Want to improve employee wellness? Make it easier to bike to work
Facilitating bicycle commuting is good for employee wellness. Here's how to make it happen.
Facilitating bicycle commuting is good for employee wellness. Here's how to make it happen.
There are plenty of good reasons to bike to work. It’s cheap, good for the environment and your health, and allows you to start your day by releasing some endorphins. However, if your company doesn’t facilitate bike commuting, it’s not always the most practical way for employees to get to work. Thankfully, there are a number of small changes employers can make so it’s easier for employees to bike to work.Â
In this article, we’ll share tips for employers who want to support bike commuting for employees. But first, let’s dive a little deeper on the benefits of bike commuting.
There’s evidence that companies that make it easy for their employees to bike to work will have a happier, healthier workforce. For starters, employees who bike to work are less likely to develop heart disease and cancer, and in generally live longer lives. Rose Mazurek, who works at a leading health system in Center City Philadelphia, is a big fan of biking to work. To her, the physical benefits of biking are an added perk to her commute. As she put it: “the fact that you’re getting some bonus exercise ... why not take advantage of that?”
Employees who commute by bike are also more likely to arrive to work in a better mood than employees who do not bike to work. That’s because people who bike are happier while traveling than people who drive. “It’s definitely more fun than getting into a car,” Mazurek said, noting that biking helps her release serotonin.Â
For Mazurek, biking is also cheaper and more convenient than driving. “Parking [my car] is a nightmare, and it’s very expensive.” In Mazurek’s case, biking is also the fastest option. She lives close enough to walk to work, but says biking gets her there 4x faster. “I like to go home for lunch… so [the time savings] are significant.”Â
Aside from the personal benefits, biking is great for the climate. People who replace just one car trip a day with a bike trip can reduce their transportation-related carbon footprint by two thirds.
Additionally, people who bike instead of drive reduce the amount of harmful pollutants in their communities. These pollutants are bad for children’s lungs and cause higher rates of asthma and heart disease.
As you can now see, there are many benefits to biking to work. So how can companies enable their employees to bike commute more often?
Now that you understand the benefits of a bike-to-work program, let's discuss ways that employers can promote biking to work amongst their employees.
There are two types of facilities that can be game changers for would-be bikers:
There are also cultural changes that can help:
Employers typically subsidize the costs of driving to work. Why shouldn’t the same be true for biking?
Companies should make biking a more financially attractive option for their employees’ commutes. Employers typically subsidize the costs of driving to work with pre-tax travel benefits or free onsite parking. Why can’t the same be done for biking?
Here are a few strategies to make biking more financially appealing to your employees:
There are lots of reasons why bike share can be an attractive option for commuters. Mazurek owns her own bike, but prefers to use Indego (Philadelphia’s bike share network) to commute because it gives her more flexibility. “I might go to work and then I might want to go across town and meet up with friends for a drink,” she explained. “I like to be able to ditch the bike and not worry about it.”
Thanks to our partnerships with bike share providers, Jawnt can help companies make biking more affordable for employees. We facilitate the sale of bike share memberships to employers who can choose to cover part of or fully subsidize the cost as a part of their employee benefits package. Offering this unique benefit can help with employee wellness, recruitment, and retention. If you'd like to learn more, contact us.
To take advantage of the benefits of bike commuting, remember the three strategies companies can use to make biking easier for their employees:Â
1. Offer proper facilities
2. Adjust office culture to be more bike-friendly
3. Provide financial incentives such as a subsidized bike share membershipÂ
These are simple, low-cost ways to make it easier for employees to bike to work. Your employees will thank you as they reap the financial and personal benefits of bicycle commuting.
Sign up for our newsletter updates