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New Initiative Encourages Atlanta Perimeter Employees To Work Remotely, Reducing Traffic

October 29th, 2019

In order to help more employers and workers make the change, the Atlanta Regional Commission has created videos and teleworking resources.

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Thousands of employees who work in the Atlanta Perimeter area won’t be coming to the office for at least one day this week.

Perimeter Connects, a program focused on providing transportation solutions, has partnered with companies located in the Dunwoody, Sandy Springs area to kick off the inaugural Perimeter Work Week, which started Oct. 28 and will end on Nov. 1.

The initiative encourages employees of participating companies, Mercedes-Benz USA, Beazer Homes, Cox Enterprises and VMware, to work remotely for at least one day this week or to not travel to work during heavy traffic times.

Johann Weber, program manager for Perimeter Connects, said that over the course of the workweek, 3,000 fewer people will be on the road in peak traffic.

“Even that number, 3,000 vehicles, has a really big impact on traffic because traffic is really driven by those small extra percentages,” Weber said. “It’s the reason why it’s so much worse when you drive at peak periods, than when you drive a little bit earlier, a little bit later, because even just a small percentage of vehicles leads to a big increase in delays.”

Perimeter Connects found that there would be 9,000 fewer cars in traffic in the area if 50% of all the district workers worked remotely once a week, according to a press release. A Perimeter Connects survey found that only 15% of district employees work from home once a week.

Weber said he understands that not all companies can participate and that it depends on what makes sense for the businesses. For example, he said State Farm was unable to be a partner in this campaign because their customer service employees are staffed onsite.

“…This isn’t necessarily about every single person, every single job can do this. Rather, the benefits that accrue to everyone else by those who can,” Weber said.