The IT Nerd

New SAP Concur data reveals that employees are increasingly likely to decline business travel if it does not fit around their personal schedules. Blended travel or bleisure, the trend of combining leisure and business travel, has gained popularity among business travellers, but recent cost-saving measures by companies threaten this balance. 

While working from anywhere or combining holidays with business trips may seem straightforward for employees, the reality for companies is more complex. As a result, company concerns about costs and sustainability can limit employees’ ability to fully embrace their flexible lifestyle. 

1. Employee sentiment

• 46% of Canadian business travellers report that their company is focused on meeting employees’ needs for flexible travel options above other priorities. However, around 30% indicated that their company is more focused on cutting travel costs. 
• More than 30% of Canadian companies are reducing the ability for employees to work remotely, while travelling for pleasure or combining personal travel with business trips.
• While a majority (66%) of Canadian business travellers stated that travel is critical for their career advancement, 20% of employees would decline a business trip if they couldn’t extend it for personal travel, and 24% would also refuse if they couldn’t make adjustments outside of company policy.

2. The need for better travel policies 

• Businesses have also reduced comfort-focused requests such as: 28% staying overnight to avoid long travel days, 25% paying more for non-stop flights, 27% using business or premium class, and opting for taxis or ride-shares instead of public transportation (29%).
• These changes have resulted in 82% of business travellers booking extra time for their trip to prepare for unexpected travel disruptions — either at the beginning of their trip (38%), at the end of it (11%), or at both ends of the trip (32%) — which underscores the need for better travel policies.  

3. The toss-up between sustainability and costs The balancing act between sustainability and cost management

• 92% of Canadian business travellers have observed their companies cutting back on flexible travel allowances, including 68% whose companies have shifted away from allowing employees to pay to use more sustainable travel options. 
• When it comes to business travel, companies are equally pursuing three priorities. Increased use of sustainable travel options is a top focus for 32% of travel managers, while meeting employees’ demands for flexible travel options is the top priority for 37% and cutting back on travel costs for 31%. This represents increased pressure on travel managers to handle multiple pressure points from the business and employees. 
• Around 25% of travellers say their company prioritizes sustainable travel options, but 1 in 3 travel managers face difficulty booking travel as they are expected to provide more sustainable travel options without an adequate travel budget.

The full new SAP Concur research with all the findings is available here. 

This entry was posted on July 11, 2024 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags SAP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.