From lunch to retirement: Swapfiets makes everything sustainable

Sustainability is not always a top priority for companies. How different it is with Swapfiets, recognisable by their blue front tyres. The company wants to be as sustainable as possible in everything, right up to the pensions. But how does the company ensure that sustainability is actually integrated into all business processes?

Cycling and sustainability: it is a combination that many people already take for granted. But at Swapfiets, it goes a bit further than just tempting people to leave the car and take the bike instead. When Swapfiets was founded in 2014, one of the three founders already insisted: sustainability had to play a major role in the company – in all facets. But Richard Burger also found out in the years that followed that he could never achieve sustainability on his own. Everyone in the then fast-growing company had to participate. This is now also formally regulated, says Vivianne de Wit, who started with the company 7 years ago as a recruiter, but now works there as a Reward, OD & Change Specialist. ‘We have made sustainability part of all role descriptions’, she says. ‘In that case, it will also become part of all decisions. And that’s how it automatically ends up in the DNA of the employees and the company.’

Climate neutral

She explains that Swapfiets attaches interest to sustainability in all kinds of ways. For example, we are working hard to develop a 100% circular bicycle. ‘That’s still at about 70% right now.’  The lunch at the company restaurant is vegetarian and if there is meat on the table, it comes from the organic butcher. Even company clothing must be as sustainable as possible, she stresses. In addition, it is not permitted to travel by plane up to a certain travel distance. The commercial vehicles are all electric these days, too. And to the extent that there are still lease cars, they will in any case no longer run on petrol. There has hardly been any resistance among the employees, Vivianne notes. ‘The people who come to work here often do so with a certain conviction, they want to contribute to our vision of liveable cities.’ Swapfiets currently has about 1,100 employees in 7 countries. It has been officially certified as a B-Corp organisation for 3 years, and this year it has set itself the goal of operating fully climate-neutral. All of this was initiated from the 4 company values: made simple, make it happen, be supportive and grow further.

Improvement is always possible

Of course, the extensive efforts in the area of sustainability pose a challenge. Have you not done everything that seems reasonably possible at some point?  That is actually not really a problem in practice, says Vivianne. ‘You can always set yourself new goals. There are plenty of things that we can still implement.’ It is not always about sustainability in the strict sense of the word, for example. As far as the organisation is concerned, this allows it to reduce its movements. And, also a great initiative: employees can now take two days a year to do volunteer work, without having to use vacation days.  So improvement is always possible. Also in perhaps less obvious areas, such as pensions.

Sustainability in pensions

‘When I came here, Swapfiets still fell under the CLA of the Motor Vehicles and Bicycle Industries, which were members of the PMT pension’, says Vivianne. But that did not entirely meet our wishes, she reflects. ‘The personal contribution of 30% was actually just too high, especially for many young people and expats we employ. In addition, to be honest, we found it rather cumbersome and traditional. For example, the letters were still sent by post. That didn’t suit us.’ When a separate entity was set up for the head office, it gave the opportunity to choose another pension provider that was better suited to Swapfiets. Swapfiets then opted for BeFrank. This not only gave employees more flexibility, for example to make extra contributions tailored to the phase of their life. At least as important for Swapfiets was that the pension investments are based on the same sustainable principles as the company itself. ‘If you are as sustainable as possible throughout your business operations, this must of course also be reflected in your pension scheme’, Vivianne emphasises.

Participating in the operation

The founders of yesteryear, Richard Burger, Dirk de Bruijn and Martijn Obers, have all now retired from the company that owes its fame to the blue front tyre. Continuing to operate as sustainably as possible is not the only challenge in the coming years: profit must also be made and this will require an ever more commercial focus. It doesn’t make her job any less challenging, says Vivianne. For example, she sets this up by encouraging head office employees to also participate in the operation 2 days a year, in all countries where the company’s bicycles are now being used. ‘That way you make sure you keep in touch with what’s going on there’, she says. ‘It can happen that you come up with things at the head office that in practice can’t be done at all, or are met with resistance. And vice versa: you can also see with your own eyes what problems they have to deal with there.’ As she puts it: you can still be so progressive, improvement is always possible.  Because this is precisely where the real value of sustainability lies.

This article appeared on MTsprout.nl on 19 September

About Swapfiets
Swapfiets is the world’s first ‘bike as a service’ company with a circular business model. Founded in 2014 in the Netherlands, the scale-up quickly became one of the leading micromobility providers in Europe, with more than 270,000 members now in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom. Swapfiets aims for more liveable European cities by offering a carefree cycling experience, with 100% circular bikes. In October 2022, Swapfiets officially joined the B Corpcommunity to strengthen their mission. The concept of Swapfiets is simple: for a fixed amount per month, members always have a working bicycle. In the unlikely event of problems, the bicycle will be repaired in the shop within 10 minutes or replaced immediately, at no extra cost. Swapfiets offers service in 45 European cities. The company has set itself the goal of being climate neutral by 2025 and has also developed the first zero-waste bicycle. One of the challenges was the bicycle bell. Fortunately, the company was able to conclude a collaboration with a Dutch designer, who designed the transparent ‘No Waste Chair’. This chair makes a statement against waste and puts the story of waste into a new perspective. Simply by sitting on it and talking.