Surrey County Council has launched a cycle to work scheme as part of its new employee benefits platform for 23,000 employees.
The scheme, provided by Green Commute Initiative (GCI), was implemented in August 2018 as part of the Council’s new bespoke employee benefits platform, supplied by provider My Staff Shop. The platform as a whole will enable employees to access discounts and retail offers, to help staff with their everyday expenditure.
The cycle to work scheme has been launched to encourage more of Surrey County Council’s employees to cycle on their commute, as well as help to promote cycling to the wider local community. The Council also aimed to add to the range of employee benefits that it offers to staff.
Employees can access bikes that cost more than £1,000, which is the typical limit for bikes available through cycle to work schemes. This therefore enables staff to choose either a pedal bike or a battery-powered ebike under the arrangement. The scheme also has no exit fees and can offer employees a saving of up to 47%.
The cycle to work portal auto-fills the majority of the application form for employees and further allows scheme managers to set parameters, such as a maximum order value. Scheme managers are also able to approve applications and check their progress via the portal.
The cycle to work scheme and new benefits platform were communicated to employees via the staff intranet and leaflets.
Gabrielle Cousin, HR adviser, benefits and HR reward team at Surrey County Council, said: “[GCI is] always on hand to answer any questions regarding the scheme. Accessing information and using the GCI portal is a simple, smooth transition from the My Staff Shop platform. As GCI partners with local re-sellers, it’s good to provide more business to Surrey-based independent cycle shops. As an ongoing task, [GCI is] actively recruiting new re-sellers and a further 23 have been [signed] up to date.”
