Sustrans Scotland promotes healthy workplace travel

Active Travel Champions are organisations that have committed to increasing levels of walking and cycling at their organisation

Active Travel Champions are organisations that have committed to increasing levels of walking and cycling at their organisation

Transport charity Sustrans Scotland is offering employers a way to offer its employees access to healthier journeys to and from work via its Active Travel Champion (ATC) programme.

Active Travel Champions are organisations that have committed to increasing levels of walking and cycling at their organisation. Sustrans works with sites of 200 or more employees on which ‘champions’ are permitted to spend one to two hours of time per month on ATC related planning and activities.

Sustrans has just launched a round of funding for businesses interested in joining the ATV proramme.

Sustrans say research shows that workers take an average of 6.6 days a year, that costs employers £29bn in lost productivity each year.

Jenny Muir, Sustrans’ smarter choices coordinator for workplaces, said: “The most valuable asset of any organisation is its employees, and that happy and healthy employees are productive employees. But unhealthy, stressed and unproductive workers can cost employers a lot of money.

“Inactive lifestyles, sedentary work and stressful working environments are making UK workers some of the most miserable in the developed countries.

Muir says there a number of common barriers stop organisations effectively investing time and money in their employees’ health and wellbeing.

Barrier no.1: The knowledge gap

Active Travel Champions have a vital role in making their colleagues aware of healthier ravel options, said Muir.

“The first barrier is lack of knowledge,” she said. “Promoting active and healthy lifestyles isn’t easy. It’s not just about handing out leaflets with some hot tips. We humans are creatures of habit, we like routine. Having the right facilities or a Cycle to Work scheme isn’t enough.

“It is important to empower people to make better choices, help them change their behaviour and break their habits. Solution: Let the experts do their job.

Barrier no.2: Owning the solution

“The second barrier is the phrase: ‘It’s nobody’s responsibility’,” said Muir. “Provision and promotion of health and wellbeing is rarely included in anyone’s job description, causing lack of ownership and dooming any campaign or project to fail.”

She cites real life, organisation with just over 200 employees that has a very small and busy human resources (HR) team. “When staff expressed a desire to have the Cycle to Work scheme it took the HR team over two years to put it in place, and then the uptake wasn’t great, even though there was plenty of cycle parking and shower facilities on the site,” she said.

“Those who wanted the scheme in the first place got their bikes, while others weren’t even aware of the scheme. What was the problem? “Lack of ownership meant it was just another task the HR team had to squeeze into their busy schedule, and no one in the team had the responsibility for it, so they didn’t prioritise its success. Solution: Make it part of someone’s job. Give the responsibility to someone in your organisation. Make sure the person is happy to take the new task on, allocate them enough time and resources.”

Muir said Sustrans’ ACT programme provides people with a set of skills, knowledge and experience to promote walking and cycling within their organisations. 

Barrier no3: Finding the funding

“The third barrier is funding scarcity,” said Muir. “We understand that for many organisations, it is still important to be very careful about what they spend their money on. Often there are very little disposable funds available.”

The solution, she suggested, is to work with other organisations. “Our Active Travel Champions programme is fully funded through Transport Scotland and is free for all organisations employing more than 200 staff in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Additionally, those participating would be able to access a small grant fund which can help to provide facilities, resources, events and training all aimed at encouraging staff to walk and cycle for their journeys to and from work.”

Applications to the Travel Champions programme close on 12 September 2017.

You can apply by clicking here