Excepting those with the most extreme travel schedules,
business folk typically don't think much about travel policies when assessing
their company or a potential employer. Business travel is one of those things
that nobody thinks about until something goes wrong.
Firms like those recently recognized as great places to work
by Fortune and career community site
Glassdoor approach travel management in as many different ways as the rest of
the business world. Each company is different, but there are some
commonalities. The vast majority of these most desirable firms have a full-time
travel buyer or manager. They heavily use a travel management company, or a
few, or a bunch. Travel pros at several renowned employers interviewed recently
by Travel Procurement also
demonstrated a desire to balance self-service with personal assistance.
So what makes a company a great place to work, and how does
travel fit in?
According to Forbes,
"the best places to work are nailing employee engagement." Engagement
is a popular human resources concept that links empowerment, enthusiasm,
loyalty and other variables to business success, although definitions vary.
Think of it as a contemporary version of "job satisfaction."
A global survey of 4,754 employees across a mix of
industries by HfS Research last year examined links between employee engagement
and a variety of business activities and services, including travel management
programs. According to results published in December, respondents generally
slammed their organizations' "approaches and formal policies" on when
and how travel and entertainment monies can be spent or reimbursed—at least
relative to other examples of corporate policies and approaches.
With 18 percent calling their organizations' T&E policies
and approaches "very poor," 23 percent indicating "mediocre,"
31 percent choosing "adequate," 20 percent picking "good"
and 8 percent indicating "very good," T&E ranked 18th on a list
of 21 policy and management areas in terms of their positive impact on employee
engagement and empowerment. More effective policies were those related to
benefits, working hours, mobility and corporate sustainability, according to
respondents. Even approaches to divisive areas like outsourcing and salary
topped T&E, which bested only change management, contract labor and
mentoring.
Business travel itself got mixed reviews. Respondents ranked
time spent on business travel lower than everything but conference calls and
commuting in terms of their contributions to engagement. They looked more
fondly upon 19 other examples of typical business activities, including time
spent on email, meetings, training, team-building and managing others. But the
averages belied a notable dichotomy. While 29 percent of respondents said less time
spent traveling would increase their engagement and empowerment, 32 percent
actually said more would. And 43 percent were looking for more time at events
and conferences, versus 24 percent who sought less.
"Many workers are saying they would be more engaged and
more productive if they could travel more to get work done," said HfS
Research senior vice president Christa Degnan Manning. "They feel travel
is very important, but by and large, travel management has been about cutting
costs, tightening policies, pre-trip approval—things that get in the way of
getting the job done. To some extent, people have forgotten about the worker
experience and how face-to-face is a very important part of doing business. I
do think most firms don't take it seriously enough as an extension of employee
benefits."
Think Basics, Not
Magic
Richard Clowes is director of travel operations for SAS
Institute, a 13,800-employee tech firm based in North Carolina's Research
Triangle that for five straight years has placed in the top five on Fortune's list of the best places to
work. It's number two on the most recent list, behind only Google.
"There's no magic wand," Clowes said. "In the
basic sense of the travel policy I really don't think we're that different from
your average company. You might expect to hear some utopian response where
everyone flies first-class and they can do what they want. That is not the
situation."
SAS Institute runs an ARC-accredited Corporate Travel
Department that is part of the company's corporate services division and
employs its own agents. The air travel policy requires coach-class travel, with
some premium economy allowed on certain international carriers. Strong
encouragement has helped SAS reach 80 percent online booking adoption.
The CTD has many opportunities to support the company's
attention to work-life balance. "We do a lot of touchless servicing, but
we don't shy away from looking after traveler comfort, dealing with changes and
seat assignments and weather and nasty stuff," Clowes said. "We're
cognizant of personal time, so we'll pay more to bring them back on a Friday
rather than a Saturday."
Business communications company Interactive Intelligence,
seventh on the Glassdoor list, houses its travel management function within its
facilities department. The 1,800-employee company relies on tools from Concur
and human support from travel agency Altour, which provides a full-time on-site
agent. Its travel policy, which totals fewer than 10 pages, includes
coach-class travel regardless of title, with bookings of flights priced at more
than $1,000 requiring approval of a manager or vice president. "We're a
beans and franks company," said director of real estate and facilities Ron
Mumaw.
It's about people at Novo Nordisk, the Denmark-based pharmaceutical
firm that regularly makes the Fortune
list.
"I report into HR rather than finance or procurement,"
said manager of fleet and employee services Donna Bibbo. "So my mandate as
an HR person is to view everything with the mindset of the employee experience,
as it were. We still have fiduciary responsibility to the company, but Novo is
not huge on, you know, 'You gotta save money and do anything to save.' We do
want to behave financially responsibly, but we do it with the employee
experience in our minds. We don't mandate. We say, 'You should,' and 'We want
you to...' but we never say, 'You must.' When writing policy, I'm also
thinking, 'How does this affect the traveler? What can I do to make it better?'
"
Novo Nordisk has more than 38,000 employees globally. Those
in the United States utilize four dedicated agents at travel management company
partner World Travel Inc. "They have agents available to them all the
time, and they do take advantage of those agents," said Bibbo. "Most
of our travelers have a favorite, and they really rely on them heavily."
The company also makes two full-time, VIP agents available to top executives,
who travel in first class. Acknowledging the perks, Bibbo said "it might
be different at a different company, but we have had 46 straight quarters of
double-digit sales growth."
This is not to say Novo Nordisk does not seek efficiencies.
After all, its triple bottom line includes financial along with social and
environmental responsibility. The company recently made available an optional
self-booking program, and with no mandate has adoption in the mid-40s
percentage range, Bibbo said.
Online adoption is close to 70 percent at Austin,
Texas-based engineering technology firm National Instruments, a member of both
the latest Glassdoor and Fortune
lists. It's a prime example of how a strong corporate culture can override
potentially negative aspects. It might seem odd that a company that boasts of
really caring about its employees makes them share rooms while on the road.
That is, until you hear that even the CEO does it. Like everyone else, he also
flies economy. (Very frequent travelers going to Asia can choose business class.)
Human resources plays a role in travel management, and senior HR generalist Jennifer
Lentsch joined regional commodity manager Eric Brown to describe the company's
approach. National Instruments doesn't use mandates, they said. The travel
policy is seven pages. Employees basically spend money as if it were their own.
"If I had my druthers, from a procurement perspective I'd
prefer to mandate everything," said Brown. "But you have to take the
culture into account." Instead, the 6,800-employee company has guidelines,
the firmest of which advise use of the preferred travel management company, the
corporate card and the lowest fare. Brown and Lentsch cited duty of care, data
consolidation, leveraging spending and basic customer support as reasons that
use of the TMC is among the more enforced guidelines. Employees who book
outside the TMC are educated about these benefits, and a second offense is
liable to involve their boss.
At Silicon Valley's NetApp, which has more than 12,000
people and also is a regular member of the top employer lists, substantial growth
has resulted in the development of "a more structured travel policy and
program," according to Americas senior travel manager Mark Ziegler. "I
think that is typical of most mid-to-large companies. However, NetApp remains a
non-mandated program with the exception of the use of a global travel
management company. The safety and security of traveling employees are a top
priority and NetApp's security group is an integral part of our program now.
Still, budgets belong to the managers, directors and vice presidents. Leaders
have to be free to manage their business contributions to the company, and a
more stringent travel policy might be a hindrance to their business."
Gallup: Indulgence No
Substitute For Engagement
The most lauded employers typically retain a strong policy
on using the preferred company booking channel, even as they might offer more
flexibility in other areas. But there are exceptions. Google is a regular
leader on "best places to work" lists, and is the number-one company
on Fortune's list for the third
straight year. Its approach to travel management is unique, partly for
incorporating a book-anywhere approach. Nearly six years after Google senior
manager for global travel and expense Michael Tangney first detailed it, the
concept remains hotly debated, while a marketplace of open-booking solutions
has formed.
"Engagement is highly correlated to flexibility and
autonomy," said HfS's Degnan Manning, formerly a research director at
American Express Global Business Travel. "This is where travel management
really has a role to play in ensuring a company is a best place to work.
Flexibility and autonomy is where open booking comes in."
"Generous workplace incentives and employee-friendly
policies are making headlines these days, as organizations seek to up the ante
to attract top talent in their fields," according to a 2013 report from
Gallup that named Google as a trendsetter. "While no one would argue that
these efforts have the potential to improve employees' lives, Gallup has found
that engagement has a greater effect on workers' well-being than any of the
benefits it studied. At the end of the day, an intrinsic connection to one's work
and one's company is what truly drives performance, inspires discretionary
effort, and improves well-being. If these basic needs are not fulfilled, then
even the most extravagant perks will be little more than window dressing."
Given Google's strong reputation as an employer, any perks
or "friendly policies" are only part of the story. It's got
engagement, too—plus $54 billion in cash and 21 percent profit margins. For
virtually everyone else, Gallup notes, "In an era of corporate
belt-tightening and austerity measures, the big question is whether it pays to
invest in employees' happiness, without a clear return on investment."
Still, Google isn't the only member of the top employer
lists to express interest in open booking. Salesforce is another. CareerBuilder
senior corporate travel manager Katharyn Houke-Smith recently posted comments
to The Beat's LinkedIn group
indicating she is "intrigued" by the concept but is withholding
endorsement until airlines agree to "include air segments booked outside
of contracted TMC avenues."
Just 12 percent of the HfS Research survey respondents
indicated there was a "huge need" for "flexibility in travel
booking and travel service selection"—the least desired among a list of 19
suggested improvements that corporate leadership could be making. One-third
indicated there was no need at all for more booking flexibility, while another
third said there was some need and 23 percent called the need "considerable."
Some of the open-booking thinking also borrows from the
notion that corporate technologies are not keeping up with what's available to
individuals. Considering that the HfS survey respondents ripped into their
firms' T&E policies, it's a bit surprising that they ranked travel
management's toolset relatively highly. Just 10 percent called travel booking
solutions (reserving, purchasing and rescheduling travel) "very poor,"
while 20 percent said they were "very good" and 37 percent chose "adequate."
Degnan Manning wasn't impressed with just one in five saying very good. Travel
solutions nudged out expense management for fifth on a list of 17 examples of
workforce solutions, which she said simply highlights the poor state of
workforce automation overall.
This report
originally appeared in the February 2014 edition of Travel Procurement.