After almost two years of being grounded, business travellers are ready to get back to the skies but are setting off on their own terms. The world of work has changed and to encourage a positive return to business travel, organisations will need to focus on planning and investing in outsourcing tools to keep employees safe when travelling in order to build on existing relationships between clients and customers.
Because of this, in many businesses travel managers will find that their role has evolved and they now face increased workloads. To face this, they will need to learn how to manage their tasks while also re-evaluating their organisations’ duty of care guidelines to ensure business travellers are safe.
Instead of simply being travel bookers, they will now have to handle a variety of responsibilities to face the multiple challenges of the ever-changing Covid-19 restrictions.
Put the right tools in place
As mentioned, travel managers will have additional tasks to handle whilst remaining time efficient. As they might not have enough time to investigate all the tools available on the market, they will need to ensure that they have the essential tools in place for their business travellers.
The first step will be to use data as an assistant and making sure it is linked to the business travel management system. This will give travel managers a real-time overview of where traveling employees are located. Using this reliable platform will bring together different data sources from booking and expense tools such as flights booked with the company’s booking tool, a hotel room booked with the company credit card or a train booked directly on the provider’s website.
Partner solutions are another efficient and effective way to locate employees while also being able to communicate with them. These solutions can be integrated with employee data sources that the professional travel management system provides. Using this system can be a great way to rapidly locate employees and offer real-time two-way communication to ensure that employees receive support in times of need.
Boost your business travellers’ confidence
One of the main reasons that duty of care will become essential is the increased need for traveller confidence, as Covid-19 accelerated concerns for employee health and wellbeing. When travelling there is always a risk that something will go wrong, especially while travelling through different time zones and outside of travel managers’ working hours. Organisations need to be able to help employees in potential need of assistance, in case of an emergency.
Outsourcing a 24/7 service with experts on standby for health, security and logistical issues can help to give employees the peace of mind they need while travelling the world. No matter the time or emergency, this ensures that there is always someone hand to help.
Putting pre-trip solutions in place will help both travel managers and business travellers make well-informed decisions about the planned trip to make sure it is in line with the company’s travel policies. To make sure potential risks are avoided, it would be useful to carry out risk assessments for the destinations. Travel organising apps can pull together the local Covid-19 restrictions, incidence levels and safety levels, providing reassurance and saving time.
Safer business travel
It’s no surprise that the pandemic influenced business travel and traveller confidence. As business travel returns, employee safety will become a greater focus for organisations, and duty of care considerations within travel practices will be implemented globally.
With this in mind, it’s essential for businesses to manage duty of care responsibilities efficiently. Using outsourcing tools and putting pre-trip solutions in place will ensure that employees can not only travel safely, but also have the confidence to do so.
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