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Being an electric-bike friendly employer is excellent for improving and encouraging your employees’ health and well-being, and there are enormous benefits for business too.
Electric bikes (ebikes) are practical, fun, and an increasingly popular transport choice. This article will examine a few simple things employers can do to be more ebike friendly and the massive benefits to your organisation.
Huge TAX incentives
Cycle to Work schemes are based on a government initiative to promote healthier work commutes and reduce pollution. Ran through participating employers, the scheme is the most cost-effective way for employees to get new cycling equipment, saving 25-39% on the RRP.
One of the most ebike friendly schemes is The Green Commute Initiative which offers some of the best savings for employees and can even finance the cost of the ebike purchase for the employer.
For example, one of our most popular bikes, the 2020 Raleigh Motus Tour Low Step, a bike usually costing £2300, under the scheme could cost £1334, saving £966!!
The cost of the bike is taken from the employee’s gross wages, meaning there are no Income Tax or National Insurance deductions on each repayment amount.
The salary sacrifice amount does not incur Employer National Insurance Contributions. So if an employee uses the Cycle scheme to buy a bike worth £1,000, you’ll save up to 13.8%. That’s a whopping £138 saving you’d usually be responsible for paying.
A cyclist’s travel expenses cost less than half as much as a driver’s. Employees can claim 45 pence per mile for the first 10,000 miles tax-free mileage for using their car for business. The rate for cyclists is 20 pence per mile. These rates apply to employees who travel for work purposes, not including commuting. If you have staff cycling between sites or out on the road, you could see significant savings.
Company bikes are much cheaper than cars
A pool of company electric bikes are much cheaper than company cars. Transport for London has some great advice on pool bikes for business.
Current commuting patterns cost businesses a lot of time and money; staff are late because of traffic jams; milage costs are rising, and company car-parking spaces are in short supply.
Healthier and more productive staff
The average UK worker takes 4.5 sick days a year; the average cyclist just 2.4. (research by Sustrans)
Sick days cost businesses £1000s per year. So every extra cyclist among your staff potentially halves the amount you pay in sick pay.
A survey conducted by GlaxoSmithKline found staff who had obtained a bike through a Cycle to Work scheme, 73% said they were more motivated, and 74% thought they were more productive.
It’s good for PR
The European Cyclists’ Federation calculated that an e-bike and rider are responsible for 22g of CO2 per mile; a car produces 271g per mile!
Congestion costs the UK economy nearly £40billion per year, and the average driver spent 31 hours stuck in rush hour traffic annually.
Encouraging and supporting cycling at your workplace helps you do your bit for the environment and help tackle congestion – and doing so shows corporate social responsibility.
There are lots of ways an employer can become more e-bike friendly:
- Encourage staff to cycle to regularly and hold workplace challenges
- Introduce a ‘green’ travel plan
- Have a ‘pool’ bike/s available
- Provide facilities to support biking to work, such as showers, changing rooms, washing and drying.
- Support a work cycling group
- Provide secure, safe and convenient cycle parking
Workplace challenges
- Use free apps like Strava to create a weekly leader board for various cycle based activities, a bit of friendly competition boosts staff morale.
- Encourage events like Taking part in events such as Cycle to Work Day or Bike Week
Green travel plan
A green travel plan sets out to reduce an organisation’s overall dependency on motor vehicles by promoting all the possible alternatives to single-occupancy car use. Reducing car miles benefits the environment and can save both the business and its staff a lot of time and money. E-Bikes and E-Cargo bikes can play a vital role in reducing reliance on cars and vans, shrinking your carbon footprint and make company travel more cost-effective.
The Department for Transport has some handy suggestions in their Essential Guide to Travel Planning
Pool Bikes
What is a pool bike scheme? A pool bike scheme is a bank of bikes provided for employees to use at work. The bicycles are kept in a central location and can be booked out by any employee who is competent at cycling safely on public roads. Setting up a pool bike scheme for your staff is a brilliant way to improve travel behaviour at work.
Another massive advantage of Electric Bikes is that they are packed with tech, from useful management software to security features such as GPS.
Changing Room and Showers
Lots of companies already have staff changing rooms, lockers and showering facilities. Showers can help people feel much happier to cycle into work, especially during summer, and a tumble dryer is really useful on rainy days. The benefit of promoting ebikes is that showers will NOT be needed. This is a huge benefit to small employers trying to do the right thing with limited resources or large companies worried that lots of employees taking showers will negatively impact their energy and water use. Water won’t always be viewed as an unlimited resource so ebikes address 2 more sources of energy and resource use.
Cycle Groups
Cycling groups at work are a brilliant way to encourage cycle commuters and other staff thinking of cycling to work. They are usually championed by a staff member who regularly cycles to work and includes a group of cycling colleagues. It’s a great way to encourage teamwork, build healthy work relationships, and can even raise money for charity through sponsored events.
Bike Parking
Being an E-Bike friendly employer goes hand in hand with providing quality cycle parking facilities. Since commuting by bike is on the rise, in London, it was recently revealed in the ‘Traffic In The City 2018′ report that cycling is now the majority mode of transport. Secure, safe and convenient cycle parking at work is now more vital than ever and makes a big difference. Accommodating several cycles is also much cheaper than providing space for just one car.
Many employers advertise a ‘cycle to work’ scheme in their job adverts and actively encourage their employees to cycle to work, yet some of the same employers do not provide adequate cycle parking. Thieves often target electric bikes, so proper cycle parking is essential. Ideally, cycle parking should be close to the premises, within easy reach, covered and secure. If there is nowhere outside to have a bike shelter, is there maybe somewhere inside that could be converted into suitable bike storage? Wall hooks are good space-savers inside or out.
With many businesses planning the return to the workplace in the next few months, commuting will be high on the agenda. The Electric Transport Shop has a fantastic corporate program that is helping many organisations, including several councils, Cambridge University Press, ARM Computing, Deliveroo and Estate agents nationwide, become more electric-bike friendly. Our experienced team are on hand to help and fulfil any requests; there’s no better time to see how we can help your business be ebike friendly.
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