Manage employee parking spaces easily

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Efficient parking management is an essential part of modern workplace infrastructure. Employee parking spaces not only improve operational processes in the long term, but can also increase employee satisfaction. When designing these parking spaces, companies should consider the selection of a suitable parking management system from the outset to ensure that the parking spaces really benefit the employees. 

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Are employers obliged to provide employee parking spaces?

In general, German companies are not obliged to provide parking spaces for their employees. There is an exception for companies that cannot be reached by public transport, for example in remote villages and valleys that are not well developed. In this case, employees are entitled to a company parking space. The number of parking spaces to be provided depends on the Garage and Parking Space Ordinance (GaStellV) of the respective federal state.

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Regulation for new construction of commercial properties

Caution is advised if a new commercial property is to be built. Under certain circumstances, there may be requirements to create new parking spaces for a new building. The aim of such requirements is, for example, to reduce the shortage of parking spaces in certain regions. In addition, the solar obligation and the e-charging station obligation must be observed for a new building.

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Regulation in employment contracts

The provision of employee parking spaces can also be stipulated in employment contracts. If a company grants an employee a parking space in the employment contract, it must also provide the corresponding parking space.

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Voluntary provision of employee parking spaces

Companies can also voluntarily decide to offer employee parking spaces. The following criteria can be used for the decision:

• Costs
  Employee parking spaces must be affordable for the company - regardless of whether a parking space is rented or built in-house. Parking spaces owned by companies cost less in the long term, while rented parking spaces are cheaper in the short term. In addition, the maintenance, servicing and care of employee parking spaces must also be taken into account. Barriers and their repairs, downtimes and control personnel in particular often cause high costs. Here, a license plate-based solution can reduce costs in the short and long term, as wear and tear, maintenance and repair costs are reduced and the efficiency of parking space management is also increased. Peter Park offers this technology.
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• Employee benefit
  It makes sense to have current employees fill out a short survey to determine their parking needs and ask about an ideal typical travel situation. In this way, the needs of employees can be addressed effectively.
  With employee parking spaces, companies can position themselves as attractive employers and stand out from their competitors in the competition for talent. At the same time, they may create an additional incentive for long-term employees to remain loyal to their employer. Employee parking spaces can be a criterion for choosing an employer, especially for people who come from small towns with poor transport links or for employees with families. Not to be forgotten is the employee parking space as a status symbol, which is still highly relevant today.

• Corporate values
  Employers should ask themselves whether employee parking spaces are in line with the corporate culture. To do this, it makes sense to look at the company's mission, vision and values and include them in the decision for or against employee parking spaces. To make these points clearer, here are two examples for comparison: 
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  • A medium-sized company is located in a less well-developed industrial zone of a medium-sized German city. Various benefits (company car and family-friendly employee events) and the way employees work (no meetings after 5 p.m. and flexitime) provide important values for the decision. The focus here is on comfort, family-friendliness and effectiveness. Employee parking spaces make sense for this company.
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  • A small, modern start-up in an urban area has defined sustainability as a core corporate value. The offices are well connected by public transport. For this company, employee parking spaces are of no great benefit.

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Manage employee parking spaces efficiently

Employers need a parking management system to ensure that employee parking spaces are actually available to employees and are not occupied by third-party parkers with no connection to the company. Various solutions are available on the market. For companies whose core business is not parking space management, digital, barrier-free systems are particularly suitable. These include the solution from Peter Park, which is inexpensive to purchase and operate, as almost no wear-prone components are used on the surface. The solution works with data protection-compliant license plate recognition at the entrance and exit. 

The system checks whether parkers are authorized to use the employee parking spaces or not. External parkers receive a contractual penalty from the service provider, making the parking space unattractive for them and leaving it free for employees again.

Employers do not receive any personal information about the parkers. Instead, they offer their employees digital parking tickets for a fee via the service provider's online store or enable them to park free of charge. Thanks to this solution, the company has virtually no administrative work. At the same time, it receives data protection-compliant evaluations of its own parking spaces and can therefore make better decisions about the future demand for employee parking spaces, for example.

How the Landesklinikum Scheibbs manages its employee parking spaces

In hospitals, sometimes every second counts. Employees work in shifts and staff changes also take place outside public transport operating hours. For this reason, hospitals normally provide sufficient staff parking spaces for their employees. Barrier-based parking systems, which can cause traffic jams when there is a large rush and thus block access for emergency vehicles, may not be practical in some circumstances. The state hospital in Scheibbs, Lower Austria, had been using a barrier system since 2009, but its maintenance and repairs caused high costs. When the system broke down, revenue was lost because parkers were able to enter and leave the parking area uncontrolled. The Scheibbs Regional Hospital in Lower Austria therefore introduced the digital, barrier-free and ticket-free solution from Peter Park in April 2023. Since then, not only employees, but also visitors and patients have been able to park seamlessly in the healthcare facility's parking areas. Thanks to the solution, the hospital can offer different parking conditions to different user groups. 

The Arberlandklinik in Viechtach also successfully relies on the Peter Park System.

Conclusion

In principle, companies are not legally obliged to provide employee parking spaces. Nevertheless, it can make sense to offer employees parking spaces. Costs, demand and company values all play a role in the decision. Digital, barrier-free parking management solutions such as the Peter Park System are ideal for efficient, low-effort administration.