I think that's fantastic of you to do this for your co-workers. One of my biggest obstacles was mental. As a grad student, I was afriad that I would have to shell out really large sums of cash for fancy bike specific winter gear, but with a few exceptions, I've found that my regular winter gear works fine. I ride flat mtb pedals, so my normal winter boots work fine with a small saddle adjustment to compensate for the thicker soles. I already had some of those tech pants that are fuzzy and made out of pop bottles (can't remember the fabric name right now) And regular winter coat and my skiing mittens work fine, although I am lusting over the lobster gloves, I haven't really been able to justify the expense yet. Last year I only rode until christmas, and gave up because I couldn't figure out how to make my eyes stop watering and then freezing from the wind, and how to get my glasses to stop fogging due to the balaclava redirecting my breath upwards. This year I've purchased a pair of ski goggles to fit over my prescription glasses, and those along with a pair of waterproof panniers are my only specific purchases for winter bike commuting. I think if you are compiling a list of gear, it might be helpful to highlight what a quality bike specific item does, and what a substitution from normal winter gear could be, if finances are an issue. That way people could decide which items it was most important to invest in right away, and what items they can borrow from their normal winter gear.