Over the past few months, I’ve blogged about how employers can sponsor a commuter transit benefit to help employees cope with higher commuting costs to pay for those expenses on a pre-tax basis under Section 132 of the Internal Revenue Code. The employer can also receive tax benefits since generally there are no payroll-related taxes involved.
But there may also be an important non-tax reason to consider – stress in the workplace. Dwight A. Hennessy, Department of Psychology, Buffalo State College writes about that in his article, The Impact of Commuter Stress on Workplace Aggression, that appeared in the September 5, 2008 on-line issue of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Here is the Abstract
Immediately following their regular commute to work, participants completed questionnaires regarding state driver stress and anger during that commute. Then, immediately following completion of that work day, they completed a state version of the Workplace Aggression Scale. As state driver stress increased, the frequency of both expressed hostility and obstructionism increased (independently) during that work day, butS only among male employees. In contrast, overt aggression during that work day was greatest among males who were higher in physical aggressiveness as a general trait characteristic. The present study highlights the interactive nature of traffic and workplace environments, in that negative experiences in the traffic environment may spill over for some individuals to influence nondriving events.
Hat Tip to Dr. Christian Jarrett, Editor, of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest blog.
