Being authentic requires being able to withstand a second glance. And at first glance this is also very clear to Orthomol: the characteristic blue packaging of the company’s products in the pharmacy should be familiar to many. Founded in 1991, the company has dedicated itself wholeheartedly to the health and well-being of its customers with its diverse combinations of micronutrients.

And behind the scenes? The first impression continues seamlessly. “We produce health-promoting products, so our employees quite naturally expect that the topic is a key priority internally for us too”, stresses Dr. Michael Schmidt, Managing Director at the family-owned company from Langenfeld in Germany. In practice, for example, this means several fitness studios, a wide range of sports courses, innovative health promotions, free fruit at the workplace …. and for about five years now also a company bicycle leasing scheme.

A good idea – and the right partner
“When our managing director, Nils Glagau, broached the topic at the works assembly back in 2017, company bikes or e-bikes were still far from being as popular as they are today”, recalls Christof Adler, Head of Purchasing at Orthomol. “An incredible lot has happened since then however – both in terms of the offer and how the process is handled”, adds Adler. As far as the latter success element is concerned, Orthomol is now working with “Lease a Bike”, a Bike Mobility Services GmbH¹⁾ brand, which in turn cooperates with Volkswagen Financial Services AG. “We had a different partner on board initially, but it must be stated clearly that the process is a lot less complicated with ‘Lease a Bike’, among other reasons because it is a completely paperless concept”, continues Adler. It also helped that we first got together around the table with the “Lease a Bike” expert team and the internal stakeholders, established the underlying conditions and defined the processes clearly. “That’s why everything runs so smoothly today”, says Christof Adler happily.

Seamlessly digital
Just how smooth becomes apparent at the latest when Orthomol employees are asked about the topic. Then you hear “It was all super easy”, “Hardly had anything to do” – and virtually in unison “I could never imagine being without it again”. Dr. Michael Schmidt follows up smilingly “Anything else would surprise me”. “The employees register on the intranet, get an activation code via email from the HR department, take it to the store of their choice and select their preferred bike or e-bike, usually being able to take it away with them straight away, and that’s it”, he says as he describes the process, which – aside from going to the dealer – is fully digitalised. A total of 5,000 dealers are currently signed up to “Lease a Bike” throughout Germany. “In the immediate vicinity of Langenfeld alone there are some 80 at present. If a dealer is not registered with us, they can join our network comparatively easily”, explains Norbert von den Bruck from “Lease a Bike”.