Humana has a bike sharing program for employees

Many companies that are faced with an ongoing cash flow problem and volatile economy and are wondering what they can do to promote employee wellness.But with a little creativity even businesses that are facing a tight economy can help their employees achieve their wellness goals.

Humana, a healthcare company that employs approximately 8,500 people in downtown Louisville, Kentucky has started one of the most unique employee wellness programs.They have instituted a bike-sharing program called "Freewheelin" for its workers, and already over 2,000 employees have signed up for it. Officials at the company state that they expect the numbers of employees to be involved to continue growing.

The company began the program based on a "two wheeled" approach.These key points are:

• Personal health-Studies show that just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50 percent. Humana management felt that by beginning a bike borrowing program they could encourage their employees to take better control of their own wellness.


• Environmental health-Studies show that the United States could save approximately 462 millions of gallons of gasoline a year by increasing cycling from 1 percent to 1.5 percent of all trips. Humana's commitment to employee wellness was only matched by the desire to "green" their operations.

These two factors led to the development of the bike borrowing program. Humana's operations are scattered among a number of downtown buildings.This gives employees a reason to frequently use the bikes to travel between them, to ride to lunch or just take cruise around on their break for some exercise. The program does not specify that the bikes must be used for interoffice travel only. Employees often ride them to lunch, take breaks or use their off time to cycle for fitness.

The programs works when employees swipe their ID card to check out a Trek Lime bike from several different loan stations, which are powered by solar panels mounted on the bike racks. The ID care keeps track of who has the bike but the entire process is fast and simple.

Louisville city officials are impressed with the idea, and plan to meet with corporate leaders to encourage them to replicate the program. It is hoped that eventually the city could expand the program so that city residents could one day check out a bike from a number of locations.

A key component to the program is that Humana is committed to keeping the bikes maintained. The fact that this is a company-sponsored program is what will make this work, as far as the logistics of the lending program go. Employees take responsibility for the bike that they have checked out and realize that their standing with the company could result in the bike being returned in good condition.For other businesses considering this type of program it is important to understand that this sort of accountability is a good and necessary thing and counters what has sunk other bike lending programs, (people not taking care of or not returning bikes). This has been shown in some European countries before credit card swipes were available to check out bikes in municipal programs like Paris or Amsterdam, loss of and damage to the bikes was too common to make the programs viable.

"Freewheeling" has now become a major employee wellness component at Humana and has spread to other locations.The company now participates in various initiatives around the country to raise awareness of the health benefits of cycling coupled along with the reduced environmental damage that riding a bicycle provides.Along with all of these benefits they have not lost site of the effect on their employee's health and wellness.