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A travel policy is an essential part of your business blueprint, and a reflection of your company culture and values. While business travel remains an important part of working, it can also reveal a lot about a company, and what employees can expect from it.  

In today’s candidate market, savvy employees are switched on to the latest business trends and fully aware of the perks that competitors offer. In order to remain competitive, a robust travel policy is a prerequisite for candidates – and more to the point, here’s what it can reveal about a company too. 

 

It can reveal the way you communicate 

Looking at a business travel policy can be very telling about a company’s priorities. The tone and way its written in itself can show if the company is accommodating, warm and thoughtful, or cold, corporate and prescriptive. Using clear and simple language, and being open and transparent is the best approach for your travel policy. Not only this, but it speaks volumes about how you communicate and operate as a business in general. With many off-site workers not having the opportunity to be office-bound, it’s important to have good lines of communication with remote workers, and a travel policy can be very telling. 

 

Company-centric or people focused? 

How can you tell if a company puts its people or the bottom line first? Take a look at the travel policy and see if it’s bias towards the employee, or the business. For instance, if cost savings are a priority, and expectations around travelling off-peak and economy are high, it’s a pretty good indicator. What’s more, are employees expected to sign their rights to working long hours, working weekends/evenings and beyond the expected 48-hour working week? This may be a requirement in some industries, bit if it’s not compensated adequately with time-off in lieu, money, or other incentives, it can reveal a company that is not people-centric. 

 

Whether employees' costs are taken care of 

Frequent travelers will be keen to understand if business travel leaves them out of pocket, or if the company makes steps towards avoiding this. For instance, pre-paid expense cards are one of the big business trends at the moment and are especially popular with employees. Not only does it take some of the sting out of admin, but it removes the worry for spending outside of the expense policy and daily limits. Most important of all, it means the employee doesn’t have to front the costs themselves or worry about reimbursements. At a time when 34% of UK travellers say that paying for expenses on their personal credit card is one of the biggest problems with business travel, it’s clear that it’s a priority for employees. 

 

Prioritizing wellbeing and duty of care 

It’s a given that candidates want to work for companies that put employee welfare at the heart of its business. And most companies think that they do. But the best way to really find out, is to interrogate a business travel policy.  

For workforce travelers who are away from home for weeks on end, is there any concession towards gym allowances or an entertainment budget and does this include alcohol and beverages? For business travel, are covid tests offered or paid for by the company, and what about time off following long business trips, or weekend working? These may all seem like small points, but they help to build a picture of a company culture. 

 

Considerate towards business travel benefits  

If recruitment is high on your agenda as a business, it’s worth revisiting the benefits you offer as part of business travel, which can form part of an attractive package. Especially with younger workers, the opportunity to travel and extend a trip (‘bleisure’) is a big bonus. In fact 70% of 25-35 year olds desire to extend corporate trips for leisure reasons. It’s safe to say that a company that offers flexibility around work travel, and passes on perks such as loyalty points, clearly cares about pleasing its workforce. 

 

Your sustainability credentials. 

As workers become more conscious of their global footprint, sustainable business travel is on the rise. While many businesses ‘pledge’ their green credentials, it’s not until you interrogate a travel policy that it’s entirely clear. It’s telling if companies have a sustainability statement or commitment, which encourages co-workers to choose public transport and ‘greener’ accommodation where possible. As business travel comes of age, a company’s green credentials will become ever more important. 

 

Keen to level-up your company business travel policy? Roomex now offers pre-paid expense cards and much more.  

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Sophia Walker
Post by Sophia Walker
August 10, 2022
Sophia Walker is a freelance content writer with a passion for travel, wellbeing and storytelling. With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, her work has been published extensively in print and online. This includes The Huffington Post and various corporate websites and blogs. Sophia is often found in far-flung destinations, when not in her native home of London.

 

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