HEALTHY TRAVEL
Health, wealth and happiness
Health and wellbeing have often been a forgotten part of an organisation’s duty-of-care responsibilities – but the subject is now coming out into the spotlight
By ROB GILL D
UTY-OF-CARE HAS BEEN A BUZZ PHRASE WITHIN BUSINESS TRAVEL FOR YEARS and it has become even more important over the last 18 months due to a seem-
ingly endless series of terrorist attacks and other geopolitical events. While the safety of travellers has in- evitably been at the front of buyers’ minds, other duty-of-care issues are also bub- bling to the surface, including the health and wellbeing of travelling employees and what companies can do to help improve this often neglected side of cor- porate travel. There is plenty of evidence to suggest
that employees like to travel as part of their job – a survey by corporate card company American Express found that 47 per cent of regular UK-based business travellers enjoy that element, with 76 per
116 BBT January/February 2017
cent believing that it helps them to be more effective in their roles. But that’s not to say that travel can’t be
stressful and take a toll on the body and mind that could affect an employee’s per- formance in a key meeting, as well as having a cumulative impact due to issues such as poor diet and disrupted sleeping patterns. It’s certainly something that travel suppli-
ers are taking seriously – just look at British Airways’ plan to give passengers a ‘digital pill’ to monitor their stomach acidity and change their inflight dining choices based on this data; or Virgin Atlantic’s introduc- tion of aromatherapy treatments for Upper Class passengers to help deal with jetlag. So what can buyers do about helping
make their travellers’ lives less stressful and healthier when they’re on the road –and make sure they’re in the best possible physical and mental shape during their business trips?
KEY PERFORMANCE A survey of 250 travel buyers by the As- sociation of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and American Express GBT found that traveller wellness was the fifth most important key performance indictor (KPI) – ranking behind savings, compliance, trav- eller satisfaction and traveller productivity. This suggests that health and wellbeing is at least on the radar of a substantial proportion of travel buyers – although its importance seems to depend largely on the wider cor- porate culture and management attitude towards the issue. Former Astra Zeneca travel buyer Caro-
line Strachan, who is now managing partner at consultancy Festive Road, says: “Having worked for a company where we had a ‘chief wellbeing officer’, I have seen what a difference focusing on traveller wellbe- ing can have on the employee. I noted a more engaged traveller workforce when
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144