Commuting to and from work five days a week can be very stressful. Indeed, competing for space on packed trains and inching along congested roads can leave commuters feeling completely stressed out before they even get to their place of work! Moreover, travelling by road and rail doesn’t come cheap these days. To be sure, the cost of petrol remains stubbornly high and train operators regularly impose price hikes on their ‘loyal’ passengers.

Obviously, paying inordinate amounts of money to be super-stressed twice a day is not good for employees or employers. Fortunately, many more companies are now recognising this and are implementing measures to encourage their employees to use a cheaper, healthier and more relaxing form of transport – cycling and cycle to work.

In fact, more employers than ever are now concluding that cycle to work can help their employees to save money, get fit and be less stressed, all at the same time.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it?

So, how can you as a business owner go about making your workplace more proactive to bicycle commuting?

Read on and find out.

Start a ‘Cycle to Work’ Initiative The first thing you need to do is raise awareness of cycling as a viable commuting solution amongst your employees. The best way to do this is to start an initiative that is able to communicate the benefits of cycling to work and reinforces the ease with which anyone can embrace it. Another good way to get people on board is to offer incentives. For example, negotiating a special ‘employee discount’ at your local bike shop may well encourage workers to take more than just a cursory interest.

Provide Bicycle Parking Of course, your employees will be reluctant to spend their hard-earned money on a swish new bike if there is nowhere safe for them to leave it whilst they are at work. Therefore, you will need to have a safe, secure and easily accessible cycle shelter sited somewhere on your premises. Depending on the size of your company and the interest in your ‘Cycle to Work’ initiative, you may well need to invest in more than one cycle shelter. If this is the case then try to have your cycle shelters sited at opposing ends of your car park or main building as this will provide your employees with a choice of storage options.

This being Britain, you will of course need to ensure your bicycle shelters provide full protection from the elements. This will not only prevent the bikes that are stored within from the onset of rust; it will also enable your employees to get ready for their cycle home without getting soaked by rain or blown across the car park by wind. Furthermore, having some suitably weatherproof storage lockers in your shelters will provide your employees with a safe place to keep their helmets and waterproof gear nice and dry.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t delay – raise cycle to work awareness today!