The Business Case for Bicycling
You know by now that I never shut up about am a staunch supporter of sustainable transportation, namely public transit and cycling. And while transit agencies are having a hard time right now, somewhat undeservedly, cycling is experiencing a renaissance (which I wrote about previously). With this perfect storm of uncertainty in the business and public health spheres, I’d like to get on my soapbox a little more for all you Human Resources pros and office types with difficult decisions coming in terms of employee health plans.
In short: let’s capitalize on the bike boom!
Bikes belong in the office.
Even if employees are working remotely now, employers are still invested in their staff making healthy choices. Encouraging people to integrate cycling into their daily lives; riding for short errands or for exercise and relaxation are all great ways to combat work-at-home desklock. Thinking to the future, make sure that your benefits encourage and reward employees who choose to walk or bike to work: these empty parking lots won’t last forever, and it’s much easier to change commute habits during an interstitial phase like the present lockdown than to try to push commuters out of their cars when the masses return.
Aside from the more tangible, physical/cardio aspect, you can’t talk about health and wellbeing in a modern setting without mentioning stress; and that’s another area in which encouraging cycling can help employers advance their goals towards happier, healthier officemates. Studies consistently find that cyclists are the happiest commuters and that benefit carries forward into productivity throughout the day. Truly, a very favorable bird:stone ratio of benefits.
If your workplace could use a hand in this department, Livable Buckhead has a plethora of resources and support for making decisions around supportive employee benefits, one-on-one and company-wide transportation plans, and tools for planning for an uncertain future.
And don’t forget the Atlanta Bike Challenge during the month of #Biketober is a great time to promote cycling and your existing company benefits since employees have chances to earn some enticing prizes just for spending a little time on two wheels!
