Travel managers wanting to
embed more provision for wellbeing into their policy and programme are advised
to start slowly.
That was according to a panel
of experts speaking at the Business Travel Show.
During the “Make traveller
wellbeing a reality in your business” session, which took place Wednesday in
the Pillar Hall, Katie Virtue, consultant at Festive Road, said: “A lot of
travel managers have an opportunity to look at data, metrics, policy, productivity
and retention. To do that, though, isn’t easy; it’s a hard task. You need
support from the top.
“But if you start small
immediately with smaller things, like sending out surveys to employees to find
out what they want or need. Once you engage travellers, some of them may become
advocates of yours, and you’ll get more buy-in. Start conversations."
Beth Sarmiento, manager,
global travel at Global Payments, meanwhile urged managers to begin with
“cost-free elements”. “If an organisation doesn’t have an understanding [of
traveller wellbeing], if you get some good groundwork, get some information
yourself that you can send out to people, it doesn’t cost anything,” she said.
“Have a set of information to
create a norm for staff; it’s good practice, and sets an example. And it builds
and builds. Then say to the people who hold the budget: we’ve got all this in
place, let’s go and raise the bar and we’ll see the benefits.”
Sarmiento said Global
Payments has a workforce of 24,000 staff, with about 4,000 who travel. For her,
it was also key to ensure information was available. “The policy is in place,
so have it available so people can access it easily via forums, drop-in
sessions, or intranet. This can be useful for someone who travels once a year,
or more regularly. Have a programme that has got a structure, that's got support
from the TMC, 24/7 support."
Virtue added: “There’s
different ways to start with smaller actions, they don’t have to be costly.
Some organisations have rolling budget for travellers; they switched to that
from having a gym membership for staff, to a general budget, so travellers
could use that for when on the road to cater for more personal nuances."
Moderator Matthew Parsons,
editor of BTN Europe, asked the panel: Who’s doing it well?
Virtue replied that
technology companies, including LinkedIn, were embedding wellbeing into the
travel policy, while Dr Lucy Rattrie, psychologist and researcher, said travel
managers could look to the humanitarian sector for good examples of wellbeing
taken seriously.
“They’re really prioritising
wellbeing. For aid workers, it's intensive work and emotional, with a high
intensity of travel. So in the policy, they have more recovery time after a
trip, they are empowered to ask for more R&R. There are also more online
awareness sessions on offer,” she said.
However, Jonti Dalal-Small,
head of behavioural science at Capita Travel and Events, told the audience he
believed companies should not be pigeon-holed. “From a TMC perspective – every
company is different, they have different groups of travellers, with different
needs. Tailor your programme and adapt accordingly,” he advised.
The panel also agreed that
employers were beginning to take wellbeing more seriously. Festive Road’s
Virtue said: “Company cultures are starting to change, and employees are asking
for better environments to work in. When that comes into travel it changes this
view that you’re not just looking at it from a transactional viewpoint.
If a culture was not present,
Virtue said travel managers should work with other departments, if for example
the HR department was not on board. She cited one travel manager client who collaborated with their organisation’s marketing department to create
information and campaigns around wellbeing, so travellers then became more
aware.