RDG Planning & Design: Top Reasons We’re a Bike Friendly Business

Last week we announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Businesses and RDG Planning & Design was on the list of more than 70 award recipients nationwide.

The Omaha-based company has been on the list since 2009, but their recent work has boosted them from the Silver to Gold level. How have they done it? Passion, persistence, and dedication to making their workplace better for bicyclists — in a number of ways.

I had a chance to talk with Cory Scott, RDG City Planner; Stuart Shell, RDG Architect and Sustainability Committee member; and Brian Spencer, leader of the Healthy Lifestyle Learning Community to discuss their recent success in the BFB program.

So why is bicycling important to RDG Planning & Design?

Shell: Everything at RDG starts with our employees and the community. We want to create a healthy culture in our workplace where folks feel empowered to be stewards of their health and their environment. RDG strives to give employees multiple options in commuting to work, whether by bike, foot, public transit, or by car. It’s important to us to provide support for those options equally.

Spencer: We are trying to be a collection of very healthy people, not only physically but emotionally and mentally, so that we can be better employees, community members, spouses, mentors, and contributors. Balance is important.

How has the BFB program helped improve RDG for bicyclists?

Scott: We love the BFB program for many reasons:

• It allows us to benchmark how we’re doing compared to other companies like us.
• It gives us a roadmap to support bicycling in the workplace.
• It gives us a third party perspective on how we can improve.
• It provides tangible feedback to put before management and respond to.

Shell: The program provided specific comments on how we could improve — it was expertise that we didn’t have here. The application and feedback were precisely the tools we needed to get action on improving things here. The League helped us identify where we needed to focus.

What were some key things about the BFB program that you think every business should know?

Spencer: The feedback definitely! You make suggestions that we never thought about.

Shell: The four award levels encourage progress and reward our efforts to improve. It also adds a competitive element for us to achieve greater success.

How does it benefit RDG to be involved in local bike advocacy?

Scott: At RDG, we want to be change agents in the community. It is very satisfying as a professional to have a positive effect on our community and other communities. Our work encourages local participation and being involved in local bike advocacy gives us another way of achieving that.

Learn more about the BFB program and see the full list at bikeleague.org/businesses