High performing organizations go the extra mile in offering frictionless travel. Working professionals no longer consider business travel as separate and discrete components. In fact, the travel experience just does not rest with document-laden cases and passport. Instead, the sentiment echoes on the way the employee travelling feels about the travel, the company and the job too.
Traveller friction can negatively impact employee productivity, engagement, health, recruitment and attrition. Companies that hit peak performance, according to a research study, know how to prioritize positive traveller trips.
Organizations that have positive business traveller experience as the core of travel policy analyse the total travel costs in terms of transaction costs and traveller well-being. Organizations oriented towards offering more frictionless business-travel experience are likely to win in the long haul; thanks to higher retention rates, positive business results and an engaged workforce.
Impact on job satisfaction:
A study conducted by Sabre, along with Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), on traveller friction shows 40% of participants as reporting that business travel has significant impact on business results, whilst 32% as citing travel business to having improved work satisfaction.
Interestingly, job satisfaction, according to the GBTA study, further throws light on the factors influencing job satisfaction: company travel policy, safety and security policies and procedures, booking and reservation process, policies concerning employee well-being, expense reporting system and pre-trip approval processes. Frictionless customer journeys, end to end, are, more often than not, perceived to impart the best experience. This rings true for business travellers of different generations —baby boomer, millennial or Gen X; a positive business travel experience is a key factor driving work satisfaction.
Redefined travel program:
No longer do organizations seem to focus on cost-cutting measures to improve the bottom line—as it is said, the lowest cost may not always be the best. Organizations and enterprises have moved the goal post to traveller-centric program expecting long-term savings, considering increasing costs of attracting and hiring fresh talents, training costs, incurred costs and employee sentiments. Today, hiring costs for a new employee accounts for 15% to 30% of an annual salary. The cost can escalate to 300% if a company needs to replace a mid-to-senior level employee (source: Center for American Progress).
Travel management programs that constitute personalized offerings, engaging content and self-service tools to prioritise safety, comfort, and convenience are the true value-drivers or levers of any business. If you correlate the link between traveller stress (low morale and burnout) and talent recruitment and attrition costs, the perceived business value of a traveller-centred program gains better clarity.