Responding to workers' frustration with soaring prices at the gas pump, employers are beefing up commuter benefits as a way to offer some financial relief, reports the Society of Human Resource Management.

For example, 42% of companies increased their mileage reimbursement to the Internal Revenue Service maximum of 50.5 cents per mile. Last year, only 13% of employers raised mileage reimbursement to the IRS cap, SHRM found.

Now may be a good time for advisers to look into employee commuter benefit programs that help employees manage the costs of mass transit or parking through pre-tax payroll deduction.

Employers are addressing gas prices by offering flexible work schedules (26%), telecommuting options (18%), public transportation discounts (14%) and gas cards for good performance (14%).

There is also an opportunity for advisers to take a consultative approach to the issue by helping employers try new approaches to ease the burden of commuting costs for employees.

SHRM indicates that 12% of respondents help workers organize carpools, and 7% offer priority parking to employees who do so.

"Rising gas prices are cutting into everyone's personal budgets, so employees are taking a closer look at benefits, such as compressed work [schedules] and public transportation discounts to reduce their costs," says Susan R. Meisinger, president and CEO of SHRM

Growing trends around commuter benefits also entail providing new non-executive hires help in finding housing closer to the office (4%) and providing a monetary incentive for workers to buy hybrid cars (1%). Yet overall, SHRM found only 2% of surveyed employers offer a cost-of-living raise prompted by gas prices or stipends to employees with long commutes.

Advisers can help clients find cheap gas for employees by visiting GasBuddy.com.