Company offers employees $10 a day to cycle to work

There are some hurdles the employer has to overcome – including a lack of shower facilities

BY HRD 13 Mar 2018

An advertising company in New Zealand is making headlines this week after it began offering a financial incentive to staff who cycle into work.

Staff who cycle to and from the company Make Collective in Christchurch will receive $5 a day and if they keep it up for more than half a year that amount will double to $10 a day, paid out as a bonus at the end of year.

“My gut instinct is that it could be something really good for the workplace,” company director Tim Chesney told Stuff.

“I know for myself I show up feeling a lot more energised, my blood is already flowing.”

The move comes as Chesney – himself a keen cyclist – sought for ways to motivate staff while also moving the city away from a reliance on cars.

“For a while I had been thinking it would be great to incentivise cycling in some way,” he said. “Cash is clearly the most obvious incentive.”

However, there are some hurdles the company may have to overcome – including a lack of shower facilities.

"There's a gym across the road, so maybe we could somehow swindle a shower-only membership from there," Chesney said.

HRD recently spoke to Australian company TechnologyOne who are also passionate about keeping their employees healthy through physical activities such as their Community Sports program.

“We support our people in sporting events to encourage health, well-being and charitable fundraising,” said Jane Coe, group director, people & culture at TechnologyOne.

Coe said 2017 had been one of the biggest year’s for the TechnologyOne athletes, with 265 people competing in 12 different sports across 19 events.

“Our people competed in events such as the Queensland Corporate Games, MS Moonlight Walk, City 2 Surf, Round the Bays, Oxfam Trailwalker and Melbourne Marathon.”