'That's really the million-dollar question is trying to figure out that balance for business travelers'
For all the upheaval of the pandemic, business travel is still important to a lot of Canadians. In fact, two-thirds say it’s critical for their career advancement, according to a recent survey.
Yet there are challenges these days, with many employers cutting back on travel costs and reducing flexibility around travel.
This, combined with safety concerns, has many employees prepared to decline a business trip, according to the SAP Concur survey.
So how should HR and employers be handling this balancing act?
Cutbacks to travel expenses
Travel is very important to many people’s careers, especially after the severe restrictions of the pandemic, says Kristen Hrycoy, senior global partner business manager at SAP Concur in Calgary.
“It's a chance to reconnect with people, meet new people, network, see your customers or your partners, attend conferences, have those face-to-face team meetings that maybe haven't happened the last couple years.”
And while 46% of Canadian business travellers say that their company is focused on meeting employees' needs for flexible travel options above other priorities, 30% also said that their company is more focused on cutting travel costs.
The way that travel programs are funded these days is very different than before the pandemic, according to Hrycoy, “so travellers probably perceive those as cutbacks.”
“Travel managers are trying to balance what the travellers need, and everybody wants to get on the road and go to conferences, but they also have to be very cognizant of the fact that [employers] were able to run the business for years without travelling so there's a huge balance of where that travel money should be going to.”
That could mean different departments have different access to mobility, she says.
“If you're customer-facing or revenue-generating, you'll probably get the okay to travel. But if you're traveling for training or those kinds of things, that's what might get cut first. So, we're seeing a little bit of that as well.”
Cutbacks to travel flexibility
The SAP Concur survey also found that businesses have reduced comfort-focused requests such as:
- staying overnight to avoid long travel days (28%)
- paying more for non-stop flights (25%)
- using business or premium class (27%)
- opting for taxis or ride-shares instead of public transportation (29%).
In addition, more than 30% of Canadian companies are reducing the ability for employees to work remotely while travelling for pleasure or combining personal travel with business trips
It’s becoming less acceptable for employees to work remotely longer term, in a new locale, says Hrycoy.
“When they were [trying] to figure out how to work through the pandemic, [employers] would say, ‘We don't care where you are, we just want to make sure that you get your job done.’ But companies now do care where people are — they want them in the offices, they want to have that stability that they used to.
“So, leisure is one thing [if] you're at a conference in Vegas, and then you stay an extra couple of days; it’s quite different than ‘I'm in Florida for three months working.’”
Employees declining business trips
While most Canadian business travellers feel travel is critical for their career advancement, 20% of employees would decline a business trip if they couldn't extend it for personal travel, a “workcation”, and 24% would refuse if they couldn't make adjustments outside of company policy, found the SAP Concur survey.
So, how can HR and management satisfy employee preferences while making cuts to travel programs?
“That's really the million-dollar question is trying to figure out that balance for business travellers,” says Hrycoy, adding it tends to be the younger generations who are more likely to decline business travel for personal reasons.
“You can’t force somebody to go on a trip.”
If an employee declines business travel, that’s going to be handled on a case-by-case basis, says Matthew Demeo, a partner at DLA Piper in Toronto, “in terms of whether or not the actual declining of business travel is reasonable in the circumstances, and in the context of that employee's role within the organization and their duties.”
Balancing employee preferences with employer cutbacks
To entice employees, it would help if employers offer some sort of flexibility to employees, whether it’s flying in the night before to avoid fatigue or taking a direct flight instead of a connecting one, says Hrycoy.
“They really need to bake those things into the policy that gives the traveller some sense that they're being taken care of on the road.
“From the traveller’s perspective, I think that they need to understand that the travel budgets are not what they used to be. And so when they travel, they do have to do it a little smarter… there's lots of different ways that you can travel smarter [such as] combining meetings into one trips — those kinds of strategies can really help with a budget.”
In addition, a growing number of companies have a trip approval process for greater oversight, she says.
“It helps the organization understand what their travellers are doing. And then it also helps the travellers recognize the fact that their manager or their boss has concern for them along the way.”
Safety considerations for employee travel
Canadian business travellers also cite safety (47%) or political or social (36%) concerns about the destination as the most common reasons that would cause them to decline a business trip.
When it comes to safety concerns, those should be assessed on an objective measure, says Demeo.
“Is a concern expressed in relation to safety actually reasonable in the circumstances, for instance? Are there actual travel advisories in place that would apply to the employee at the destination? Or is it a more general travel advisory based on the country in general, in certain areas of the country, that perhaps the employee would not encounter in the ordinary course of conducting business on their travel?”
Equipping employees with reasonable information and guidance, such as government travel advisories, as well as best practices, in terms of safety in general at a particular locale, is also advisable, he says.
That includes making sure the employee has the right travel insurance in place, he says, and the right numbers to call and people to reach in case of any sort of emergencies or events, along with check-in procedures, if needed, to stay in touch with the travelling worker.
Employers need to address any concerns with clear communication about potential risks, says Hrycoy.
“Those kinds of things are very important, especially when you're travelling to a destination that you're not familiar with. So, an organization really does have a responsibility to give them some sort of pre-trip package so that they have a good understanding of the destination that they're flying into.”
Communication key to business travel
Communication is key, and AI-generated tools can help with that, says Hrycoy.
“It's a pretty exciting time, for the trip travel industry in general, to see AI come in, really making it a smoother experience for people,” she says.
“Employers really want to take care of their employees as they're travelling; they're investing in technology that's allowing them to do it, they're trying really hard to make the communication open with the travellers.”
As a best practice, having a policy on business travel is an important measure for an employer of any size, says Demeo.
“The contents of that policy could vary greatly, depending on the needs and circumstances of the business… to manage the expectations and to ensure that there are no surprises on either side,” he says, citing elements that would include compensation and expenses.
And to help combat potential fraud, obtaining pre-approval prior to incurring any expenses is advisable, he says, “to mitigate against any questionable expenses being submitted later on.”
