CYCLE-FRIENDLY EMPLOYER CERTIFICATION: application deadline 25th February 2018

A bicycle-friendly workplace is great for companies and their employees. Cycling can contribute to the success of a business or organisation and supporting employees getting to work by cycling is a worthwhile investment.

Within the work of the Bike2Work project, organisations from Denmark Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, Slovenia, Malta, Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Romania, Italy and the Netherlands used their cooperation to extend the idea of the original Bike2Work campaign to design and implement a European certification framework for Cycle Friendly Employers (CFE). The CFE established a European standard for cycle friendly companies helping them to improve the conditions employees meet when cycling to work. The aim is to rise the profile of cycling within companies and make the advantages to invest into cycling conditions visible and at the same time safeguard an European wide standard for cycle friendly companies.

Just recently, in December 2017, organisations from 12 member states established the CFE Consortium to test and run the CFE Certification Framework. The consortium is inviting more countries to join for 2018-2020 with sights set on involving Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.  The call for applicants 2018 is open until 25th February 2018: it works as an open competition whose objective is to select one organization in each of the aforementioned countries that will:

• implement the CFE Certification Framework at national level;
• release the CFE certification to cycle-friendly companies;
• build a cycle-friendly employer culture at national level;
• promote the CFE Certification Framework;
• be part of a European CFE network.

There are good reasons for a company to apply for a CFE certification: the certification comes along with support for companies on how to improve the cycling conditions tailored to their locations. It raises the profile of a company in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility. Direct benefits of employees cycling to work meet both, employees and employers: studies have shown that physical activity such as by cycling have big impact on individuals’ well-being. Healthy employees again are more productive, less prone to stress and finally – employees cycling to work tend to arrive on time!

Getting a CFE certification is easy: the process has been tailored to consume only little time by making use of an online self-assessment tool. Using this tool, companies can test their “cycling friendliness” in 6 action fields. Here, companies simply enter their measures, which correspond to a certain number of points each. Reaching a fixed threshold of points results in being eligible for the certification process already! Moreover, there is support at hand for setting more actions by respective national contact points (NCPs) or a designated consultant. NCPs are as well taking care of the actual certification, once a company meets the threshold of points.

Photo: courtesy of © FGM-AMOR

Source: story first published by www.ecf.com on 5th of February 2018

Link to full story: https://ecf.com/news-and-events/news/cycle-friendly-employer-certification-join-cfe-consortium-implement-scheme-your