In honor of National Bike to Work Day (and week), we have a special announcement: InterWorks was recently named a Silver-Level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists! We’ve earned this distinction in previous years, but we’re excited to keep the tradition going for 2018.

What Does Being a Bicycle Friendly Business Mean?

The Bicycle Friendly Business program seeks to recognize businesses that are dedicated to strong bicycle culture. To do this, businesses fill out an extensive survey, answering questions on how they promote biking internally, what facilities they have to support cyclists and how they advocate biking initiatives in their communities. Businesses that go above and beyond and all categories are recognized as “bicycle friendly” and earn varying distinctions depending on the level of their commitment.

Bicycle Culture at InterWorks

What exactly makes InterWorks worthy of Bicycle Friendly Business honors? Well, we’ve been promoting biking for a few years now. What started out as a hobby between a few employees has since grown into a larger, company-backed culture.

InterWorks has always supported to passions of its employees, so as the bicycle bug bit more of our people, we started looking at how we could use cycling as a means of bringing people even closer together. More people biking to work prompted us to put in bike racks in our three primary Oklahoma offices as well as tools for people to work on their bikes. A casual dress code and places to change also makes it easy for people bike to work without hassle.

Above: Bike racks at InterWorks HQ in Stillwater.

Perhaps the biggest investment we’ve made is our participation in events like OK Freewheel. We spent the past three years rallying any cyclist who wants to take on the week-long trek across Oklahoma and have covered all registration expenses. We even offer a PTO match for those going on the ride. It’s also a great excuse to bring out the InterWorks-branded tailgate trailer as our ultimate support vehicle.

Beyond facilities and events, we sponsor all the local biking initiatives we can. InterWorks CMO Dalton Parsons and Regional IT Practice Lead Scott Matlock are both members of the Stillwater Trail Crew, and we’re proud to sponsor their development of area trail systems. Will Joyce, our General Counsel and Mayor of Stillwater, is also an avid cyclist who supports bicycle initiatives in city government. The list goes on and on, even including our CEO, Behfar Jahanshahi.

Above: The InterWorks crew at OK Freewheel 2017.

It’s Bigger than Bikes

Our commitment to bicycle culture goes well beyond an intrinsic love for bikes. As we said before, InterWorks’ M-O is to back our employees and their passions. A passion like cycling is an easy one to get behind, given the health and environmental benefits it provides. But whether it’s bikes or bullfighting, the bottom line is that we’re all in when it comes to our employees. Their interests are our interests, so we’re happy to give them the resources they need to enjoy themselves to the fullest. After all, happy employees are the best kind you can have.