We advance trade policies for bicycle manufacturing that create stability in the global trade environment so that U.S. bike companies can proactively plan their supply chains, adjust their production to meet demand, use their capital to invest in business expansion, hire new employees and increase wages.

We fight bills and measures that would increase taxes and support those that decrease taxes on businesses. We support a taxation policy that recognizes the considerable potential of the bicycle to help achieve domestic goals and support other U.S. policies directed at improving the environment and advance incentives such as tax credits, tax deductions or interest-free loans for businesses.

We work to foster a positive business environment through state legislation toward progressive electric bicycle laws and state offices of outdoor recreation. Progressive electric bicycle laws ensure that consumers and retailers are not confused about their state’s electric bicycle laws and that electric bicycles are regulated similarly to traditional bicycles. States that have offices of outdoor recreation create new government positions focused on growing the outdoor recreation industry, managing the substantial contributions that this sector brings to their economies and defending the outdoor industry’s interests.

We closely monitor federal and state legislation that regulates the use of toxic chemicals, especially in children’s products, to ensure they don’t have a negative impact on the bicycle industry. While we understand the public health concerns related to the use of chemicals in bicycles and bicycle components, we work to exempt those products from legislation further regulating manufacturing, especially products that pose little or no exposure risk.

PeopleForBikes members directly employ a large workforce involved in all facets of the bike industry, but we understand that the pipeline of well-paying, professional jobs in research and development, design, engineering, marketing and sales requires more diversity. We are creating best practices to support workforce development and diversification.

Alix Armour, head of sustainability at Super73, and Troy Jones, social and environmental responsibility manager at Specialized, serve as co-chairs on the Supply Chain and Social and Environmental Responsibility track within PeopleForBikes’ Sustainability Working Group.

The word sustainability usually conjures images of the environment, materials and recycling, not necessarily supply chain outcomes from social inequalities and environmental risks. These issues, beneath the surface of the sustainability conversation, include safety and the status of foreign migrant workers, child labor, codes of conduct, conflict minerals, environmental performance improvement, legal and regulatory compliance, transparency, management systems and diversity in suppliers. 

Immense challenges like these make up the core discussion of the Supply Chain and Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) track within PeopleForBikes’ Sustainability Working Group (SWG). The track meets quarterly, bringing together leaders from across the bike industry interested in learning from one another on how to tackle these big issues of supply chain and SER. 

Figuring out how to get your company started can be daunting, but the work is critical — consider it risk management for your brand. Startups and 50+ year old companies have very different business models, processes and work capacities, and as co-chairs, we bring both experiences to the conversation. As passionate supply chain and sustainability professionals, we’re not wasting time getting to the hot topics. We’ve tackled such themes with PeopleForBikes members that have both close to zero and decades of experience. 

Our first initiative was to invite different supply chain SER service providers to review their tools and techniques bike companies can use to measure and track SER performance metrics. This helped give members who were new to the concept an idea of the existing methods and practices available to evaluate SER for a wide range of needs and company sizes. We also spent time discussing codes of conduct, what difficulties our members are encountering internally and externally, as well as bringing in diverse speakers to offer new perspectives on SER to our discussions.

SER service providers can simplify due diligence by providing elaborate supplier questionnaires, in-factory audits, tracking platforms, risk analysis, legal council and more. While incredibly effective, they do come at a cost. 

For smaller companies who are just starting the process, a simple first step is getting to know and start building relationships with all of your suppliers, understanding stress factors and seeing how you can help and improve specific situations. No matter your company size, it is crucial to identify and evaluate your critical suppliers. In our track, we outlined a simple scoring system to help bike companies identify risk and procedures. 

After that has been established, it’s up to your brand to decide which metrics are most important for your strategy. For example, if you’re trying to calculate your Scope 3 emissions, you may need to find out the locations of all your Tier 1 and 2 suppliers. Depending on your company’s products, you may need to collect valuable supply chain data for compliance reasons, carbon emissions calculations, materials evaluations, etc. 

Our goal in the Supply Chain and SER track is to help brands start implementing and increasing SER practices into their operations, with an objective of 50% of track members establishing an implementation plan by the end of 2022. To join and learn more about how your company can get started, reach out to Noa Banayan, PeopleForBikes’ director of federal affairs and our track staff liaison, at noa@peopleforbikes.org. 

Factoring Social and Environmental Responsibility Into Your Supply Chain

Applications are currently open for four separate bicycle mechanic educational opportunities, all geared towards increasing gender and racial diversity in the bike industry.

It’s no secret that the outdoor industry and bicycling, in particular, have a diversity problem. It’s a complex, ongoing issue with no simple solution, but multiple companies are stepping up with tangible efforts to facilitate change. Among them is Quality Bicycle Products (QBP), the bike industry’s largest distributor of bicycle parts and accessories. 

A certified B Corp, the Minnesota-based company sees itself as the thread that weaves together the industry at large. As part of its commitment to making bicycling more accessible and inclusive, the company offers a variety of industry scholarships for folks from disinvested communities to sharpen their skills through education and build careers in bicycling. Applications are currently open for four separate bicycle mechanic scholarships — the deadline to apply is April 8, 2022.

Almost a decade ago, QBP launched its first bike mechanic scholarships for women in partnership with the United Bicycle Institute. In 2019, QBP formalized its U of Q education department with the hiring of Aaron Stehly, who was tasked with looking at what the organization was doing well and where it could do better. He saw an opportunity to expand the scholarship programs to include gender diversity of all types, as well as reach BIPOC by creating a new racial diversity cohort. This year marks the first time QBP is offering the latter.

“It is our goal to help our industry partners recruit from a really highly qualified group of individuals and to directly diversify the employment pool,” said Stehly, QBP’s director of education. “We seek to introduce career and networking opportunities to each student — there are lots of great careers in this industry that many might not be aware of.”

In line with that goal, QBP is investing in developing programs and opportunities that focus on building community between industry employers and scholarship recipients post-graduation. “It goes beyond just the training,” said Stehly. “We're looking bigger and wanting to put our actions and values where our words are through measurable engagement with these students after graduation.”

Donations from the Greater Bentonville Chamber of Commerce have also allowed for two new DEI Bike Mechanic Scholarship cohorts, open to any individuals that call Northwest Arkansas (NWA) home. Although any current resident that identifies as a woman, LGBTQ or BIPOC is encouraged to apply, the application specifically calls out Hispanic and Marshallese folks, who make up large ethnic minorities in the region. The NWA cohorts are divided into “Advanced,” for those currently employed in the bike industry with some mechanic experience, and “Beginner,” for those without industry employment and formal bike mechanic experience.

The following four QBP Bike Industry Scholarship Programs are currently accepting applications:

Professional Bike Mechanic Scholarship — Racial Diversity Cohort

Sixteen scholarships will be awarded to BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) individuals who are currently employed at a bicycle retailer, nonprofit shop or who have graduated from a community bicycle internship program and want to advance their careers with in-depth, hands-on bike mechanic training.

This U of Q Institute Professional Bike Service course will take place in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from July 18-29, 2022. Learn more and apply.

Professional Bike Mechanic Scholarship — Gender Diversity Cohort

Sixteen scholarships are available for women, transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, two-spirit and agender individuals who are currently employed at a bicycle retailer or nonprofit shop and want to advance their careers with in-depth, hands-on bike mechanic training.

This United Bicycle Institute (UBI) Professional Repair and Shop Operation course will take place in Ashland, Oregon, from August 15-26, 2022. Learn more and apply.

Arkansas DEI Bike Mechanic Scholarship — Beginner

Eight residents of Northwest Arkansas who identify as women, LGBTQ or are BIPOC, Hispanic or Marshallese will be awarded this scholarship, which requires no prior bike industry experience and is designed for those looking for entry-level training. 

This U of Q Institute Bicycle Assembly and Maintenance course will take place in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from August 15-19, 2022. Learn more and apply.

Arkansas DEI Bike Mechanic Scholarship — Advanced

Eight residents of Northwest Arkansas who identify as women, LGBTQ or are BIPOC, Hispanic or Marshallese will be awarded this scholarship, which is designed for those who want to advance their career as a bike mechanic by learning how to confidently execute complex repairs and maintenance.

This U of Q Institute Professional Bicycle Service course will take place in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from August 15-26, 2022. Learn more and apply.

Every scholarship includes the full cost of tuition and lodging during the respective course dates. Travel and the logistics of getting to the school are the responsibility of each student, although a small travel stipend will be given to help with food and other living expenses. Bike share employees or aspiring bike share employees also qualify for these scholarships. For those interested in applying, Stehly encourages taking the time to showcase a dedication to one's community and the ways they’re helping to amplify bicycling in disinvested communities. While not required, references are encouraged.

“These scholarships are an effort to reach beyond our four walls and grow the bike industry,” said Stehly. “If you’re interested and think that you qualify, then apply by April 8.”

QBP Scholarships Aim to Diversify the Bike Industry

New, retroactive Section 301 tariff exclusions mark a big win for the bike industry.

On March 23, 2022, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced new, retroactive Section 301 tariff exclusions, including nearly every eligible bike product exclusion we pursued as an industry. 

The exclusions will be in effect for products imported between Oct. 12, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022. We estimate these exclusions cover products worth more than $600 million in annual import value. This action could save the bike industry at least $160 million in duty payments, likely more. 

Bicycle products covered by this exclusion reinstatement include the following items. Applicable Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings are provided for clarity.

Kids’ bikes - less than 20" wheels, classified in HTS 8712.00.1510.

Kids’ and BMX bikes - 20" wheels, classified in HTS 8712.00.1520.

Kids’ and BMX bikes - 24" wheels, classified in HTS 8712.00.1550.

Electric motorcycles of 1,000 watts or less, classified in HTS 8711.60.0050 or 8711.60.0090 (this applies to many electric bicycles).

Certain adult bicycles with a drive belt and hub gearing, classified in HTS 8712.00.2500.

Certain adult single-speed bicycles, classified in HTS 8712.00.2500.

Certain adult bicycles equipped with three-speeds and coaster brakes, classified in HTS 8712.00.3500.

Carbon fiber bicycle frames valued at $600 or less, classified in HTS 8714.91.3000.

Certain helmets, classified in HTS 6506.10.6045.

Certain bicycle trailers, classified in HTS 8716.40.0000.

Certain messenger bags, backpacks, hydration packs and duffel bags, classified in HTS 4202.12.8130, 4202.92.0400, 4202.92.3120, 4202.92.3131.

We encourage you to check with your trade counsel and customs broker to verify the eligibility of your products

All but one eligible product for the bicycle industry were reinstated: saddles, unfortunately, were not included in this round. This announcement is the result of a concerted effort by PeopleForBikes and the bike industry dating back to the beginning of Section 301 tariffs. 

PeopleForBikes called for sweeping Section 301 relief in our 2021 Trade Agenda and maintained constant pressure on Capitol Hill, conveying the importance of this issue to our industry. Alongside many bike companies, we maximized opportunities through USTR’s various administrative processes. This result would not be possible without years of united work and engagement at every step of the exclusion process.

PeopleForBikes will continue to fight for the extension of these exclusions and full tariff relief for the bike industry. Stay updated on our trade and tariff page and on Twitter @pfbpolicy for the latest breaking policy news. 

USTR Announces Long-Sought Tariff Relief for Bikes

Researchers created a table tracking every e-bike incentive program in North America, providing a point of reference for new policies and future research.

Electric bicycles are all the rage. Not only are they outselling all-electric cars by about two-to-one, they’re also a favorite solution of urbanists looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase mobility options for underserved populations and transform our car-centric cities. E-bikes help people bike further for longer, typically serving as a car replacement and opening up bicycling to older populations and differently-abled riders. The main barrier to more widespread adoption, however, is cost: Most e-bikes typically run anywhere from $1,000 to upwards of $5,000 for some higher-end models and cargo bikes.

While the federal government currently offers a federal tax credit for electric cars of up to $7,500, nothing similar exists for people buying an electric bike. The Build Back Better Act does include a federal tax credit for e-bike purchases, and while it remains a priority for this administration, the bill has stalled in Congress. With a lack of government initiative, more and more states, counties and cities around the country are taking matters into their own hands, creating e-bike incentive programs that are as varied in substance as they are geographical.

For governments and advocates looking to encourage electric bicycle use, a new tool from Portland State University (PSU) researchers offers an overview of existing incentive programs in the U.S. and Canada. The E-Bike Incentive Programs in North America Table tracks purchase incentive programs and key details that can provide a point of reference for the development of future programs, policies and research, as well as inspire healthy competition amongst regions. To create it, a PeopleForBikes tracker of U.S. programs was expanded to include those in Canada. The final tool boasts some 60 different programs, some active, others expired or proposed.

John MacArthur, a researcher at PSU's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC), led the development of the tool alongside PSU transportation engineering master's student Cameron Bennett.

“These programs are everywhere but there’s still not a lot of awareness of them,” said Bennett. “The majority fall in that $200-$500 range, although there are outliers on both ends.”

TRB 2022 Poster.jpg

A program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for example, offers every person who purchases an e-bike $100 off at the point of sale, while a program in Corvallis, Oregon, provides a $1,200 point-of-sale discount with an application. Many are climate-related, and thus secure funding from government initiatives meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“An electric bike incentive program that’s specifically for low-income and historically disadvantaged community members can be a great way for cities to work their way towards both DEI and climate goals,” said Ashley Seaward, PeopleForBikes’ deputy director of state and local policy. Seaward cites Colorado as a good example of a place where climate-related funding is being used to help underserved populations. “They’re basically piloting a bunch of different e-bike programs throughout the state and seeing what makes the most sense.”

California is also unique in that there are several regional programs geared towards low-income households. In the Bay Area, those who have a household income at or below 400% of the current Federal Poverty Level ($106,000 for a family of four) and live in a low-air-quality zone, can trade in an old car for a $7,500 prepaid PEX VISA. That money can then be used to either purchase an electric bike or for bike share. A program in British Columbia, Canada, run through the Clean BC Go Electric Transportation Options Program, similarly offers a voucher with vehicle trade-in, albeit for the drastically smaller amount of $845.

Banff, in Alberta, Canada, recently announced a program that includes a 30% rebate of up to $750 per residential household and a 20% rebate capped at $750 for businesses. There’s also a sliding scale for residents who are part of the low-income Banff Access program, which offers up to $1,000 off the purchase cost. Banff opted to cap the cost of an e-bike at $5,000 as part of the eligibility criteria, the intention being to limit high-end mountain and road bike purchases in favor of commuter models, as well as to offer priority to people who can’t afford an e-bike to begin with. 

In Saanich, British Columbia, the municipal government already launched a program that offers a point-of-sale discount or a post-purchase rebate based on a custom scale with multiple incentive levels depending on income and household size. For example, for those who make above $43,000 a year, the rebate is $280, whereas income-qualified households making less than $33,000 receive $1,275. Tellingly, the lower-income tiers have already hit capacity whereas the third tier, which doesn’t require proof of income, is still available to residents.

“It’s also important to distribute incentives in an equitable way, across the spectrum of income,” said Bennett, noting that as with the American electric vehicle program, someone that can afford a Tesla doesn’t need a tax kickback. “The folks with the Saanich program have started calling this a Targeted Universalism approach — helping those that need it most is really important because it’s going to get people on e-bikes that otherwise wouldn’t.”

According to Bennett, the best programs work in tandem with trusted community partners — such as local housing authorities — who can take the lead on things like community engagement and income verification. The more administration that can be done online through a partner, with standardized forms that avoid hours of paperwork, the better. Just as we want to remove barriers to get more people on e-bikes, it’s important to design programs that are easy to use and run. 

“One of the concerns we've heard from a lot of program managers is that, especially if you're doing an income-qualified program, it's a lot of work to manage them,” said Bennett. A program like the one in Ann Arbor, however, where everyone just gets $100 off at the till, is almost too easy. “You need a little bit of buy-in from the consumer and community,” says Bennett. 

Electric bicycle incentive programs that provide prepaid debit cards or vouchers also make it easier for retailers, who can then simply run purchases as a sale, and consumers, who can shop normally and don’t have to put down money upfront. When the government agency acts as the sole provider and retailers don’t have to manage data, that’s considered a win, as is partnering with local bike shops, which helps build community, support the local economy and create a touchpoint for new riders needing guidance or repairs. 

The issue with most of the programs currently out there, however, is that a $200-$500 incentive isn’t enough to convince someone to spend upwards of $1,000 on a new bike. 

“The goal of these programs is to induce new purchases of e-bikes,” said Bennett. “If you’re already buying a bike, $200 sweetens the deal, but if you weren’t planning on buying an e-bike, it probably won’t change your mind. Higher incentive values change minds and help get more people on bikes.”

One of the first e-bike incentive programs was created in Burlington, Vermont, in 2018, where it was determined that for the power district, having people transition would save $200, so the city wanted to pass along that figure. That early program set a precedent that many have followed, for better or worse. The Corvallis program, which is administered by the City of Corvallis, landed on $1,200 after conducting a price sensitivity survey and asking the community what they want. 

There is not currently enough data to say exactly what the secret recipe is — more follow-up surveys are needed to determine how programs were beneficial and who they served, along with research that helps us better understand the economic motivators that move people to purchase an e-bike. Bennett, MacArthur and Professor Chris Cherry, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Tickle College of Engineering, are using the tracker as a launchpad to study the latter.

We know that e-bikes are more efficient than traditional and electric cars and that they can have an exponential impact on greenhouse gas reductions if people use them to replace car trips. “The problem is, we don't really know how much of an incentive it takes to tilt someone's behavior,” said Cherry. “If I was going to buy an e-bike already, would giving me an incentive make me buy it sooner? And if I wasn't going to buy it — if I was going to buy a conventional commuter bike because I couldn't afford an e-bike — would an e-bike incentive make me buy an e-bike?”

The researchers will dive deeper into people’s habits using surveys, focus groups, and demographic data, looking at what amount of money it would take to affect someone’s interest in choosing a certain type of electric bike versus something else. The sample size will be geographically distributed and the researchers plan on asking questions around local bike infrastructure in order to ascertain other barriers to bicycling. They’ll also then examine how much greenhouse gas reduction that choice to purchase an e-bike would then result in, the goal being to be able to quantify emissions reductions based on certain e-bike purchases. 

“Our approach basically is to ask about 1,000 or 1,500 people what are the attributes that we can quantify that are valuable to them,” said Cherry, adding that the ultimate goal is better incentive programs that account for what sways potential users and the impact getting them on an e-bike might have. “Some folks are seeing incentives as money off of a toy and not a tangible, real tool for transportation. We want to change that.”

Interested in helping to make electric bikes more affordable where you live? Check out PeopleForBikes’ 2021 Electric Bicycle Incentive Guide.

What Makes a Good Electric Bike Incentive Program?

For more than two decades, the BLC has gathered bicycling leaders to shape the future of the industry. 

While bicycle supplier conferences focused on commercial and social aspects date back to as early as the 1960s, the Bicycle Retail Education Conference (BREC), held in Orlando, Florida, in 1995, was the first industry gathering dedicated to educating participants. Sponsored by the National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA), the BREC attracted an audience of retailers and their suppliers who wanted to interact with them.

As supplier attendance grew, educational content expanded to suit both audiences. In 2001, the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA) joined with the NBDA to promote the first joint conference, renamed Bicycle Business Leadership Conference, in San Diego. Subsequent joint conferences in San Diego, Austin and Phoenix grew in popularity and attendance.

In 2008, BPSA and NBDA parted ways, citing challenges to create a single agenda that was truly helpful to both retail and supplier audiences. The now rebranded Bicycle Leadership Conference, hosted by the BPSA, went back to San Diego for 2009. In 2010, the conference moved to Monterey, California, taking place the three days before the Sea Otter Classic, the world’s largest cycling festival. Attendance increased by 50%.

“Having been involved with BLC planning for two decades, it’s great to see how attendance has steadily grown and the content has become more sophisticated,” said Ray Keener, former executive director of the BPSA who ran the first Monterey BLC in 2010. “The industry has become disconnected during COVID, and we’re looking forward to seeing everyone back together at the in-person BLC, March 21-23 in Dana Point!”

In 2019, after five years of jointly hosting the BLC, PeopleForBikes and BPSA’s organizations merged, unifying the bicycling industry advocacy organization and trade association. Today, under the stewardship of PeopleForBikes and their 160+ industry volunteer leaders on boards, subcommittees and working groups, the BLC stands as the premier bicycle industry event gathering for leaders to learn, network and grow bicycling and the bike business. The event is created by bike industry leaders for bike industry leaders to shape a brighter future for more and better bicycling nationwide.

Notable BLC Sessions Throughout the Years:

“Bikes for Transportation: Redefining Urban Mobility” — 2018

“Unconventional Marketing: Beyond Social Media and Traditional Advertising” — 2015

“Motorized Bicycles: Is it Finally Time?” — 2010

“The Rise of Cities — Urban Leaders Pave the Way for Cyclists” — 2011

“Outdoor Has Evolved — What Can We Learn From Them?” — 2017

“Leaders of the Future: How Do You Prepare?” — 2010

“Make Your Company A Great Place to Work” — 2016

“New Movements: Bringing Newcomers into Cycling” — 2015

“Supply vs. Demand — Are We Listening to the Right Signals?” — 2017

All of these sessions and more laid the groundwork for this year’s BLC, shaping up to be the best conference yet. We are meeting the moment of the pandemic-fueled bike boom of the last two years and have a spectacular lineup of leading experts from in and outside the bike industry tackling the biggest challenges and opportunities facing bicycling today.

The History of the Bicycle Leadership Conference

Our chief of staff shares resources and lessons learned from almost two years spent engaged in diversity, equity and inclusion work. 

A job description is often a potential employee’s first interaction with your company. Not only is it an opportunity to spell out what a position entails, it’s also a place to showcase what your company stands for and the type of work you’re committed to. The same could be said for all aspects of your talent management life cycle, from onboarding to performance management to recognition. As chief of staff at PeopleForBikes, a big part of my role is to facilitate our entire talent management life cycle and infuse our core values every step along the way. 

One priority at PFB is weaving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into every aspect of the organization, including the talent management life cycle. In the last two years, we’ve made a lot of changes — some big, some small — and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far. We realize we’re all at different stages in our DEI journey, but in order to remain transparent and inspire positive change, we decided to share some of the resources we’ve found most helpful, as well as our biggest takeaways. 

As an organization, we know we’re not perfect, and there is always more that we can do. But we are committed to continuous improvement and encourage feedback. Suggestions? Questions? Drop us a line and share your thoughts. As the great Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Colorado State Law — Working to end the pay gap

PeopleForBikes is based in Colorado, and new laws that went into effect in 2020 — laws that keep companies from retaliating against workers who discussed their compensation, require salary ranges on all job descriptions and ensure companies post all promotions prior to awarding them — were a main motivator for us to form a committee and rethink our hiring processes. These new statewide policy requirements led to some really uncomfortable conversations at PFB that we probably would not have had otherwise and the organization is all the better for it.

Internal DEI Committee — Operationalizing DEI at PeopleForBikes

Our DEI committee, launched in 2019, is composed of passionate PFB staffers from every department who are committed to helping the company envision what a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace might look like. It was within the DEI committee that we first started to reevaluate our hiring process. Through biweekly meetings, the committee helps keep PFB’s momentum going by creating action plans, seeing those plans through, communicating our efforts and addressing relevant issues that pop up. We review every job description before it goes live, flagging non-inclusive language and providing constructive feedback.

External DEI Committee — Working Towards DEI in the Bike Industry

Formed in 2020, this committee is made up of highly talented individuals representing companies from across the bike industry. Although PFB facilitates the meetings, as a group we're learning together and identifying ways for the industry to work collectively. I sit in for takeaways and there have been some great nuggets from this group, like prioritizing starting with personal anti-racism work and being more aware of how our experiences and biases influence our actions.

This is an open-source tool anyone can use to find and remove subtle bias in job ads. Based on a 2011 study, the decoder scans text for masculine and feminine-coded words. The goal is to write job descriptions that code heavily female, as research shows women are less likely to apply when job descriptions use masculine-coded language. Female-coded language, however, has little effect on men.

This book’s four-step hiring method has been PFB’s go-to for years. Most important from a DEI lens is that it provides one standard set of questions and processes to evaluate a candidate’s qualifications. Uniformity is key to eliminating bias because it stops interviewers from asking different questions from different people. This method also requires our staff to score and rate candidates rather than use their gut feelings, further helping to prevent personal bias. 

This BIPOC- and women-led nonprofit works to achieve workplace DEI advances in the outdoor recreation industry. Not only does it offer a lot of resources that extend to all employees of participating member organizations, including the Building Blocks of DEI, but its online training sessions equip leaders at all levels to contribute to inclusive and equitable workplaces. An invaluable resource Camber provides is its annual survey, developed by Camber in cooperation with the Claremont Evaluation Center, which we send to our entire staff. Camber provides us with the anonymous results and key actions we can take to move the needle internally on DEI.

This Black-led, queer-led, woman-led nonprofit’s mission is to help build sustainable change by supporting collaborative journeys for racial and economic equity. Beloved performed PeopleForBIkes’ first equity audit and led a group of our staffers through several sessions to pin down our DEI goals that we will be finalizing this year.

This BIPOC and women-led consulting group has been excellent at training and facilitating conversations with our External DEI Committee. We’re excited to start looping them into internal staff training as well. They create pathways, offer up vetted resources and provide innovative strategies that support the outdoor and environmental sectors as we move toward diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

This is a public-private partnership to create an inclusive and innovative hiring pathway. Thus far, it’s hosted two peer learning and hiring events with the goal of closing the gap between qualified potential employees and employers in the conservation field. At the time, PFB didn’t have roles open to hire through these events, but we attended and learned a lot.

USA Cycling and The Inclusion Playbook hosted a series of virtual conversations in 2021, all geared towards building a more inclusive bike industry. All four of them are now available to watch online. My favorite was “Unpacking Race, Gender and Socioeconomic Status.”

The outdoor industry has done a good job at better representing women — let’s go further.

Camber shared a chart with us that showed how far we’ve come in having women represented equally to men at all levels of outdoor companies. That’s cool. Just like Camber expanded its mission from women to include all underrepresented groups, so should the bike industry. We’re ready for this.

Voicing our commitments in a public forum has been helpful with garnering and maintaining support. 

In addition to working on DEI-related campaigns within the outdoor industry, the In Solidarity Project created and stewards the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, which PFB CEO Jenn Dice signed. Equiticity, a racial equity movement based in Chicago with this Racial Equity Statement of Principle is gathering information to publicly report out this year on how national transportation organizations are addressing racial equity and mobility justice. PFB is proud to have participated in that research. 

In addition to the career boards we’ve used for years, we look for job-specific boards to help in diversifying our searches (like the National Association of Black Accountants job board for our VP of Finance position). We significantly increased our budget for posting job descriptions and it has had a strong return on investment. We also love to use job boards that support organizations working on DEI initiatives in the outdoor industry, including Grow Cycling Foundation, In Solidarity, and Camber.

Include salary ranges in your job descriptions.

So many people who apply to PeopleForBikes thank us for putting the salary range in the job description. It’s also a major step towards pay transparency, which in turn helps prevent major pay gaps between white men and women and people of color. Another advantage was that it forced us to be really thoughtful about our pay philosophy for all existing staffers. We now use a Payscale subscription to help set salary ranges and then assess and adjust current staffers’ salaries yearly to measure up to the current market.

Don’t hire a “mini-me” or dismiss someone who’s “not a good cultural fit.”

A few years ago, I heard someone from within the outdoor industry describe their hiring practice as finding good “mini-mes.” They got excited about people who thought like them and wanted to advance people who made good lunchtime riding buddies. But guess what? When you don’t hire based on biased qualifications, you get a diverse set of team members who see and move the power of the bicycle in different ways. While a passion for bicycles is imperative, it’s not the same for every person. Ultimately, this leads to more and different people riding bikes, all of which is better for a company’s bottom line. 

Needing someone to be a “cultural fit” is another nonstarter. Of course, you want someone who will thrive at an organization, but “I just don’t think they fit with our culture” means your culture isn’t inclusive. 

Although the term DEI puts diversity first, you really have to start with inclusion. If a diverse hire doesn’t feel comfortable or like they belong, they’re not going to stay.  Our ultimate goal is for every employee to feel like they can show up as their whole selves and feel welcome. We also ask employees at regular intervals what they need to feel like they belong. What inclusion comes down to is being intentional and deliberate about your efforts.

We send out anonymous staff surveys and create spaces where staff feel like they can voice their feelings and opinions. With Ideas2Impact, we also set aside time every year to work on how to be good team members. We’re also really flexible on the things that matter to employees, like office hours and remote work. Our dress code is “dress responsibly.” We encourage folks to share photos of their vacations and we incorporate team-building games into every staff meeting. 

Welcome and set new hires up for success.

Every new hire is provided with a solid onboarding plan created to make them feel like they are well set up for a positive six-month review. It includes a welcome kit that we walk through during four different one-hour sessions to help the new hire understand PFB’s expectations. These conversations also set the stage for learning how PFB can best set them up for success. We also have a buddy system where we pair new folks with a more seasoned staffer outside their department for extra connection and support. We continue their success with one-on-ones, biannual reviews, and professional development - but that’s for another blog.

PeopleForBikes has an established set of team norms and core values. I send them in the second interview and tell candidates we’re going to ask them questions about the norms to make sure it’s a good fit. Turns out this is a really good move on our part to sell PFB. Folks are generally floored that we have values and norms at all, let alone incorporate them into interviews.

It’s not necessarily about finding more diverse talent. It’s about being attractive to diverse talent.

Eliot Jackson of Grow Cycling challenged us to change our perspective, and work on making the bike industry a rewarding long-term career opportunity. Start with these questions: “What can we do to make the bike industry more attractive to BIPOC and increase representation?”, “Why would diverse talent want to work here?” and after looking at your website and materials, “How would they know that?” 

It took us a while to get to this stage because we were really conscious about being genuine. First, we updated our equal opportunity language. Then, we updated our Careers page. Eventually, we added a DEI question as a requirement for every cover letter. In time, we tweaked our job requirements to have more inclusive language. Then we updated our equal opportunity language again. It was iterative because DEI work never ends.

Equity means giving more time and consideration to folks who are historically underrepresented.

We ask the same standard questions of everyone and allow the same amount of time for every interview. This is counter to some great research that says folks from historically underrepresented groups might need more time getting comfortable. So, we give more consideration to moving someone who identifies as part of a historically underrepresented group to the next round. Based on research published in Harvard Business Review, we also make sure that we have at least two diverse candidates in the final pool in order to greatly increase the chance of a diverse candidate being hired. This practice has greatly benefited PFB.

It’s all about patience and continuous improvement.

Authentic DEI work is made up of a thousand small, incremental changes. As a Type-A, action-oriented person, the most important thing I’ve learned is that you cannot improve everything all at once. There’s no checkbox list to make sure you’ve done everything right. The main thing is to just get started keeping moving forward, then commit yourself and your company to ongoing education and change.

Want to join our team? PeopleForBikes is currently hiring! Check out our open positions and consider applying today.

Disclaimer: This blog has been provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. This information is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice from the reader's own lawyer in the appropriate jurisdiction or state. All readers are advised to consult a licensed attorney to provide advice on hiring, employment or other matters.

The Evolution of PeopleForBikes’ Hiring Practices

Policy

Growing the Bike Industry

Proactively Addressing Trade and Supply Chain Challenges

Decreasing Tax Burdens on Bike Businesses

Passing Progressive Electric Bicycle Legislation and Establishing Offices of Outdoor Recreation in All 50 States

Protecting the Industry from Troublesome Chemicals Legislation

Advancing Progressive Workforce Development Practices