Thousands of employees at Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health and Clinics will receive a stipend benefit to help cover parking expenses at their workplace.
This benefit, $25 per pay period, begins July 1, according to Christian Sherwood, chief human resources officer for U of Utah Health. It will apply to approximately 8,000 workers who are at a manager level or below who park in campus-designated locations.
"Like any large campus, parking can be challenging and parking conversations have been ongoing for more than a decade," Ms. Sherwood said in a statement shared with Becker's.
"We've listened to feedback from our employees, campus partners such as commuter services and other key stakeholder groups. This stipend enables us to better support our teams and our staffing needs. Additionally, we offer free Utah Transit Authority passes for all employees and have a variety of parking lots and parking areas to choose from."
She added that all eligible employees will receive this stipend regardless of whether they have a parking permit.
News of the benefit follows a petition circulated by Utah Health Workers United, a unit of Communications Workers of America Local 7765. The petition, in part, calls on health system leadership to "provide affordable or income-based parking costs across all staff and executive/administrative positions. Improve and increase commuter solutions that allow workers convenient access and timely commuting to work. The current approach of expensive, poorly maintained parking and lengthy commuting via public transportation is inadequate."
A union news release shared with Becker's contends that those who work on the main University of Utah hospital campus paid more than $6.4 million in parking expenses to their employer in fiscal year 2023 and that the new parking stipend is a positive step resulting from the collective power of the union.
At the same time, Leslie Dresser, BSN, RN, a hospital employee, cautioned that "there has been no promise or contract made by the hospital to the employees to increase these stipends to keep up with the upcoming pass cost increases, nor has the administration committed that these stipends will be part of their long term financial plan."
Therefore, she sees the stipend as "a temporary discount toward a long-term problem that still requires solving."
Ms. Sherwood said: "The decision to incorporate a parking stipend was the result of conversations that have taken place for many years and particularly post pandemic, to best support our teams and our staffing needs."