3 min read
Once seen as a niche, Cycle to Work schemes are now quite often at the forefront of UK employers’ benefits programmes. Especially today, with new government investments and as employees are looking at ways to reduce commuting costs and avoid that congested tube or bus altogether, a Cycle to Work programme can greatly benefit their wellbeing – as well as their wallet.
While I’m writing this, our own Cycle to Work scheme has saved employees more than £11m – directly saving employers more than £5m.
The recent government announcements and plans for improving the cycling infrastructure to support the transition to a post-lockdown society mean that employees and employers are rightly turning their attention to their Cycle to Work programmes.
If you’re ready to start a Cycle to Work scheme in your business, it’s critical to find the right partner. At Reward Gateway, we put employee experience at the heart of our products, and I’ve been proud of how easy it is for our clients to put a Cycle to Work programme in place and get their employees pedalling – and saving! – straight away.
Here’s what I suggest you keep in mind when shopping around for a Cycle to Work scheme:
Don’t … forget user experience (ever!)
When creating our Cycle to Work product, your employees' needs are always at the forefront of our minds. We conduct extensive user testing during the design process to ensure the sign-up process is easy for all levels of technical understanding.
What I’ve noticed is that an unfortunate by-product of poor user experience is the way employees can associate it back to their employer, so we’re here to help your employees as much as we can!
We wouldn’t want anyone giving up halfway, so we went for a three-step rule. If a Cycle to Work scheme takes more than three steps to apply for then this may hurt uptake. We’ve designed ours to be easily accessible at any time and on any device, and following these simple steps:
| 1. Your pay |
| 2. Your savings |
| 3. Your details |
Each with minimal input required from your employee.
Do… find a Cycle to Work product with the best reach
Your employee demographic might vary in size, salary and location –imagine putting a Cycle to Work scheme in place to find it only covers London, yet the majority of your workforce is in Manchester!
To deliver the best employee experience it is essential that there is an option for everyone. This means access to a broad range of quality bikes at varying price points. Also, now more than ever, easy to access pick up points or online redemption and delivery options.
By partnering with Cycle2Work to supply our scheme we can ensure that employees have in-store access to 465 Halfords stores and over 1,000 local independent retailers.
Plus, there are online redemption options available via tredz.co.uk and halfords.com
And, if you can’t find the bike you’re after, our customer support team will do their absolute best to help source it for you.
This gives you the flexibility and confidence that no matter where your employees’ find themselves, they’ll be able to get a bike, equipment, or both through Cycle to Work technology. It’s the perfect way to engage your entire workforce without having to compromise and upsetting the smaller percentage who lose out.
Do… choose compliant technology that saves admin time
For time-poor HR teams, anything that reduces an administrative burden is a gamechanger. That’s why we’ve set out to make our Cycle to Work scheme do the work for you so your HR team can spend time on more critical tasks.
For example, with our technology you can set Cycle to Work collection certificates to be approved instantly, giving your people instant access to bikes and equipment with zero work from your team.
Plus, as Cycle to Work works alongside our other salary sacrifice benefits in our SmartPay™ portal, HR can have greater control over benefits with centralised benefit payroll across multiple schemes and easy window management, all in one place.
If you have employees that would fall below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, we make sure our tech flags this and offers them an alternative solution to make sure your business stays compliant. You can also predefine a Cycle to Work limit for different employee groups based on their salary.
Do … shine a spotlight on added extras
Being able to give your employees added extras when they apply for a Cycle to Work scheme is a great way to build traction. Saving up to 42% on the cost of a new bike, equipment, or both is already a fairly big draw for employees and giving them something extra can be the push some need, helping further stretch employees’ disposable income.
We recognise that finding the budget for added extras is not always easy. That’s why our Cycle to Work scheme already has them included. We have a variety of additional benefits, such as:
| 1. Lifetime safety checks on all cycles obtained through the scheme |
| 2. A lifetime guarantee on Halfords brand cycles |
| 3. A 10% discount on all things cycling with Halfords and Cycle Republic for 12 months |
| 4. Eight weeks free insurance |
Introducing Cycle to Work to your employees can be the perfect way to boost your overall EVP and stand out as an amazing place to work, even during challenging times.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to get the most out of a Cycle to Work scheme, we’d love to have you at our upcoming Masterclass, where we’re hosting an interactive session with our partner at Halfords Cycle2Work.
