Organizing a bicycle incentive campaign? You can do it together!

More employees on their bikes. Good for them, good for the company and good for the environment. Sandvik and CEVA from Eindhoven agree. They organised a Bike Challenge and E-bike trial campaign for their employees. Extra fun: they did it together!

Cycling to work is healthy, cheap and good for the environment. It also reduces traffic jams and parking pressure. The more people participate, the better. Luuk Verstijnen of Sandvik therefore asked Carlo Verspaget if CEVA wanted to join. The enthusiastic answer was yes.

Much faster on the bike

The Swedish Sandvik makes mining machines and delivers them worldwide. Spare parts for the machines are shipped from the warehouse in Eindhoven all over the world. Luuk: 'We work here with about 25 people. More than half are expats. They do not have our cycling culture and you can tell. Some colleagues live in the middle of Eindhoven city centre and still take the car. You are much faster by bike. I know that from experience: I often come by bike myself. I thought it would be a nice idea to encourage that. I know the cycling campaigns of Brainport Bereikbaar from my previous employer Fontys. Jelmer van Herpen of Brainport Bereikbaar tipped me to set up the cycling campaign on a larger scale. I automatically ended up with Carlo.'

Nice to be fit

CEVA is part of CMA CGM Group, a large multinational that offers all possible transport and storage solutions. Also tailor-made. 'Sandvik hires us to arrange a large part of its logistics processes', says Carlo Verspaget, operational manager. 'That means that we often literally work with our teams in their warehouses. In Eindhoven with around 280 employees, including temporary workers. When Luuk asked us to participate in the cycling campaign, I immediately thought it was a good idea. Such a campaign fits in perfectly with what we stand for. Our work is often very physical and then it is nice to be fit. That is why we also have the CEVA Fitplan. Furthermore, cycling is sustainable and we at CEVA pay a lot of attention to that. Finally, it is a cheap transport option and that helps our employees. So every reason to encourage people to try cycling. Our site manager was also very firm about our temporary workers. 'They can simply participate!', he said.' 

Bicycle Challenge, SjeesApp and E-bike trial campaign

Luuk and Carlo are launching two campaigns together. Luuk: 'With the Cycling Challenge, we encourage colleagues to cycle 3,000 kilometres together. The SJEES app from Brainport Bereikbaar automatically keeps track of the kilometres. With the E-bike trial campaign, we give people the chance to try out an e-bike for a week. They are temporarily in our building. Jelmer arranged everything. The number of participants could be a bit higher, but fortunately many colleagues responded enthusiastically. I also think it's great that we are spreading some of our cycling culture. For example, my South African colleague always thought it was strange that we sit so upright on our bikes. After trying out the e-bike for a week, he now understands!' Carlo adds: 'We also received really nice responses from the people who participated. Photos, stories, videos. One colleague tried out a cargo bike and was so enthusiastic that he now wants to buy one himself.'

Continue to promote cycling

The men are also very satisfied with the collaboration. Carlo: 'I think it's great that Brainport Bereikbaar arranges this for companies. It's also great that Luuk asked us and that we could pass this opportunity on to our team.' Luuk: 'Because CEVA also involved the temporary workers, the reach was even greater. A great start, because we will definitely continue to stimulate cycling. For example, I am busy arranging bicycle battery chargers. And I heard from Jelmer about the Bike School. Maybe that is also something for our international colleagues!'