The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), has received the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Commuter Connections 2018 Employer Recognition Award for its commuter benefits program’s incentives. The award was announced at a ceremony Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. APhA’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Jule Miller accepted the award.

“On behalf of APhA, I’m honored to receive this award and look forward to continuing to work closely with Commuter Connections as we help our staff tackle their constantly changing commuting challenges.” 

“We congratulate the American Pharmacists Association on their commuter benefits program. By incentivizing employees to leave their cars at home and take alternative means of transportation, the APhA program helps reduce traffic congestion and contributes to less fuel consumption and cleaner air,” says Nicholas Ramfos, director, Commuter Connections. “We encourage other employers to use incentives like these as a model for alternate commute programs of their own.”

The APhA employee commuter benefits program incentives include a flat subsidy up to $100 per month for full-time employees for public transportation, and $50 per month for part-time employees. APhA provides onsite bike racks, showers, and lockers to encourage bicycling to work, and a Capital Bikeshare station is also located right alongside the property. APhA provides laptops to all employees for use within the office, or remotely. Those interested in teleworking must enter into a formal agreement, and complete training. APhA also offers employees flextime, compressed work schedules, and summer hours and notifies employees of air quality alerts on days where air quality is poor, so that they may make alternative work schedule arrangements accordingly.

The American Pharmacists Association’s commuter program has helped employees reduce 512,080 vehicle miles traveled per year and saves 25,863 gallons of gas annually.