Younger employees are more apt to be frustrated with their business travel processes than their older counterparts, but they also are more optimistic that the processes will improve, according to an American Express Global Business Travel survey of 941 business travelers in the United States and United Kingdom.
The survey—conducted by Ipsos U.K. between Jan. 9 and Jan. 14—showed expense reporting and reimbursement was a particular sticking point for Gen Z travelers, defined in the survey as those aged 30 and under. Forty-one percent of Gen Z business travelers said filing expense claims was difficult, compared with 34 percent of overall business travelers, and 46 percent of Gen Z business travelers said they face personal hardships with their finances when waiting for reimbursements, 12 percentage points higher than the general business travel population.
Even so, 54 percent of Gen Z respondents said they think traveling for work will get easier over the next five years. By comparison, 46 percent of Millennial respondents—those aged 31 to 46—said it would get easier, and only 20 percent of Gen X respondents—those aged 47 to 60—said the same.
Gen Z travelers are looking to AI for some of that improvement, according to the survey. Seventy-four percent of Gen Z business travelers said they trust AI to help complete expense reports, six percentage points higher than all travelers, and Gen Z travelers were slightly more likely than the general traveling population to think AI will improve such processes as receiving personalized travel options, getting personalized pre-trip advice and getting support during disruptions. [Article continues below the chart]
However, Gen Z travelers do not expect AI to handle everything. In the survey, 54 percent of Gen Z travelers said they prefer to speak to a person during disruptions, the same percentage as Gen X respondents. Among Millennial travelers, 47 percent said they prefer speaking to a person during disruptions.
For the survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 1,259 employees in the U.K. and 1,411 employees in the United States. Of those, 941—537 in the U.S. and 404 in the U.K.—said they had flown for work in the past two years or planned to do so in the next year. Only those respondents' responses were tabulated for this survey, according to Amex GBT.