For companies that regularly travel for business, having a corporate travel policy means that employees know what to do, who to contact, and also how to go about booking travel. Rather than being a schedule of rules and restrictions, travel policies should be a resource that anyone can refer to, when in the office or away on business.
As serviced apartment providers, we’re used to working with a variety of businesses to help provide corporate travel that works for them. Serviced apartments provide corporate visitors with an opportunity to have a separate space for working and for living, as well as the opportunity to have a more relaxed approach to travel.
So, what are some of the best practices for business travel, and how can you create a travel policy that suits a pandemic aware world?
While, of course, the main objective is to enable business travel, objectives go further than this. For example, are you looking to increase employee role satisfaction, or are you looking to improve your company’s hybrid working provision?
Aligning your travel policy objectives with your business objectives can also ensure that your travelling employees feel like they are a part of the business, regardless of where they may be.
Setting your travel policy objectives should lean on information and goals from the finance teams, HR teams and your travel teams. Collectively, these three teams can work to create a set of objectives that can fuel your travel policy.
Simultaneously, it is important to understand the failings of your current travel policy by speaking to current employees who are regular travellers to understand where you may need to adjust and change your policy, especially as pandemic restrictions still exist in many countries.
When building out a travel policy, look at the upper boundaries of what you deem acceptable rather than setting hard limits. This means that no matter the custom in any particular country, your policy is flexible enough to allow for this.
For example, tipping in countries such as America is almost compulsory but in other countries, food simply costs more as staff wages are higher. This change in attitude and approach from setting hard limits on daily spending restricts how business travellers can appropriately respond to local customs, making travel much easier.
While providing a list of rules and expectations may be the easy way out, your employees will be left feeling empty handed and ill-equipped. By considering the reason for each rule, you can not only logically justify it for yourself, but also for each employee.
Consider an employee who is heading to the UAE and wants to take their spouse. Because of the cultural differences of the UAE to western countries, spouses may find it an unwelcoming environment, especially for those who are unmarried or in same-sex relationships. For this reason, it may be easier to not allow spouses on trips to certain countries to avoid inequalities between different employees.
Back in 2018, the Global Business Travel Association released a report showing that 83% of female business travellers reported a safety concern or incident in the past year. In light of this, plus the safety risk that is higher in some countries abroad, employees must be provided with details of who they can contact as well as additional safety measures.
Whether this is a tracking app, a 24/7 employee contact line, the details of attorneys who may be able to help in case it is needed or simply a virtual itinerary that updates as needed, your travel policy must contain this vital information.
Most companies will have a corporate account with a hotel chain or booking site, which allows for select rates and specific room types.
Any details of how to book, as well as where to book, should be provided to your employees in your travel policy. Whether this is a list of preferred hotel chains and serviced apartment providers, a team who your employees can speak to, or a booking site portal that offers a combination of all of the above.
Berkshire Rooms are an establish serviced accommodation provider, who are proud to be accredited by Global Secure Accreditation’s ISAAP compliance programme in regard travel risk management. We have a wide variety of serviced apartments on offer, all of which are well suited to business visitors. We can work with you as a preferred partner and are happy to do both short and long term lets. With apartments near offices of companies like Fiat, Mars and BMW, as well as many major international brands, we are well located. Get in touch today or view serviced apartments to book.