Keeping a team happy when you’re running a small or medium sized business isn’t always easy. It’s hard to match the salaries that larger companies can offer and in a smaller organisation employees sometimes face more intense pressures.
To keep people on side it’s essential to find other differentiators – which often comes down to making sure that employees are treated well and offering practical perks that show they’re appreciated.
Improving employees’ experience of business travel may not always have been a director’s first thought when it comes to staff wellbeing, but it turns out that it matters a lot. Research from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that 83% of business travellers in Europe say their business travel experience affects their job satisfaction. This figure rises to 88% among millennials – suggesting that for younger generations of employees, a smoother experience has become an expectation.
Travel is an inevitable and important part of growing an SME, whether it’s travelling to meet vendors and suppliers in person, attending industry events or bringing a remote-working team together. Unlike larger organisations, however, many SMEs do not have dedicated travel managers or large finance teams to handle the admin of booking transport, filing receipts, reconciling payments and monitoring policy compliance.
See it from the traveller’s point of view
The reality is that employees in smaller organisations are often responsible for their own trip logistics, including the purchase of tickets and booking of hotels and meals. When it comes to taxis they will almost always be expected to pay for this out of their own pocket and recover the cost from their employer. It’s an extra layer of admin that most people could do without – and frequently means delays before reimbursement.
Employees want flexibility and convenience. If they do have to book transport themselves they want it to be simple – and ideally charged directly to their employer. A large credit card bill that has been spent on your employer’s behalf is not motivational – nor is the knowledge that time has been spent managing travel admin instead of getting on with the job.
Another aspect of travel that can be discouraging for employees is finding something to eat. When you’re travelling, you’re tired enough already without having to find food too. An employee may be working irregular hours, arriving at accommodation late at night or travelling between different meetings during the day. If as an employer you’re able to take away this stress, it will make a difference to how they feel during a trip.
Better travel management – better for the business
While keeping team members happy is a top priority, as a business owner, it’s also important that you maintain visibility and control. This includes knowing how much employees are spending when travelling and whether staff are following travel policy. If you’ve agreed prices with one supplier you want to avoid your team going rogue and booking rides with someone else. Safety is also a concern. While you don’t want to track your employees’ every move, the company has a duty of care towards them so it helps if you are able to know where they are.
Another consideration is whether you’re capturing and using data from travel. Clear and consistent data can be beneficial to businesses for all sorts of reasons. Gathering data on spend, for example,can help you to manage costs and improve budget planning.
Making it easier to travel and eat
So what does a good business travel experience look like?
Clear policies on travel, meals and expenses help, so employees know where they stand when booking a ride or ordering a meal while away. If you can remove the need for staff to pay up front and automate expense capture and reconciliation, this takes away those admin-heavy tasks. And when people are travelling to unfamiliar locations, being able to track their location gives you extra reassurance that they are safe and well.
Digital tools are now making it far easier for companies to provide a better travel experience and enabling them to spend more time running their business, rather than focusing on paperwork. These tools are quick to set up, are either free or low-cost, and can easily integrate with existing systems, without a complicated integration process or the need for upfront investment.
With a centralised platform, for instance, you can set controls on journeys, capture data about trips and spend, and automate the expense process. Meanwhile apps which people are familiar with in their personal lives can also be used to conveniently book travel during a work trip.
Business travel shouldn’t be a burden. Managed well, it can help SMEs grow and strengthen client relationships. It can also leave employees feeling productive, energised and more satisfied in their roles.
