Tern app rewards active travel habits with employees perks

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A new app built to assist employers with ESG goals will potentially pay or reward employees who choose active travel as part of their commute.

Apparently already endorsed by the Australian Government and with major clients such as Patagonia, Fujitsu and AECOM featured in the app’s leaderboards for employee contributions Tern is now broadening globally with access in the UK now available.

This means that employers can register, invite their employees and immediately begin to put tangible data against their employee’s contribution to reducing carbon emissions. The app’s dashboard produces annual reports and can build in an interactive website widget for real time Co2 savings, as well as generate marketing materials for the company. As an added perk, more cycling and walking means less need to provide car parking spaces, further reducing business costs.

From the employees’ perspective, those racked up miles are worth something too, variable on what the employer wants to give in return. We’re told that some employees tally up mileage and are offered additional days in lieu upon reaching certain milestones. It is said that those who choose to cycle or walk to work take less sick days overall and so it would seem a fair trade.

Other incentives range discounts on partner products within the app, gift vouchers, competitions and more; the employer can choose what works for them as a fair incentive. It can, of course, become gamified, with office-based leaderboards, even company leaderboards too.

The Tern app will particularly appeal if you’re already cycling or walking to work and it will activate automatically upon detecting a journey, as well as linking with devices such as smartwatches and apps like Strava. All users need do is set their workplace address and then AI sensors will detect journeys to and from the office.

It is in many ways emulating incentives for active travel that have become part of certain policy frameworks in Europe. For example, in Belgium there exists a €0.32 per kilometre incentive to cycle to work, paid tax-free and with a compensated distance of up to 20km each way per day. This is paid every month together with the employee’s wages and can reach as much as €3,200 annually.

Big business is under pressure like never before to measure and report on contributions toward reducing overall emissions. At the present time the earth’s atmospheric Co2 level is 422 parts per million, higher than at any time during human civilisation thus far and 50% above pre-industrial levels. These levels are widely considered dangerous for the planet and as such major employers are under pressure to reduce both direct and indirect impacts on emissions. In the UK, transport is the single largest contributor to emissions and as such apps like Tern would appear to provide a mutually beneficial way to address the problem from both the employer and employee side. It has been shown in research that employees are attracted to companies with demonstrable efforts toward the social good.

Businesses wishing to get involved with the app can sign up here. The mobile app is available on Apple and Android devices.

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