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Corporate Travellers And Business Travel Have An Impact On Company Culture

How business travel enhances company culture

5 min
Posted: 21 June 2022
Colleagues Working Together In An Office

Mission statements. Company values. Team-building activities. All-hands meetings. Team lunches. Corporate initiatives. These are all ways in which company culture was built and reinforced. Now, employees are working as part of a hybrid workforce, so they might not be together all the time or often at all. This means their face-to-face interactions are more valuable than ever, and companies have to be more purposeful in the ways they promote culture. 

So, how can companies foster a positive company culture when their workforces are dispersed? 

Through business travel.

The benefits of a strong corporate culture

Employees have greater flexibility in terms of where and when work gets done. They might be working with colleagues in different time zones or even across oceans! Virtual tools connect teammates, but there’s only so much that can be built through a computer screen. Business travel enables people to have in-person meetings that foster collaboration and big thinking, which can only be done when everyone’s in the same room.  

Business travel is a relationship builder—seeing colleagues in person allows us to have awareness and feel empathy for each other. In fact, companies with a strong global travel culture see greater profitability, operational efficiency, market share, innovation, customer retention and employee satisfaction. These are huge advantages in today’s competitive climate.

We also know there are different benefits to whether you’re considering internal or external efforts. A recent study from Harvard Business Review revealed just how important culture is to a company’s success. It found: 

  • 67% more collaboration between peers 
  • 66% greater ability to build strong relationships with co-workers 
  • 55% better management of dispersed teams 
  • 40% unification of business culture across the globe 
  • 62% greater ability to build closer relationships with key customers 
  • 55% better collaboration between partners and suppliers 
  • 51% increased understanding of customer needs 
  • 41% improved customer experience

There are also the benefits of employee satisfaction and increased performance, which leads to talent recruitment and retention. Happy employees perform better, so it’s important to take care of them whether they’re working remotely or on a business trip. Employers should support their employees’ well-being and avoid burnout. Having a strong corporate culture is crucial to driving the business forward. 

So, how can you make this happen?

How to build a strong travel culture

Just as your company is flexible when it comes to work policies, it should have a flexible travel policy. Employees should have the freedom to travel at any time, to any location, from any distance, to do their job.  

Communication is key to a successful corporate travel programme. Your policy relies on traveller behaviour, so give employees the right guidance to help them stay compliant when travel is not urgent. You can also make it easy for them to comply by showing them any policy restrictions when they book in real time. Adoption is easier when you have a simple solution that meets the travel needs of the employee and company alike. When your policy is built into your travel management solution, it’s better for everybody.

Another ‘must-have’ to make business travel simple? The right technology. Booking a trip should take minutes and be an intuitive experience for corporate travellers. It should feel personal, natural and easy to do while also offering a global network of travel options from preferred providers. Working with your travel partner that can offer a single platform for all your markets not only makes the day-to-day management easy, it also helps with your post-trip analysis. For example, Egencia Analytics Studio consolidates all your booking data in one place—whether it’s booked online or offline. A travel management company (TMC) and platform that works for all your points of sale consolidates all your data, whether it’s booked online or offline. Powerful data visualisations help you understand your travel programme’s performance quickly, so that you can act decisively. And more importantly, it gives you the ability to take these back to your leadership team and show them how your travel spend worked to achieve your company’s goal.

Business travel is a strategic investment, not a line item

More organisations are starting to see that corporate travel management is a strategic business investment rather than a cost centre. It can be challenging for your organisation to reframe this mindset, but it’s worth it. You’ll need to work with stakeholders to get the necessary data and information to define the return on investment (ROI) per trip. This is a good baseline and gives you a metric for success. Next, review this and align it with your company’s business goals. Is the organisation focused on innovation? Overall growth? Retaining clients? Keeping top talent or creating operational efficiency? These are all important things to consider, and you’ll want to identify the goal that’s right for your organisation.

For example, your company has a goal to retain talent for the year. You’ll need to work with your Human Resources department to understand the impact that business travel has on teams or individuals. Who travels the most? What would be the cost to replace them? Also, what’s the cost of the work that won’t be done until they’re replaced? This data can then help you build an ROI for your trips.

Next, present your plan to the leadership team. Show the percentage of travel spend that will impact different areas of business. For example, if your company implements a travel freeze, it means nobody travels except client-facing teams—a clear message that growth is key for a company. But what does it mean if you don’t let other members of staff travel? For example, teams that drive innovation for a company. What would the cost be if those people didn’t meet in person to innovate for a company? How would that impact the profit and loss in the coming years? Or, if you have a factory and your engineer can’t travel to fix an issue with a production line, this impacts the quality of the product, which then affects client satisfaction and retention.

Creating a positive culture in the workplace isn’t the easiest of tasks! But with the right mindset and plans in place, business travel can be a sure-fire way to do it.

Interested in learning more about building corporate culture? American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) partnered with CULTIQUE to create a comprehensive report about why it’s crucial to think like a Chief Journey Officer and understand the role of corporate travel in the workplace. Take a look at the white paper, ‘Why business travel is the new centre of company culture', here.

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