1. Healthy commuting: Benefits for everyone
Rob Sage
Active Travel manager,
Sustrans Cymru

2. Individual health

3. ‘Be active’
‘Take Notice’
‘Connect’
‘Learn’
‘Give’

4. Business Benefits 29% increase activity 24 sick days removed
“If I cycle I feel more energetic. When I stopped cycling, I was falling asleep on the sofa at night. I no longer do that.”
29% increase activity
24 sick days removed
61% improve wellbeing
Improved productivity
Reduced staff turnover
FOR EVERY 100 ENGAGED:
29% increase their physical activity to above minimum levels leading to a decrease in absenteeism averaging 24 sick days (across 100 staff)
Increased productivity
Increased self reported well being/ contentment
Improved staff perception of SMT/ CEO/ business
Sickness and absenteeism costs UK businesses £20 billion per year
Potential conversation makers:
How much does absenteeism cost your business?
What’s your average absenteeism rate?
Do you already measure self reported well being/ contentment?
Do you have an idea of how your staff perceive your business/ your SMT/ your CEO with regards to their commitment to healthy employees or the businesses environmental impact?
Average absenteeism reduction per workplace.
Average increase in people sufficiently active is 29%, with every 10 people expected to be a saving of 2.4 sick days per year
Increase in people active is from people engaged by project, not whole workforce
Absenteeism is based on reduced number of short term sick leave days
NB: absenteeism info not collected directly from workplaces. Uses increase in people sufficiently active (meeting recommended levels of 5x30/150mins per week) and secondary data into the impact of this on absenteeism, from academic research.
Best case absenteeism reduction for a workplace project we’ve achieved.
North Tyneside Active Travel project, based at Cobalt Business Park saved an estimated 520 short term sick days per year.
Based on 4,408 beneficiaries, of whom 50% or 2,204 were newly sufficiently active for their health
While the majority of the project activities happen at the business park, some of them are also in the local community, and the exact number from each is unknown, therefore I have based this calculation on the number of adult beneficiaries, adjusted for unemployment.

5. Be the solution

6. Be ‘Green’
‘ISO14001’

7. How to do it Develop a Travel Action Plan Example actions:
Simple list of actions that your organisation will do to help encourage and enable staff to travel actively based on your local needs.
Example actions:
Provide staff and visitors with access to simple map and/or directions to your office
Offer the Cycle to work scheme to staff
Take part in national campaigns like “Walk to Work” or “Cycle to Work” week
Pay cycle mileage for business trips
Limit free car parking to essential users
Offer flexitime to accommodate different commuting patterns

8. Simple measures: Directions

9. Policy: Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013
• identify and map current routes for walking and cycling;
• identify and map routes for an enhanced integrated network
• develop a prioritised list of schemes to deliver the network;
• promote the network to increase usage and report each year on progress

10. Healthy Commute
= Healthy Individual
= Healthy Workplace
= Healthy Planet

11. Zero emission vehicles arrived
years
ago.