ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
COMPANY HELP YOU GET THE PERFECT BALANCE?
ACHIEVING THE NIRVANA OF WORK/LIFE BALANCE is a hotly debated topic. Is it actually possible? Or is it just an urban myth, which gets dangled in front of us but is never quite within reach? Add to this the pressures of travelling for business, be that frequently or on occasion, and the whole concept can often feel as obtainable as a multi-million pound lottery win. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Business travel is changing. Travellers are no longer accepting of a 4:30am start, missing out on picking up the kids from school or playing in that crucial 5 a-side decider match. So what can businesses do to accommodate these growing expectations, without sacrificing cost efficiency and productivity?
RETHINKING POLICY
a solution around this. Essentially giving the opportunity for people to balance their work and personal commitments. This can take many forms. It may be that staff are encouraged to travel off peak, allowing them to avoid those horrendous early starts and achieving a cost saving along with it. Maybe it is looking at whether an overnight stay is absolutely necessary – can the meeting be moved earlier or later to facilitate travel at a reasonable hour and, once again, achieve a cost saving?
And the benefits don’t end there. It
is becoming increasingly common for candidates at interview to request a copy of the business travel policy and for this to be an influencing factor in choosing a prospective employer. It also has an impact at the other end of the spectrum in terms of retaining staff, as they feel trusted and in control, knowing that their lives outside of work are valued and respected.
WORKING TOGETHER
“WE’VE SEEN A SHIFT IN TRAVELLER EXPECTATIONS, WITH MORE
EMPHASIS PLACED ON EXPERIENCE AND TRIP SATISFACTION. YET THERE STILL SEEMS TO BE
This is a big question and one which is causing an even bigger shift in culture among travel managers across the country. Policies designed purely with the business in mind are no longer performing, resulting in a loss of control over corporate travellers, which ultimately leads to increased travel costs and a whole host of other issues from safety tracking to invoice management. At Clarity we are urging our clients to reconsider the conventional approach and to take a traveller centric view of their policy. This doesn’t mean free reign, first class and five star all the way – far from it. What this means is taking into consideration the traveller’s personal needs and tailoring
HESITANCE FROM SOME TRAVEL MANAGERS TO MOVE WITH THIS.” Pat McDonagh, CEO, Clarity
While the idea of handing over too much autonomy to the traveller can be of concern, after all this is an entirely new way of working for many businesses, it has been shown that a traveller who feels in control is far more likely to work within policy than one who doesn’t. So in reality, facilitating work/life balance and giving travellers the ability to manage their personal and work commitments actually increases the control your business has over the travel programme as a whole.
If this sounds a long way from where your business is currently, don’t worry, you are not alone in developing this new way of working. A good travel management company will work with you collaboratively to help you develop a great travel policy and then, most importantly, implement it in your business. As the demands of business travellers and employees in general increases, you need to be sure that you’re ahead of the game and meeting their needs. As the world of work evolves,
the world of business travel must do so too. Balancing work and life, personal and business is no longer out of reach. It is a reality and one which businesses need to wake up to and embrace, before their employees find someone else who will. You need to bring together your hearts and your minds.
CAN THE RIGHT TRAVEL MANAGEMENT
To read more about our approach to traveller centric business travel, download our Hearts & Minds manifesto at:
claritybusinesstravel.com/hearts-and-minds
buyingbusinesstravel.com 2018 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 69
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