JobRad® program for healthy and green commutes
For many Germans, company cars are the icing on the cake of any job. But do we really have to use the car to get to work on a regular basis? Aren’t there other solutions? Couldn’t businesses have company bikes instead of company cars? This is where JobRad® comes in. The name is a mix of the word job and Rad, which means bike in German. In 2012, the Freiburg-based firm persuaded the powers that be to accept bikes as job perks too. JobRad® advocates for change in the way we get from A to B. For example, by proposing bike lanes in urban areas that make cycling safer and more enjoyable. We think JobRad® is a fantastic way of involving co-workers in our Together for 360° Responsibility strategy. At the same time, it’s an attractive and important way of reducing our carbon footprint and ensuring we have climate-neutral headquarters by 2025.
Like a leasing company for cars, but with bikes and e-bikes instead. More than 30,000 German employers, both large corporations and medium-sized enterprises, have now signed up to JobRad®. Over three million people, including deuter co-workers, commute using a bike leased from their employers. We’ve been offering JobRad® to our workforce since 2019. Around 17 percent of our workforce now hop on a bike and there’s no sign of this trend abating.
The advantages are obvious:
- Potential financial savings of up to 40 percent compared with buying a bike.
- By using a bicycle or e-bike, our co-workers cut both their own and our company’s carbon footprint.
- Anyone participating in the JobRad® program improves their health and fitness. And cycling also releases endorphins so that working days are more relaxed.
All in all, the JobRad® program offers lots of benefits, makes our world a little greener and everyone a little happier.
Our co-workers pick a bicycle or e-bike of their choice. We lease it from JobRad® and give it to them to use as they wish. In return, we retain a percentage of their gross salaries as deferred compensation. And, of course, they’re free to use these bikes in their leisure time and for sporting activities too. Each JobRad® bike is automatically fully insured and guaranteed to be in full working order.
At a time when bicycles are becoming status symbols, the JobRad® scheme is a great way to promote our sustainability values amongst our staff, make it easier for them to switch to cycling, and at the same time take a step forward in our journey towards a resource-efficient corporate strategy.
Find out more about JobRad® and whether a JobRad® is right for you here: