Biking to work. A little encouragement goes a long way

The environment and our impact on it as we make our way though our day is something that we are taking more of an interest in. The one area of our daily work life that can have the biggest impact both environmentally and our own physical wellbeing is that daily commute to and from our workplace. In the areas of the worlds that can be considered to have fairly stable seasons is the west coast, the lower parts of the 48 states and portions of the east coast.

It is in those areas that where possible biking to and from work can make a lot of sense. Besides saving you a lot of money on things like gas and vehicle upkeep it is also a great way to keep physically, and to some degree mentally, fit. Until recently though while the idea of riding your bike to and from work may have seemed like a great idea there was also the worry about what could happen to that bike while you are actually working.

In this regard there are many things that companies can do in order to make your two wheel trip to work a more encouraging trend to be a part of. To that end Baltimore Spokes has a great post with a list of things that companies can do to encourage employees to ride their bikes to work.

Be Accessible

Promote the fact that your company is close to either bicycle friendly roads or actual bike paths

Being Clean

By its very nature bicycling can be a sweaty affair so consider having somewhere where employees can have a quick fresh me up shower.

Safe Parking

People can spend many hundred’s of dollars, or more, on their bicycles so making sure that the company has a safe place for people to lock up their bikes while working. Some companies have even gone to the point of building secure bike rooms for their employees.

Creating a Company biking Community

A single biker is a lone duck. Two bikers are just the weirdoes in the company. Anymore that three and you have a chance to build a corporate biking community. It could be as simple has having special company t-shirts made for those who bike to work; or it could grow to be a community that takes part as a company team in larger biking events.

Cash incentives never hurt

Some companies help by covering the cost of bike safety courses while others offer things like Bike for Bucks which sees the miles they bike turned into credits at local bike shops. There are some companies that have gone as far as offering to reimburse employees for bike purchases.

All in all this trend of leaving the car in the driveway and biking to work instead provides a lot of benefits to both employee and employer.