How to manage the company car park

A company car park is an area that is very beneficial to the employees, customers and visitors who park there.

Its smooth running depends, of course, on how the car park is managed. In most cases, parking spaces will be limited and the demand for spaces will be higher. This poses some problems and challenges that will need to be addressed.

Nevertheless, it can be viewed in a positive light. The use of space management software, such as what is offered by Foot Analytics, will help you to solve such problems and find opportunities for improvement, which will be appreciated by all those interested in making the most of the available parking spaces.

Parking problems in companies

As useful as a parking area is for any business, it is not without its problems, which can impact on a number of levels. The following are some of the most frequently occurring problems:

• Lack of free spaces: this forces users to look for a parking space outside the company car park, which means spending more money on fuel and additional parking. Time is also lost and stress levels increase if a parking space is not found quickly.
• Reserved spaces: If there are spaces that are always reserved so other users cannot use them, this can lead to a situation of inequality that affects the morale of employees. This is especially true when the reserved spaces are not being used. 
• More time at work: If it is difficult to park at the company, employees will leave home earlier to look for a parking space. However, not all employees are able to arrive early, which creates a situation of unequal opportunities.  
• Experience: for many employees, parking in the company is a daily task they have to deal with. If this creates a problem, it will influence the overall experience felt by the employee.

Solutions to a lack of parking

It is clear that a lack of parking can pose many problems for a company, employees and even visitors. The good news is that there are many measures that can be implemented.

Here are some of the best solutions to parking shortages that we can recommend:

Digitisation of parking space reservations.

This is the best solution we can recommend. The use of new technology makes it possible to take advantage of a fair and efficient reservation system. In addition, it can also be integrated with other developments such as Foot Analytics software, making better use of space management in real time.

Priority of spaces

Parking reservations can prioritise some people with greater needs than others, such as pregnant women or those with reduced mobility.

This priority system, similar to that already in place on public roads, helps to ensure that those most in need have the opportunity to reserve a spot to facilitate their arrival and access to the company.

Differentiated parking spaces

Parking management should take into account the profile of the users. If the available space is used by both employees and customers or visitors, it is better to differentiate two or more areas for each of them.

This ensures to a large extent that people who are not employees will have parking available to visit the company.

It eliminates the problem of prioritising spaces for customers and visitors and allows centralised parking management, through other measures in the area designated for employees.

Parking space reservation rotation

Faced with a limited number of parking spaces, there is the potential to implement a regular rotation system so that all employees can, at some point in time, enjoy the benefits of parking in the company.

Parking management software

Obviously, many of these measures are complementary if the parking space and the type of company allows it.

In addition, there are some measures that can greatly optimise parking shortage solutions, such as using our parking management software.

The Foot Analytics system can improve the efficiency of this process and boost its optimisation, with important features such as the following:

Validation of reservations used

Foot Analytics has an automated reservation validation system. With it, the presence of a user in the building is detected and an automated check in and check out system can be generated, without that person having to do anything.

Applied to car park management, this allows the presence of vehicles in reserved spaces to be validated, without having to install number plate readers or other systems to do so.

Analysis of usage patterns

By linking space management to the usage patterns of drivers, it is possible to fully monitor the operation of the reservation and allocation of spaces.

With this software it is possible to identify at what times of the day there is greater saturation, what times of the day there are more free spaces and when it is necessary to optimise the management of reservations.

Improved experience

Foot Analytics software can also be used to analyse the reservation system and how it is used so that measures can be put in place to improve the experience.

This makes it possible to reward those professionals who make efficient use of the system, for example if they successfully use a space they have reserved for a specific time slot or if they free up a reserved space they are not going to use in the end.

This is one of many measures that can be implemented to improve the user experience when using the parking space system, thus encouraging responsible use of the car park and also improving the relationship between the professional and the company.