Five Ways to Make Your Company Travel Policy Best-In-Class

So, you want to be the Crufts of the business world and have a show-stopping travel policy to wow colleagues and clients. It’s not a bad idea, after all 90%¹ of companies believe a robust travel policy is essential for business growth. 

That’s not all, a sturdy travel policy will encourage compliance, help with cost savings, and can even impact on productivity and satisfaction levels. What’s not to love? 

So then, here’s what you need to do to ensure your business travel rules are the best in class, especially as we enter a new period in post-covid travel. 

Keep it punchy 

There’s nothing more frustrating than poring over the words of a corporate travel policy, only to realise that no one is reading it. 

In these digital times where attention spans are shorter than ever, and consumers are used to reading in bitesize nuggets, you must tailor your policy to be an easy read. 

This doesn’t mean skimming over the facts or avoiding the detail. It’s about making it easy to navigate and engaging to read, and here’s how: 

• Create a table of contents with numbered references for easy access. For the online version, offer click throughs. 
• Bring your travel policy to life with eye-catching graphs, infographics and bullet points to keep it readable. Be sure to highlight any points you want to bring to their attention using bold or large fonts, such as new business travel rules, so these aren’t easily missed. 
• Go that extra mile and create a one-pager brochure that can be emailed or printed out for easy access, including emergency contact details and information on how to make or amend bookings. Make sure this is available offline for remote workers too. 

Use it to channel employee satisfaction

Here’s a radical thought. What if your travel policy was a tool to create further engagement and satisfaction with employees? 

Perhaps it’s not so radical after all. Inviting colleagues to share their feedback and suggestions on how to shape future policies is a great idea. After all, your workforce is your front line, and best placed to offer insight into post-covid travel policies. Plus, colleagues are more likely to buy-into and adhere to policies that reflect their needs.  

There are numerous free online survey tools you can use to create a survey. You might even want to go one step further, by offering vouchers or incentives for taking part – never underestimate the small wins that these perks can have with employees. 

Take the sting out of expenses 

Ask any employee what’s the worst thing about business travel, and they’ll tell you it’s being out of pocket for expenses.  

Offering a self-service travel platform is one of the best practices you can introduce to enhance your overall travel policy. This allows colleagues the flexibility to make transport and accommodation bookings without fronting the cost, as well as make cancellations – which are even more frequent in post-covid travel. With Roomex, bookings are only charged after check-out, meaning any changes or cancellations will not be charged to your payment method (which also makes life easier for the Finance team!) 

Similarly, offer an expenses process. Make it easy for colleagues to submit expenses, and allow them to do so at great frequency, rather than say on a monthly basis. Even better, offer a prepaid physical or virtual card for on-the-road expenses, saving the out-of-pocket cost to your employees and avoiding the need to chase receipts after the trip.

Keep things fresh

As we’ve seen over the past few months, business travel rules are ever-changing in line with the post-pandemic world. Staying ahead of the game is vital to businesses, which means frequently reviewing your company’s travel policy and updating it as necessary – at least once every few months. 

But this alone isn’t enough. The corporate travel policy should be easy to read, easy to access and easy to find. The document should be available in digital format - either on a shared intranet or other easily accessible place. Drive colleagues to updates using company newsletters and communications, so they aren’t overlooked.

Fraud proof

And finally, one of the cornerstones of having a solid travel policy, is to help encourage compliance and reduce the occurrence of fraud. And yes, this is a thing - costing the UK economy a staggering £137 billion² a year. 

With a robust travel policy in place, you’re able to command greater visibility and compliance, especially when it comes to expenses. If you use a self-service travel booking platform, this will further reduce the chances of fraudulent behaviour, as well as providing oversight into spending. And when it comes to auditing, it also makes it that bit easier too. 

So there you have it, five essential considerations to create a best-in-class travel policy. 

If you’re looking for an all-in one solution for workforce travel, or to learn more about prepaid expense cards, speak to us today. 

Sources 

1 -  https://www.condorferries.co.uk/business-travel-statistics#:~:text=90%25%20of%20business%20travellers%20agree,powerful%20than%20remote%2C%20virtual%20conversations. 

2 - https://f.datasrvr.com/fr1/521/90994/0031_Financial_Cost_of_Fraud_2021_v5.pdf