As I write this, the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport (MSP) is really screwed up. They're renovating one of the two major entry points for security lanes. Hoi polloi must use the North checkpoint: It's slow! Really slow!! But if you have TSA Pre you can use the South checkpoint. Believe me, you want the South checkpoint. It's fast! Really fast!! It's going to be maybe 10 minutes, max. Otherwise, right now, it's like a 45 minute wait. It can be even worse in the morning.
If you pay someone $140K/year, that's an hourly wage of about $70. The fee for TSA Pre is only $85. Throw in Global Entry, and it's $100.
So let's see. Your employee doesn't have TSA Pre. On each end of a trip, she's going to spend 45 minus 10, or 35 minutes in line without TSA Pre. Round-trip, that's 70 minutes, or more than an hour. If you paid that mere $85, your $140K employee wouldn't waste those 70 minutes, so it's a wash in terms of your budget. You spend a whopping $85, and after about one trip, you get it back in time not wasted on standing in line. Spend $100 (oh my!) and now the employee can do Global Entry and blast through customs and immigration. So, yeah, your employee doesn't do much international travel for work . . . But she's going to love you if you can expedite dealing with all that crap at the border.
I personally implore my colleagues to sign up for TSA Pre. Do they do it? Nope. It's a bit of a hassle, and in the default situation, everyone wears the tinfoil hat and is paranoid about sharing personal biometrics such as fingerprints. But I think a cash nudge can overcome this objection pretty quickly. So . . . why not offer to reimburse your staff for their TSA Pre bill? You won't lose much cash, and you will gain in reputation as being a considerate and supportive employer. Indeed, after a couple of trips, you'll start to get hours that might have otherwise been wasted.
What are you waiting for?
comments powered by Disqus