Cycle Friendly Employer Award

What is it?
Cycling Scotland’s Cycle Friendly Employer Award is run in conjunction with the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives and the Scottish Executive’s Healthy Living campaign.  The aim of the award is to give employers the incentive to achieve a nationally recognised award for promoting cycling in the workplace which will result in benefits for employers and staff alike.  The award also provides best practice guidance in relation to cycle commuting and can be used as a practical tool to implement cycle measures as part of a sustainable travel plan.

Who is it for?
The award is for any organisation in Scotland that would like to encourage their staff to cycle to work.  This could be for any number of reasons, such as to promote active travel with the aim of creating a healthier workforce, to support environmental policies or as part of a travel plan.

Employers are credited with an increasing accountability for the health of their workforce.  The financial burden to the NHS of illness and premature death relating to physical inactivity is estimated at around £1 billion per annum.  This does not take into account the cost to individual business of absenteeism, reduced productivity, increasing stress levels and an increase in avoidable work related ailments.  As levels of inactivity rise, employers can react by positively influencing significant numbers of people to incorporate appropriate physical activity in their lifestyles.  In doing this, they improve the physical and mental wellbeing of their staff, improve their profitability and protect the investment they make in their human resources.

National Transport Strategy and Cycle Friendly Employer
The award celebrates the achievements of employers that provide the opportunity for and encourage cycling among staff, and highlights the immense benefits for staff and employers of having an active workforce.  
 
Cycling Scotland are delighted that the recently released National Transport Strategy identifies increased cycle use as a key target in achieving its strategic outcomes, and most notably has a commitment to:
 
"Encourage all public bodies… to become a Cycle Friendly Employer by 2008" (see National Transport Strategy, point 165, page 53, chapter 4). 

Further info:

Benefits of the scheme

How to get started