Times are changing, and what used to be immutable tenants of a travel policy cease to exist no more. In other words, changes in travel policy cannot be written off. They are here to stay, and moving into future, they will play an increasingly bigger role in deciding the well-being, duty of care, safety and employee benefits of employees, in addition to their intended function of exerting control over business travel spends. Most companies’ business travel policy is stuck in a time warp. Read on to find out how you can give a fresh lease of life to a decaying travel policy.
Every department in a company may air different views about having travel policy. If you’re a travel manager, give a receptive ear to different strings of thought: controlling travel costs, bringing employee delight, raising employee retention levels, etc–and don’t fail to link them. The key here is to link the business objectives with the travel policy in every aspect.
It’s been more the norm to set different travel policies based on employee grades. But does the traditional approach do any good in the new millennium? The travel policy should accommodate frequent travelers and fit in an extra layer of comfort to make up for their high-stress levels in a hectic travel schedule. The budget allotted can be re-adjusted to accommodate mini perks including a chauffeur drove car or lounges at the airport, if star-rated or business class hotels are out of the company’s reach. This simple gesture can go a long way in improving employee satisfaction.
The main reason why most travel policies fail big time is the compliance factor. Not just diktats from the senior management, every little viewpoint from the staff should be given due consideration. Though the Intranet may seem a good place to begin with, an effective travel management tool like Tripeur ensures travel policy controls are integrated such that users are sticking to the designated travel policy. Enforcement of travel policy without incentives can prove detrimental as people should be willing to comply with policy-based bookings.
Developing a travel policy is one thing, but making employees policy-compliant requires a great deal of effort. Different policies for different users should be built into the travel management tool, flexible enough for enforcing them over the long haul.
Another thing that is often overlooked by travel managers is that travel programs fail to evolve over a period of time. Travel policy must be inclusive, knitting traveler opinions, reports on travel policy compliance and reasonable exceptions together. Balancing the reduction measures of corporate travel costs, traveler risk, safety and well-being of the employees can prove a challenge in itself. Traveler managers need to adopt a collaborative approach capturing the needs of the major stakeholder to strike the right chord. Tripeur helps you with all of the above, if not more. Therefore, talk to our experts for the right helping hand.