Nothing makes you feel more alive than exercising in the fresh air first thing in the morning. With the breeze on your face and your muscles hard at work, it’s almost impossible not to start the day on a positive note.
Cycling to work is a win-win situation because it benefits the employee, employer, and the environment. Therefore, it makes sense to encourage people to get on their bikes instead of using other modes of transport for commuting.
The Relationship between Health and Productivity
According to a report by WPI Economics, there is a direct correlation between employees’ health and happiness and their productivity. Some of the most significant findings of their research include:
- Absenteeism and presenteeism are reduced when employees are healthy and happy at work. Happy employees use nine sick days a year less than unhappy ones. They also use 5.5 fewer days annually when they come to work ill and can’t perform their jobs adequately (presenteeism).
- 80% of employees report being more productive at work when feeling happy and healthy
- Employees are almost 2.5 times more likely to be happy at work when in good physical and mental health.
How Cycling to Work Enhances Employee Health and Productivity
It’s common knowledge that exercise improves health and overall wellbeing. Companies using cycling-to-work initiatives are banking on their employees becoming fitter, healthier, and more productive, a win-win situation for all concerned. Let’s unpack five ways cycling to work benefits employers and employees simultaneously.
1. Improves Health and Fitness
Cycling is a great low-impact exercise that increases physical fitness and has a myriad of health benefits. Aside from helping you lose a few pounds, cycling to work can reduce the risk of developing cancer by 45% and cardiovascular disease by 46%. Cycling also boosts the immune system, making employees far less susceptible to catching viruses doing the rounds at any given time.
As more people take advantage of the Cycle to Work Scheme, more employees will have improved health, leading to decreased absenteeism due to sickness and, therefore, better productivity. There will also be fewer employees being unproductive due to illness, even though they’re present at work.
2. Enhances Mental Health and Cognitive Function
Aerobic exercises, such as cycling, are known to reduce depression and anxiety. As the heart rate increases, the body releases mood-enhancing chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins into the brain, resulting in feelings of positivity and happiness.
Statistics show that the UK loses approximately £42 – £45 billion per year through absenteeism, presenteeism, and staff turnover due to poor mental health. Companies that encourage cycling to work enhance employee mental health, which has a positive knock-on effect on overall productivity. Fewer mental health issues mean employees are happier, healthier, and more motivated.
Regular exercise, like cycling to work, also helps to generate new cells (neurons) that transmit information to the brain’s nervous system. This boosts cognitive function, improves memory, and enhances learning abilities, all essential for boosting productivity.
3. Relieves Stress
Stress leads to increased heart rates, quick, shallow breathing, and decreased oxygen in the brain, along with a build-up of carbon dioxide, which re-engages stress responses – a vicious cycle.
Aerobic exercise, like cycling, forces people to regulate their breathing and to breathe deeply, which rids the body of excess carbon dioxide. Deep breathing lifts the diaphragm and removes pressure from the nerve centre in the solar plexus, which then relieves the stress on the central nervous system.
Prolonged stress can cause:
- A high staff turnover
- Increased absenteeism
- Poor timekeeping
- Poor performance
- Low morale
- Decreased motivation
- More employee complaints
- More sickness, accidents, and incident reports
Stress can also accelerate the ageing process both physically and cognitively, potentially leading to burnout and long-term health issues.
With this in mind, it makes sense to encourage employees to switch to active travel commuting. This will enhance their health, relieve stress, and help them perform at an optimal level in the workplace.
4. Improves Sleep Quality
When employees get better sleep at night, they’re more likely to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning. Cortisol is a stress hormone that can upset our sleep patterns, and cycling can help combat this sleep-sabotaging effect. Cycling lowers the cortisol levels in the blood and increases serotonin, which helps improve sleep quality.
Sleep is a crucial function that affects physical and emotional health and the ability to function properly during the day. Studies show that around one in three people in the UK suffer from insomnia. Poor sleep over lengthy periods can cause a lack of concentration, drowsiness, fatigue, forgetfulness, and irritability.
Thirty minutes of cycling a day is enough to start improving sleep quality. Employees who cycle to work after a good night’s sleep have better concentration, more energy, and better cognitive function and will typically outperform those who battle with poor sleep quality or insomnia.
5. Enhances Job Satisfaction and Builds a Healthy Company Culture
Cycling to work can improve an employee’s job satisfaction through enhanced health and productivity. As an employee’s health improves, it makes them more alert, perform better, and be more productive. Staff members who cycle to work are more likely to start their day with a positive attitude.
This results in a sense of satisfaction with their position and a willingness to support company goals. This helps employees build strong workplace connections and encourages teamwork and productivity—something every employer needs for company success.
Supporting cycling through schemes like Green Commute Initiative helps build a workplace culture that values well-being, sustainability, and work-life balance – attributes that attract and retain top talent. Using a scheme provider like Green Commute Initiative helps employees save 28-47% on their next bike package which helps to encourage them to make that positive change to a cycling commute.
Start The Healthy Cycle
There’s no doubt about it -when employees cycle to work, it benefits everyone. It boosts their physical and mental health, making them more positive, alert, energetic, motivated, and so much more. This enhanced health will have a significantly positive impact on employee productivity.
So, get everyone on their bikes (yourself included!) and ride up the corporate ladder while doing your bit for the environment.
Guest blog by Alison Knight
