Heading out on a Sunday morning at 7am to deliver a conference presentation on traveller well-being felt ironic and led me to think about what impact business travel has on the employee, the person, the wife, the husband and the parent. Address the questions below to explore incorporating well-being into a corporate travel programme and then read about some easy ways to get started!
What does traveller well-being mean to an individual?
If we use the noun descriptive of "a good or satisfactory condition of existence" and then apply this to travel what does this mean? What is good to one employee will only be OK to another. I believe this is why this topic is quite often filed in the "too difficult tray". What if a company could define a benchmark for what employee expectation looks like and then determine that it is up to the personal choice of the employee to deviate from this benchmark; could this be a possible solution to the problem?
Why is it a company's responsibility to consider traveller well-being?
Travel is a business enabler. Too little travel can affect the company's ability to achieve its business objectives, too much could impact a traveller's productivity levels and in worse case scenarios, their health. Ask any strategic HR leader and they will likely tell you they strive to have every employee delivering at the optimum level to exceed business goals. If travel can impact productivity levels, employee health, attendee rates and possibly attrition rates, surely travel should be considered as part of an overall HR strategy?
What are companies doing today to promote well-being in their travel programmes?
Our organisation reviewed a range of customer travel policies and the results were fascinating. Of the 100+ policies we reviewed, less than 20% included any reference to traveller well-being. Where referenced, the policy verbiage covering this topic was limited to
- extended/unusual working hours
- taxi use and paying for meals while working after hours
- hotel gym usage/reimbursement (which is rarely seen in travel policies)
How do travellers feel about their well-being?
In 2013 our organisation conducted some traveller research in the US, UK and Australia among 1,500 business travellers. Survey participants were asked to share information about their travel habits. The UK results were quite telling.
- 72% enjoyed not having access to Wi-Fi in-flight
- 17% of travellers surveyed work on long flights
- 1% of travellers interact with other passengers
- 71% of travellers say they will drink extra water on the plane
- 29% will use the gym at the hotel
- 30% say a seat near a child is the worst seat location
I interpret the information provided by the research as a sign that travellers see travel time — at least while on a plane - as an opportunity to remain unplugged and disconnected. Even when on the road, travellers are concerned for their well-being.
So could companies be doing more to address traveller well-being?
Looking at the end-to-end travel management spectrum, I would recommend that a model similar to the one below be considered by companies to better manage this issue:
Starting points for companies to consider when promoting traveller well-being
Voice of the traveller
Understand how your travellers feel travel affects their well-being and advocate this when senior leaders look for your input into travel policy creation
Balance of travel/home time
When creating or updating a travel policy, look to create a benchmark for travel/home time and promote this through internal communications with employees.
Source well-being/healthy options
Consider the merits of working with suppliers that are focused on supporting specific lifestyle choices.
Make travel easy
Consider the benefits available to help improve your travellers' travel experience - providing your travellers with fast track security and access to airport lounges can go a long way to alleviating travel-related stress
Contact with home
Consider how you can enable employees to stay in touch with home, whether that's by reimbursing their call costs or providing them a video conference solution where they can be "seen" at home while on the road.
Monitor frequent travellers
Look at the travel data available to your organisation and use it to monitor frequent travellers — including their specific habits and needs — so that you can adjust your travel policy accordingly.
Propose higher frequency health checks
Once you understand your frequent traveller universe, consider whether it is an option to provide them with regular health check through your company's healthcare provider (if it has one).
Traveller well-being can be a difficult topic to tackle. To keep it all in perspective, as part of our research on business traveller habits, we asked travellers if they had any advice for surviving business travel. Their resounding feedback was: "Be patient and relax!"
- Submitted during Caroline's tenure as VP consulting at Amercan Express Global Business Travel