“Smartly Commuting Workplace” – an electronic tool for workplaces to promote work-related sustainable mobility

Sustainable means of commuting offer various environmental and health-related benefits. ”Smartly Commuting Workplace” is an electronic tool developed by KÄPY research project in order to enhance sustainable mobility such as walking or cycling to work, and it is currently adopted by private as well as public organizations.

Sustainable mobility reduces car traffic, protects environment and enhances workforce health. Workplaces have an important role in promoting smart commuting. So far the Finnish workplaces have not been very active in this. The greatest barriers are the lack of know-how and resources. To overcome them, workplaces need simple and pragmatic tools.

A paper version of the tool “Smartly Commuting Workplace” was developed and tested in KÄPY research project aiming to promote walking and cycling to work. The tool was then extended to cover sustainable mobility more widely, transformed into electronic form and stored in a database, which may be accessed free of charge through registration.

The tool includes three parts 

I) Action plan 

• menu of strategies categorized into organization working unit and employee level 
• options to specify timing, responsibilities and estimated costs of the strategies 
• visual illustration of the action plan (year-clock) 

II) Evaluation 

• template for entering information about the realization and costs 
• examples of the questions which can be used to assess the effects 
• template for entering information about the effects 

III) Report card 

• graphics about the evaluation 

The development of the electronic tool started in February. It was piloted in four workplaces in May and finalized in the end of October. Active dissemination started in November to private and public companies, occupational health care providers, physical activity organizations and sustainable mobility agents. The database allows the developers to get information on the number and profile of up-taking workplaces as well as on the choice of strategies, realization, costs and effects. The information will be analyzed annually in 2018–20. It can be utilized in targeting future actions for work-related sustainable mobility at local, regional and national level.

Read about the research project KÄPY  

Further information 

Minna Aittasalo 
Adjunct Professor,D.Sc. (Health Sciences), PT, Senior Researcher 
minna.aittasalo(a)ukkinstituutti.fi