Employers and Commuting

[kfergos]

I hear stories of everything people getting anything from monthly bonus checks to free jerseys to whole new bikes from your company just for going by bike, and that makes me wonder: How do your employers support your commuting, if at all? What do you think are reasonable, vs. unreasonable, expectations to have regarding employers and your commuting?

Ex:
Bike parking - Indoor? Near building? Covered? What's reasonable?
Showers - Should employers make these available, or is that a luxury for the fortunate?
Other - What other ways could/should employers help us out?

[tulip]

At my last employer, they provided a bike rack inside the lobby, a shower for commuters, and a generally supportive attitude. They also were located in an area that is very easily accessible by bike--NOT in some far out office park.

Now I work from home so things are different...I can just go for a bike ride!

[malkin]

I don't have to fight for a parking place.

[Eden]

My employer is nearly the best! (I've heard there may be a couple of others in town who manage even better!!)
We get:

a commute bonus - I work 2 days per week and get a bit over $40/ month for commuting by bike - if I was full time it would be more like $80

covered, card key secured bike parking

lockers, showers, towel service

you can sign up to get a free bike if you agree to commute with it at least 2 days per week (you have to be at least half time to take advantage of this)

there are classes for new commuters on riding and basic maintenance and free lectures for everyone

everyone gets a free bus pass

5 taxi rides/year for emergencies

discounted bike maintenance by a mobile service who comes to the campus several times per year

And they are working on making it even better.... we had a bike commuter focus group just last week. We'll see which suggestions that they put into action.

[Ana]

How did you find out about bicycle commuting incentives? I'm looking around to see if I have any but I don't know who exactly to call (benefits office?). :p

I'm wondering how others discovered their employer's commuter incentives :)

Thanks! :)

[tulip]

How did you find out about bicycle commuting incentives? I'm looking around to see if I have any but I don't know who exactly to call (benefits office?). :p

I'm wondering how others discovered their employer's commuter incentives :)

Thanks! :)

Your employer may not have such incentives, and it may be up to you to get them on board. Good luck, and keep us posted!

[sfa]

My employer doesn't offer any incentives, but I've been lucky in both this employer and my last (although I didn't commute by bike back then, I know of several people who did) in that they were flexible, had showers and lockers available (currently through the fitness center on campus; my last employer was a symphony and there were showers and lockers for the performers, but anyone could use them), and secure parking--right now it's in the form of bike racks, one of which is in a nice covered area; at my last employer the bike commuters could leave their bikes in secure stairwells that were locked to all but employees and had security cameras running all the time.

My current employer is a bit irritating in that they DON'T seem to encourage bike commuting, although there's a serious parking problem on campus. They offer incentives to people who park at a nearby mall and take a shuttle ($5 cafeteria card for every 5 round trips--not that big a deal, but I wouldn't turn down a free lunch!) but don't offer the same incentive to those of us freeing up parking space by biking.

Sarah

[Blueberry]

Eden- That's an amazing slate of benefits. Yay to your employer!!

CA

[GLC1968]

Eden - that's really impressive!

My employer doesn't offer much - which is pretty funny considering where we are located. In fact, I asked if we offered discounted MAX passes and we don't! :mad:

We have one outside bike rack. I'll give them credit that they did add a length to it this past summer, so it's long enough for all the bikes on most days now. We also have showers - but that's not specifically for bike commuters - that's because we have 24 hour shifts here. We are not even allowed to leave anything in a locker with a lock on it. I don't think we are allowed to bring our bikes into the building, either. This particularly sucks in the winter when it rains so much.

My last company didn't even have bike racks. We had a really nice locker room, but it was because of the really nice fitness center. In fact, they asked all the cyclists in the building if they wanted bike racks and they all said 'no' because 95% of them only rode in the summer and only on their fancy road bikes that they would never leave outside anyway. Of course, they had no issues with us bringing bikes into the building there, either.

[malkin]

I thought of something else. My employer has a wellness program where employees get points for 'wellness activities' like screenings and check ups and exercise, and at the end of the year they pay out between $50 - $350 to participants depending on how many points were recorded.

For screenings you have to submit some proof that you went and had a mammogram or colonoscopy or whatever, but the exercise, the self-checks, and seatbelt wearing and not smoking are all self report.

[bounceswoosh]

My employer does a lot --

Free jersey if you commute both directions X times in a year -- I think the magic number is 14.

$1 per bike commute or car pool; you can opt to donate to a charity instead. They choose a new charity every few months.

Free or subsidized bus pass (don't recall the details)

They'll pay 50% on any biking safety gear (lights, helmet, etc)

A *lot* of indoor bike racks, lots of showers and lockers.

A couple of loaner bikes available for errands near the building, including helmet

A huge breakfast buffet for bike to work day -- actually they usually do the buffet the day after, since a lot of places in Boulder offer free / discounted food on bike to work day

I think that's it ...

[makbike]

Sadly, my school district offers nothing in the way of incentives. I am allowed to keep my bike in my storage room so that I don't have to worry about kids messing with it during the day.

[shootingstar]

Eden seems to have a workplace utopia to support bike commuting!

Reasonable at minimum, to hope that employer offers a safe place to lock up bike near/within the building somewhere where it's dry, clean and not easy for thieves. After all, car drivers expect their car to be dry and clean inside, not vandalized, etc. The latter is actually an issue where I work...construction site dust flying around and settling on noticeable layers on cars during the day.

One employer, did not offer any place to lock up the bike but it could be merely in underground parking garage..not a great solution since car owners were concerned about bikes falling and scratching their cars.

Several workplaces where I've been, did offer shower facilities but I just never used them. Enough of a hassle to change into work clothing, much less wash.. Cycling early in the morning, even in heat of summer, I wasn't sweating super much, compared to cycling homeward later. However shower facilities important to many others.

Even a place to hang up sweaty/wet cycling gear and stow away bike panniers in some crowded workplaces, can be an issue especially in open office floor concepts where employees are penned in desk cubicle areas.

[Eden]

I do feel exceptionally lucky. The programs for bike commuters are just a taste of how well they treat employees. That they were voted in the top 10 places to work in Seattle is well deserved.

Some things, I think, were easy for my workplace to justify. I work at a hospital, so it's not much of a problem for them to offer up towels. They also have a huge parking problem - most of the employees who drive have to park off campus and get shuttled in.

[dex]

I'm working with a company right now that has decent support for bike commuting (at least to its corporate headquarters). I think this is due in large part to two things:

Geography - To be a large company in the PNW and not support bike commuting is a pretty big PR misstep.
The CEO is a fairly active cyclist.


I'm not an employee, so I don't know the extent of the details (bus passes, etc.), but I do know that there are multiple large bike cages inside of the parking garage, with racks for *lots* of bikes in each, lockers for storage, and workbenches, stands and tools out for anyone to use (and always arranged neatly on the pegboards and in the drawers). There's a full gym inside of the building with locker rooms and showers, as well. (And more coffee than you can shake a stick at.) There are also bike racks in front of the building for shoppers (there are a couple of retail stores and food places in the building), messengers, and people who don't want to use the garage. (Great for if you just want to run in and grab some stuff to take home to work on.)

And they run a shuttle service along the main bus corridor to bring people over to the building, since it can be a hazardous/harrowing walk (including crossing several large sets of very active train tracks).

Parking a car is big pain here. There's a garage, but it has a huge waiting list (someone told me they were measuring the wait in years at this point). The alternatives are parking at an open air lot about a mile away, or finding a place to wedge your car along what are essentially alleys in a commercial/light industrial area. Ugh.

[GLC1968]

Geography - To be a large company in the PNW and not support bike commuting is a pretty big PR misstep.
The CEO is a fairly active cyclist.



And this applies to my company, too...which is why I'm extra annoyed at the lack of support. I was actually quite a bit put off by the clipped response I got when I asked about even discounted public transportation tickets/passes. :mad:

Today I filled out the employee opinion survey. I made sure to let them know that the lack of incentives offered for alternative transporation was a big 'negative' for me. I've also emailed every cyclist in the company that I know to ask them to say something similar in their survey! :)

[andtckrtoo]

Wow Eden! That's incredible! And I thought I had it good!

My company actually sponsors many cycling teams. Our corporate motiff is cycling. We do have jersey and shorts that any cyclist can request in both men's and women's. We have company rides every Thursday evening in the summer, lead by a professional cyclist who is hired by the company to give tips and tricks (and he has also repaired my bikes for me). I have an office so I can bring my bike right in with me, but even if I didn't there are plenty of places (and willing office holders) to park a bike. We are located in an old office building in a smaller town, so there is not a lot of random parking space to house bikes, but as I said, they are more than welcome inside.

Of course, I live but 2 miles from the office, so I'm just barely starting to think about sweating when I get here, but if I have to ride home over lunch to feed our poor diabetic doggie, then ride back when it's hot, I can get a little sweaty.

[pardes]

I NEVER would have thought a year ago before I started bike/bus commuting to work that the day would come when there were two bikes already on the bus and I'd have to wait for the next bus.

I missed a VERY important meeting at work and expected my manager to be inflamed. Instead he was just worried about my safety and was just getting ready to drive along my route to my house to make sure I was alright.

Then the director asked me to walk down to the 1st floor stairwell so I could give him a guided tour of my bike and accessories.

I was so touched that I drove to the Waterfront for lunch and brought them back a Jonas' Amish Pecan Pie.