Bike to Work 2016
As more than 50% of the employees live less than 10 km from the TVL premises, we have come up with an action plan to promote biking to and from work. Our employees can register their kilometres electronically in the “bike to work” program, which is a bike motivator programme from the Fietsersbond.
Following article was published end of 2016 in the magazine Bike to Work:
Bike to Work seen through the eyes of 3 employers
They participate into Bike to Work because they want to encourage their employees to bike more, because it fits into their remuneration policy, or because the bicycle fits perfectly into their profiling as a sustainable company. Pfizer, the city of Torhout and Toeleveringsbedrijf Van Landuyt on their participation to Bike to Work, the bike motivator programme from the Fietsersbond.
Geert Van Landuyt, CEO of Toeleveringsbedrijf Van Landuyt
Toeleveringsbedrijf Van Landuyt, situated in Wetteren, initiated Bike to Work in June 2016 and counts 10 registered bikers on a total of 28 employees. Almost all of the employees are living in a circle of a few to maximum 15 kilometres from the premises. Traffic jams are not an issue here. Geert Van Landuyt, CEO: “We, as employer, have promoted the bicycle above all as an paralegal benefit. All employers receive the maximum bike allowance, free of taxes: 22 euro cent per biked kilometre. The Bike to Work platform contains a smart reporting tool to register the bike allowances and to import these data into the payroll processing package of the payroll agency”.
Geert points out that it is not so obvious that nearly half of the employers come to work by bike. “The ones that work in shifts, often have to ride in darkness. Moreover, most of our employers do not have a sedentary job. We turn and mill metal parts for wind turbines, earth moving equipment, buses, … Our employees are constantly standing or walking around. In other words, they are active during the eight hours of work”.
Geert himself does not bike to work – he is living nearby the premises – but “I bike on the workplace, with a mini bike”, he laughs.