feel they miss out on their children’s day-to- day lives, and put pressure on the partner left at home. The Travel Stress Index by Carlson
Wagonlit Travel found that those travellers with partners and families found being away from home at weekends significantly more stressful than single employees, with women more than men being most affected. “Some women love to travel for work as it gives them a break away from family responsibilities – an evening to yourself in a hotel room can be a luxury,” says Kathy Lewis, management consultant and director of travel health experts Extra Vitality. “But many are more vulnerable to stress because they feel the responsibility for the family falls on them, so it can feel harder to be away from home.” It’s important not to under-estimate the
significance of factors that keep travellers in touch with their families while away, such as hotels with good wifi availability. Co-working hubs and executive lounges can also go some way to alleviating loneliness and isolation.
SUPPORT ON THE MOVE Research shows that frequent business travellers score 25-30 per cent below the norm in psychological wellbeing. The ‘catch- 22’ is that this group of employees may also miss out on support from Employee Assistance Programmes in the form of counselling or resilience coaching. To fill this gap, International SOS (ISOS) has partnered with Workplace Options to offer a package of both virtual and face-to-face emotional support for the mobile workforce. Since January this year, employees signed up to ISOS can access global psychological support over the phone, via video call or face-to-face. Mathieu Rosey, group product director
for Work Health Solutions at ISOS, explains: “Say you were on a business trip in India, travelling first to Delhi, then Mumbai, then Kolkata. If you had your passport stolen in Delhi and called us, we would deal with the paperwork and get you a replacement, but we would also assess whether you need support to deal with the stress. “Previously, we would have put you in
touch with a psychologist in Delhi, but if you then had to continue with your business trip to Mumbai and Kolkata, you
56 BBT May/June 2017
connections were the biggest sources of stress among a group of 500 US business travellers. Given the inability to control the uncontrollable, should managers be tackling the problem before employees leave home, with stress management techniques and coping strategies, and offering them emotional support while they travel? There is value in supporting employees
to improve their self-care and take a proac- tive approach to stress management, says Lewis at Extra Vitality. As well as workshops designed to help travel managers incorpo- rate best practice for traveller health and wellbeing, the organisation runs separate workshops for frequent travellers, including how to safeguard their mental wellbeing
“Travel policies that neglect wellbeing can cost large financial losses in terms of sickness, health claims, legal action, loss of productivity and retention of staff”
couldn’t continue with that support. Now we have partnered with Workplace Options, we can offer five sessions of ongoing support throughout the rest of the business trip over the phone.” Clients self-refer, and often the trigger
for the initial call is simply the “tip of the iceberg”, says Rosey. “A client may present with stomach-aches but if, after assessment, it is clear that is not due to eating a local burger, but that this is an important trip, the employee is under stress and has problems at home, we would recommend emotional support.” The service can be purchased as an add-on to membership, or accessed on a fee-for-service basis.
EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE According to the CWT survey, three of the top sources of stress for travellers are caused by factors that neither travel managers, nor the traveller themselves, have any control over: lost or delayed baggage, poor or no internet connection, and delays. According to another survey, by GBTA, weather-induced travel disruption, de- parture delays, aircraft ‘incidents’ such as technical problems, and missed onward
when travelling. “Travelling employees are three times more likely to suffer physical ill- health, score a third lower on psychological wellbeing, have poorer work-life balance and make more health claims than their non-travelling colleagues,” she says. “As a consequence, their performance
suffers and so does the company’s return on investment. Existing travel policies that neglect wellbeing can cost the company large financial losses in terms of sickness, health claims, legal action, loss of productiv- ity and retention of valuable staff. “But buying in a workshop on mindfulness or relaxation is a wasted investment if your travel policy does not support traveller wellbeing,” says Lewis. “Teaching an employee stress management techniques is just a band-aid if you then send them long-haul in economy or book them into a hotel miles from the airport or from their meeting or local office. Travel managers still have to take responsibility for ensuring their travel policy supports wellbeing,” she says. “The most effective way for employers to
avoid burnout among frequent travellers is to take a double-whammy approach –
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