Nesta research shows that the right incentives could get more people cycling to work

Whether it's as a way to stay fit, save money or be greener, there is an appetite in the UK to switch the daily commute to a cycle ride. But good intentions are a far cry from the current reality of bike commuting.

At present nearly half of daily journeys to work are made by car. A mere 4 per cent regularly cycle and we're keen to support new ideas for how we can significantly boost these numbers. New research* we commissioned found that 33 per cent of employees would cycle to work more if offered some kind of incentive.

Of those employees who already cycle, the factors most likely to get them cycling more, are: incentives or rewards (48 per cent), safe storage (40 per cent), access to bike maintenance (31 per cent), and shower facilities (29 per cent). 

The stats on the benefits of cycling to work speak for themselves, both for staff and employers - 48 per cent of HR decision makers that we polled said more peddling equals healthier staff and the knock-on effect would be fewer sick days taken. Nearly half also said it would help their organisation meet environmental targets including a reduction in CO2 related emissions.

Here at Nesta we think we do a pretty good job of encouraging staff to cycle to work. We have office showers, we provide fresh towels, there are plenty of secure areas to store bikes and we offer staff an interest free loan to buy a bike. And while the percentage of our staff that regularly cycle in is higher than the national average (about 15 per cent) it's still much lower than it could be.

When pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) introduced a comprehensive cycling strategy across their business it reduced single car occupancy from 81 per cent to 56 per cent in five years. The company's strategy includes secure cycle parking, fully equipped shower, changing and drying facilities, and a range of incentives such as 'bike miles' which allow employees to collect financial rewards each time they cycle in.

We launched our Workplace Cycle Challenge prize to encourage more organisations to take a similar approach. Not all organisations have the resources available to GSK and that's why we're looking for creative, innovative ideas to get more people on their bikes.

The challenge is open to all employers with ten or more employees with an innovative idea for getting more of their workforce cycling to work.

The Workplace Cycling Challenge closes on 12 November 2012. The winner will receive a prize of £25,000. For further information visit www.nesta.org.uk/challengeprizes

You'll find more stats from our research on workplace cycling here, including top reasons people don't currently cycle to work and factors most likely to get them cycling more.

 

*About the survey:

Human Resources Decision Makers and Business Leaders Survey:

From October 11th to October 17th, 2012, Vision Critical conducted an online survey among 507 randomly selected British adults who are Springboard UK panelists, and are either Human Resources Decision Makers (358 panelists) or Business Leaders (149 panelists), working within a company or organization that employs a minimum of at least ten employees.  'Human Resources Decision Makers' are defined as either decision makers or influencers of personnel / human resources decisions at work.  'Business Leaders' are defined as either C-level Management / Manager at Board or Directorial level or Senior Management / Executive (not at board level), as well as being either decision makers, influencers , or approvers of personnel / human resources decisions at work. 

Employees Survey:

From October 10th to October 12th, 2012, Vision Critical conducted an online survey among 4014 randomly selected British adults who are Springboard UK panelists.  Of those panelists, 2156 were engaged in either full or part-time employment.  Employment is defined as either full-time employment (30 hours or more per week) or part-time employment (8-29 hours per week or fewer than 8 hours per week).  The margin of error-which measures sampling variability-is +/- 2.1%, 19 times out of 20.   The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of Great Britain.  Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.