Norfolk company awards employees for not driving

Posted to: Business Norfolk Traffic - Transportation
Login or register to post comments

By Philip Walzer
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 29, 2012

Grow Interactive, a tech company in downtown Norfolk, this month began bumping up the pay of some employees to reward them for something they aren't doing.

They get an extra $60 a month if they don't drive to and from work, said Careyann Weinberg, operations manager of Grow Interactive. They receive the stipend in their paychecks if they bike or walk to work. The company pays for an HRT pass if they take public transportation. Drivers aren't ignored: Grow reserves a downtown parking space for each of them.

About one-third of the staff of 20 qualifies for the pay increase or HRT pass, Weinberg said. Two employees are Virginia Beach residents who drive to Newtown Road and then ride The Tide to Norfolk, she said.

"We want to encourage the city of Norfolk to help make everything walkable and bike-able and encourage everyone to take advantage of those options so there are more of those available," Weinberg said.

Grow also has three bikes in its Granby Street office. Workers can use them for anything from grabbing lunch to getting to a meeting, she said. "We even have a handful of guys that are just loving the ability to go out in the afternoon and get some fresh air and ride around the block for 10 minutes to relieve some stress."

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.

not sure why this is a story?

Submitted by beach23451 on Mon, 01/30/2012 at 6:37 am.

My company pays for dental check-ups and preventive care up to $800 a year. Would that make a good story as well?

"Would that make a good

Submitted by j67180 on Mon, 01/30/2012 at 3:08 pm.

"Would that make a good story as well?" Actually, no.

Let's be fair. They are

Submitted by Ethan on Mon, 01/30/2012 at 1:13 am.

Let's be fair. They are giving the employee the money they'd be paying another company for the parking space for the employee if they drove. That number is what I remember the spaces to cost each from the place that they rent their parking spaces.

Pretty cool that they pass it to the employees.

If they are ever hugely successful, will the employees start wanting parking spots for beautiful examples of engineering (sports cars) like the successful technology companies of the west coast?