Who does business travel in your company? Is it the finance department, the travel planner or the admin?
If you’re an HR professional, booking business trips may be one of your daily workplace tasks. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get involved.
As a human resources manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure employee safety and performance, and to make your company attractive to new talent. Business travel is directly related to these areas.
When it comes to implementing a new tool to automate some aspects of business travel management, HR teams are often an important part of the process, especially if they work for a small or medium-sized business. TravelPerk data shows that almost 10% of the time, an HR professional is the point of contact between us and the companies we serve.
Read on to learn more about secondments for HR departments.
Why Should HR Professionals Get Involved in Outsourcing?
Keeping traveling employees safe
Companies have a duty of care to their employees. When an employee is on a business trip, his or her safety becomes the employer’s responsibility.
Employee travel programs involve a certain level of risk. While we hope everything goes smoothly, there is always the possibility that travelers may lose their documents, get sick or have an accident during their journey. It is up to employers to take precautions to reduce the likelihood of these incidents and to ensure they are dealt with appropriately if they do occur.
Just as most HR departments have a plan for dealing with emergencies (such as an office fire), they should: create a plan to deal with emergency situations on the road. This will protect the safety and well-being of travelers while ensuring legal compliance.
Developing employer branding and increasing employee engagement
Business travel has a direct impact on how employees feel about their work. A survey by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that nearly 80% of North American business travelers say: their work travel experience affects their overall job satisfaction.
The same study also found that nearly 60% of North American travelers say A company’s travel policy is an important factor when considering a potential new employer— So business travel initiatives are also key to recruiting and employer branding.
HR departments should be aware of their company’s business travel policy so they can share information about that policy with job candidates.
They also need to consider how business travel can impact employee engagement, retention and company culture, either positively or negatively (depending on how employees feel about their travel and booking experiences).
Maintaining compliance and performance
Human resource departments are also responsible for monitoring employee performance and compliance. Unfortunately, there may be situations where business travelers do not follow company policies when it comes to business expenses or reimbursement. If this happens, HR should be made aware of the problem (and if there’s a way to prevent it in the first place, so much the better).
On the other hand, business trips can also have a positive effect on employee performance. 84% of North American business travelers say the quality of their business travel experience affects job outcomes, according to the GBTA. In many cases, travel can boost morale and health, improve relationships, or offer unique learning opportunities not available in the office.
Obviously, business travel comes with several HR-related issues. So it’s no surprise that many HR professionals are directly involved with the acquisition of business travel management tools.
If you’ve been tasked with choosing a business travel software provider for your company, you may not know where to start. Here are some of the most important features to look out for:
Traveler tracking and risk management
To keep your travelers safe, you need to know where they are. Some travel management platforms offer real-time tracking, so you can track a traveler’s location in case of an emergency. TravelPerk offers a travel and risk management solution as well as instant updates and notifications to help travelers stay safe.
Your travel management and booking tool should also allow you to easily communicate with travelers in real time so they can keep you informed of any changes (and vice versa).
before traveling you might want to do a travel risk assessment to make sure you understand the potential risks of travel. This is especially important for international travel or travel where vaccinations or visas are required.
Fast customer support
Your travelers should be able to reach someone if they need help. Choose a platform that offers 24/7 customer support so you can fulfill your duty of care and optimize the employee experience. If people need to change a trip urgently or receive emergency assistance, they should be able to count on your travel management company.
Corporate travel policy management
By allowing your business travelers to make their own travel reservations, you can offer them more freedom and convenience. But how can you make sure they follow company policy?
With a software tool like TravelPerk, you can integrate your travel policy and approval process directly into the platform. So you get full control over compliance without micromanaging. Travelers can request approval directly within the app, and you can add restrictions to help them book within policy.
Flexibility
Occasionally, travelers may need to rebook at the last minute due to emergencies. With flexible travel solutions, this doesn’t have to mean a loss of airfare or other travel expenses.
TravelPerk’s FlexiPerk program offers full refunds on all your travel for a small fee. This way, travelers can cancel anytime up to two hours before the trip, and get a refund of at least 80% of the trip. In the long run, this can lead to significant cost savings and give your company more control over travel costs and the bottom line.
To learn more about how TravelPerk can help you achieve your HR goals for business travel, book a free demo to see the software in action today.