraging alternative commuting. Patagonia also offered varied incentives to employees who used alternative transportation. The growing popularity of this program meant the company needed a more efficient system for managing commute incentives.
Prior to Goose, administrators in Ventura and Reno manually logged commuting information into Excel spreadsheets. Megan Sells, Assistant to the Director at the Patagonia Distribution Center in Reno, spent 30 minutes each day typing in the names of the employees who'd signed a list or sent her an e-mail indicating they'd used alternative transport. 'It took so much time,' Sells recalled. To make things manageable, Sells simply separated the names into 'No Fuell or 'Reduced Fuel' commute categories. Breaking out each mode of commute would have taken away even more of her time each day.
The Solution
When a Patagonia employee explained the company's goals to Goose's team, it became clear that the commute calendar would be a perfect fit.
The calendar allows employees to enter their data on their own time, and then compiles all employee reporting together for company-wide results. Employees can specify the exact mode they used to commute to work, providing valuable data on the popularity of cycling vs. carpooling vs. public transit.
Goose's impact dashboards help each employee learn how much money they are saving on a commute and how much they are reducing their CO2 footprint. Lisa Myers, Environmental Programs Associate for Patagonia, said she saw the value in Goose’s program right away.
'Goose's commute tools enable Patagonia to further its mission as a company to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis,' Myers said.
The Results
'Between ease-of-use, the detailed data we collect, and the additional employee motivation, Goose's tools have really taken Patagonia’s commute program to the next level.'
-Lisa Myers, Environmental Programs Associate
In March of 2009, Patagonia signed on with Goose Networks and started using the commute calendar on a limited test basis. The test went so well that Patagonia decided to roll out the calendar company-wide that May, in conjunction with their annual Bike to Work Week events. Right away, Patagonia employees said they loved the ease of self-reporting their commute activity. The new tool helped create buzz for Bike to Work Week, drawing more employees to participate.
Patagonia employees also appreciated the immediate feedback the commute calendar provided. Upon entering their commutes, employees could see how they reduced their CO2 output and how much money they saved.
Myers believes the commute calendar has encouraged more Patagonia employees to consider alternatives to their vehicles on a regular basis, and Patagonia has embraced the Goose calendar for year-round use. In addition, Patagonia plans to soon launch a 'Commute Impact' widget, designed by Goose, on the home page of the company’s employee intranet web site. The widget resembles an odometer and tracks alternative commute data in real time.