The Mileage Challenge was the brainchild of Britannia International’s John Galbraith, who began cycling to work from Port Erin to Douglas on a daily basis back in February 2009. After clocking up 5,070 miles last year, John thought it would be a great idea to involve other members of the business and offset the green miles travelled against the company’s business mileage. Each member of staff taking part has set themselves a mileage target for the year and all the green miles are recorded against the company’s business miles. So far this year Britannia International business mileage for January and February has equated to 3,610 miles with staff green miles totalling 1,446 however the bad weather earlier in the year did play a part in reducing these totals.  At present over half of the workforce are currently taking up the challenge and have completed over 1,700 miles this year. In addition to individual targets there are also a number of key milestones set along the way to keep staff motivated and add an element of fun. The first milestone celebrated was an Italian day in honour of reaching Rome (861 miles) where pizzas and cappuccinos were the order of the day. The next celebration target is a town in the Ukraine where a member of the Britannia International team was born and a final overall target of arriving in Perth Australia has been set!

John Galbraith of Britannia International commented, “It just seemed like a really good idea. It’s a great feeling knowing that everyday you are doing something positive and saying I am going to do what I can. It’s great that this idea has been taken on by colleagues and they feel that by the group of us all working together we can achieve something very special.”

The mileage challenge initiative has also resonated heavily with the UK parent The Co-op Financial Services in Manchester where the initiative is now being adopted by staff there and in many of the branches around the UK. It further demonstrates the efforts both Britannia International and Co-op Financial services are making in the area of Corporate and Social responsibility and in helping to reduce the organisations carbon footprint and provide sustainable Financial Services.

John Galbraith continued, “ Every person I have spoken to at Co-op Financial Services about the initiative has supported it. Everyone has passed messages along their ‘network’ to try to encourage other areas to replicate what we are setting out to do. It’s quite incredible to think that even in a company of our size here on the island we have enough people taking responsibility to offset our mileage that in total we will have travelled half way around the planet just by going to and from work, if all goes to plan! And what a journey it will be – we’ve already had pizza from Rome, next we have dumplings and pastries from the Ukraine and after that a barbecue in ‘Perth’ to look forward to!”

So if you pass anyone cycling, running and walking on your commute in the morning, chances are they could be one of the Britannia International team taking on the Mileage challenge!

Source: isleofman.isle-news.com