Comment | Read Comments (2)

Are you getting the most out of your employer from cycling to work? Cycling to work really does mean that you are doing the organisation you work for a big favour.

You're more likely to be on time, you'll arrive more alert and less stressed than other commuters and you're an all-round healthier employee, so everyone's a winner.

All that is even before you get to the environmental benefits of your commute, the saving your employer is making by having fewer parking spaces and the contribution all this makes to reducing your employer's carbon footprint.

So bearing all this in mind, cycling to work should be made as easy as possible for you by the ones who pay your wages.

If you're still at the very basic stage of not even having somewhere to park your bike, it's time you and your company had a serious discussion about provision for cyclists.

Cycle parking can't always spring up overnight, but it's definitely worth finding out your organisation's plan to accommodate its cycling army. Once the basics like secure parking and showers have been provided, there's a whole raft of other initiatives to get started on, so don't stop there.

Make sure you're realistic in your demands on your employer - ask for everything at once and you'll be in danger of being written off as a cycling nutter.

You might cycle on work business - again a winner for your employer as you are using a safer form of transport than the car. If your bosses are serious about cycling, they will be paying you a mileage allowance for business cycling.

This can be up to 20p per mile tax free and is a pretty basic perk to bring in, so make sure it's being offered. After all, most drivers wouldn't dream of using their cars for company business unless they were given a mileage allowance, so why should you be any different?

Some employers provide interest-free loans to buy bikes, while others sign up to a salary sacrifice scheme which enables staff to get a large discount on the price of a bike due to tax incentives. Such loans usually extend to cycling equipment as well so there really is no reason not to get started if you want to cycle but don't have the gear.

There are even more advanced ways of helping employees who cycle or want to cycle. Ikea, not the first company that springs to mind when thinking of good ethical practice, recently gave every employee a folding bike. How about that for an example of great two-wheeled practice? There are also examples of large pharmaceutical companies giving financial incentives to people getting to work without a car. If these heavyweight corporates have seen sense in encouraging cycling to work, it must make good business sense.

Both Oxford universities offer cycle training sessions, although this really is something the county council should be providing to ensure that it is on offer to everyone, not just those with university links.

Make sure you're getting a good cycling deal out of your employer - it'll make life better for you, your fellow cyclists and your company.

8:56am Tuesday 27th March 2007

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login