This is a blatantly self-serving post, but I can't help wonder if people who bike commute are not only fitter than their non-exercising coworkers, but also more productive on the job.

Hm, I guess it's food for thought, or perhaps, a food-fight.

Of course I am going to say yes. I like to think incessant motoring makes one lazy. However, that being said..Just the other day, I was checking on a facility outside the control room...The road in the distance I could see a group of four cyclists, chugging up a hill in the distance..I thought to myself, I have better things to do than this. Gets one to daydreaming. Feeling cheating by having to be at work, might reduce the work ethic?
My riding friends tell my wife -sooner or later, I will just forget to turn around and you will find charges on the credit card from some far away credit card tour.

I can’t imagine a less productive employee than your typical 12 month bike commuter who

1) Arrives late or not at all, especially in the dead of winter
2) Arrives exhausted (and therefore unproductive)
3) Arrives sweaty and hot (less than helpful for group projects)
4) Limited work ethic, because not a slave to auto costs
5) Always eats the extra morning donuts and an extra piece of cake on birthdays

I am, by far, more productive. I have ADHD and when I commute, a lot of the hyperactivity is gone when I arrive at work. My co-workers and managers even tell me how much more productive I am. God I can't wait until the time change to start commuting!!!!!!!

Plus, that wreck from last week is driving insurance costs through the roof!

Fitter? Yes! More productive? hmmmmm... I am here rather than working..

Same here (without the H) and it does help to burn off all that nervous energy. I rarely am in a bad mood (have a reputation for being the class clown) and always full of energy. There are 3 of us who ride year round and we are the ones with the best attendece record.

And only one time in 4 years did I have a break down that made me late for work (had to wait for the LBS to open to get a another chain wheel) most car people won't even attemt to get to work if they break down.

I get all of the attention on the way to work!!!

It seems reasonable that bicycle commuters would be more productive because:

1. you are in better health thus, fewer sick days
2. you arrive at work fully awake and ready to work (as opposed to half asleep like the auto commuters who crawl out of bed at the last minute and then drive to work).
3. the mild aerobic excercise means extra bloodflow to the brain so you should arrive at work clearheaded.

Purely by sickday use, I know I'm more productive. I haven't been sick enough to stay home in years. Not to say I haven't used a sick day to treat a case of Squaw Valley Fever...

Do bicycle commuters make better employees?

Obviously none of you know my husband or his best friend. They commute all year long, and they are 2 of the biggest goof offs in their office. I'm surprised he actually has a job still, hearing about the stuff they do at work.

They've also not had a raise in 3 years so that is his reasoning for being a goof off.

Hardly productive.

I am more alert when I can commute by bike. I even look forward to going to work. (well, ok. I look forward to the ride to work...)

Commuting plus online access = Marginally productive

This forum is surely the bane of my productivity

Read and weep my friends.

My company has decided that healthy employees save them medical costs (Duh!). So, in order to encourage us, they've begun paying us $250/year if we do simple stuff like check our cholesterol, do stress relieving things, and get regular exercise.

So, the way I look at it, I get a $250 subsidy for my cycling habit. does it get any better than that?

More productive, hmm, if we could see a graph on what times in what countries the majority of posts were made on this and other bike related sites I wonder how many would fall between 08:30 and 19:00

I know ALL of mine would

Most of mine (and certainly all that I make from work) are in my lunch-break, so I'm not sure that would tell us anything. To be honest I really don't know why "time spent on this website inhibits productivity" was mentioned as being related to cycle-commuting. The only difference with non-commuters here would be time spent on different websites.

In answer to the original question, I rarely (if ever) have sick days, so I'd say it's a plus from that perspective. However, I rarely (if ever) work overtime either, simply because I want to get started on my ride home. I suppose one advantage is that I'm never "stuck in traffic" either.

I think there's more to making a productive employee than the mode of travel they choose to get to the office.

Supcom, I for one am crying. Thank you for spoiling my productive day.

It's great to be able to do something I love twice a day (and yes, I am referring to cycling). It makes me feel good and that makes me more tolerable as a colleague and more productive as well.

The mental side of cycling is very important for me, but all the physical side effects (better condition, health etc.) are a nice plus!

--J

well it is not an easy thing to assess...

but i am sure *I* am more productive when i cycle-commute. i've had kind of a test the last few months - for 3 months i was working 3 days a week 140 miles away, now 2 months 4 days a week 180 miles away...

at first i was taking the subway to the train and then taking the train - then in a hotel and walking/public transit... as i recently bougth a car a few weeks ago i tried out driving... and now the last few weeks i have had my bicycle: and even though it's now a short 10-minute ride, i am still MUCH more ready to work when i arrive and much more awak/motivated. the weeks when i did not ride i was just sluggish...

but yeah:
1) predictable arrival (traffic is rarely a slowdown, weather you have a little warning and can leave 10 minutes early, and breakdowns are rare) -- in "bad" weather most auto commuters over 5 miles away just don't show up! in Oregon, Germany, Massachusetts and Texas i have NEVER not been able to bike commute b/c of weather
2) relaxation/stress relief as opposed to stress FROM trafic!
3) gets the blood moving and the body active - also helps fight discomfort sitting all day (if you have a desk job like me)
4) makes one healthier resulting in fewer sick days, less "sick/lazy" time on the job, as well as reduced medical costs
5) bike commuters also save parking resources- of course if the company has already paid/built them then they just sit empty, so maybe unrealized benefit

this is only a weak association so may not be true, but i would say in general cycle commuters are not the workaholic stay-late types... but then i don't subscribe to the "more hours = more productivity" theory anyway, but unfortunately a lot of Americans do (another reason i like Germany!)

hey Supcom,

that's awesome to see a progressive company! of course for the rest of us, you can still "feel" like your getting paid by thinking of money saved from car commuting or in future health costs

Well as bad it may sound, here is the way it is. Every day I get up and get ready to ride in to work, eat a good breakfast and get on the bike, I ride to work at the pace of the day and take the best route for the weather of the morning. I get to work and take what ever time it takes to change and get ready to work. I then have to listen to the comments from the others about the ice, the rain, the heat, the cold and the traffic, then i have break I eat all the leftover bagels, then I need to get ready to work again, this is usually when I sneak away to do a quick cleaning of the bike. Then lunch time rolls around and I hop on the bike and head for the small diner about 5 miles from the office. When I get back of course I have to change and get ready to work again. After I change I check the next days weather so I will know how to dress in the morning for the ride to work, I also take this time to plan my ride home and lay out my clothing for the ride. Then it's time to change and get ready to go home so I pile all the work on my desk and prioritize everything for the next morning and ride away. The reality is, the pile keeps getting bigger, the rides keep getting longer and the weather is bothering me less, all I want to do is ride my bike.
Maybe I shouldn't work at all, afterall I guess I don't do much anyway.

haha. Yes, cycling makes me very productive: I can plan for the ride home!

I dunno. The last real job I had was working at a record store, and I cycled the ten miles each way commute. I won't pretend I was a model employee, and I was eventually fired for engaging in activities that looked a little too much like Union orgainizing to my erstwhile employer. On the other hand, I was quite productive during my five years there. And besides, I'm convinced the record store was owned by Satan.

"the way I look at it, I get a $250 subsidy for my cycling habit. does it get any better than that?"


I want THAT job. Granted, most of my posting gets done at work, while I work... (I listen a lot while working) Cycling is great for work for all the above reasons - alert, fit, less sick days, traffic, ... It is the computer that makes me less productive, "one more thread, one more view of the ebay bikes..." when I should move on to the next project. The one negative that comes from cycling is that on really nice days, I would rather be riding than working. Puts me in a bad mood.
What I would really like to know is what kind of jobs do these people have who I see starting there training ride all day while I am heading into the city over the George to work?

This might not be scientific, but yesterday I didn't ride my bike. I drove a car. Although I didn't exert myself physically, I had a dreary, low-energy day. Today I rode in (though I didn't really feel like it at first) and now I'm at work feeling sparky and wonderfully mellow at the same time. I think I'll have a much more productive day today, if for no other reason than my mood is great.

Heck Yes!