March 6, 2015
Should you introduce a cycle-to-work scheme?
For many employers, it can be challenging to know how to encourage and motivate your workforce to take their health and wellbeing seriously. It can difficult to know how to approach the subject but there are many benefits to having fit and healthy employees.
One easy way to achieve this is to introduce a physical initiative that carries some sort of reward for those who reach a certain target or perform well. Like most workplace schemes, this can help motivate and encourage employees to get competitive with each other and realise their potential.
A popular way to this is to introduce a cycle-to-work scheme, but how do you know this is appropriate for your office? There are a number of things you need to consider before introducing such an initiative. Here are some of the most important:
Is your route safe?
Although people will live all over the place, with some maybe having an hour or so commute to get to work, these are not the people who you are targeting with a cycle-to-work scheme. For most employees you will be looking at those who live no more than a few miles away from your office. The first question you have to answer is whether enough of your workforce live the appropriate distance from your office to make such an initiative worthwhile.
Once you have decided that there are enough, you need to ensure that people have a safe and secure route to travel from where they live to work. If you live in a busy city, you should make sure there are cycle lanes and cycle-friendly routes to your office.
Do you have the right facilities?
If people choose to get involved in a cycle-to-work scheme, you should make sure they can do this safely. This includes having informative leaflets concerning the right equipment and etiquette they will need to stay safe, especially during the bad weather, but will also involve having facilities for people to store their bikes while they are at work.
If you really want a high uptake, you may also want to consider introducing a discount or incentive for people who need to buy new equipment to stay safe during their ride.
What age are your workforce?
The general age and health of your workforce is an important consideration before you waste time and money introducing such a scheme. For example, if you have an older workforce it might not be something they are interested in and may get better results from trying something else. In contrast, young professionals are more likely to get competitive with each other and want to take up a new hobby.
Although a cycle-to-work scheme is not suitable for every workforce, there are plenty of other incentives and initiatives that can be used in its place to prioritise health and wellbeing.
