If you needed another reason for installing cycle racks at your workplace, a new study has found that 50 per cent of employees believe that cycling to work gives them enough ‘mental energy’ and happiness to tackle the day ahead.
This is compared to 39 per cent for those who commute by train for example, however, 47 per cent of drivers also felt they had enough mental energy after the commute to get through the day.
As well as this finding, 20 per cent of people said that they found it easier to deal with day-to-day challenges when they had walked or cycled to work instead of taking a different form of transport.
However, the focus on cycling was just one part from a new study commissioned by bikes-for-work organisation Cyclescheme, according to Employee Benefits.
The rest of the study looked into the value of one-off benefits to staff, such as early finishes, drinks, lunches and other perks. Of these staff who get one-off perks, fewer than half said that they valued these as having a sustained impact on their happiness at work.
Adrian Warren, from Cyclescheme, said that employers need to look again at offering perks at the expense of long term changes that will help staff stay happier: “Often leaders think that giving staff ‘popular’ perks like team drinks or lunch are what employees want most, but it’s having initiatives that will help them adopt healthier behaviours over the long term that are of the greatest value.”
Offering better opportunities and rewards for cycling to work could well be one of those healthy behaviours of which he talks about.