Adrian Parkes
CEO, GTMC
Travel management companies (TMCs) are essentially your travel requirement outsource, and partners for corporate travel. They come in all shapes and sizes to handle the travel needs of businesses from SMEs to giant multinational corporations.
If you run a business or perform at a senior executive level, you would likely never attempt to tackle complicated legal issues by yourself. You would no doubt consult a lawyer to guarantee you’re acting on the right side of the law. The same can be said about your accountant, who is on speed-dial to ensure you minimise your tax liability at year-end. Managing travel for your staff can be just as complex, particularly as companies grow and teams are often required to travel further afield.
Looking after your employees’ travel can reduce turnover
Having a TMC in charge of your travel can ensure it’s managed efficiently and in the most cost-effective way. Another key role for TMCs is helping clients work to policies that adequately consider duty of care, overall traveller wellbeing and compliance. After all, looking out for your biggest asset, your employees, is proven to increase productivity and reduce turnover.
While duty of care has been a hot topic for employers for some time now, health and wellbeing of travelling staff and what companies can do to help improve this, is a growing priority.
Initially appealing, business travel can lose its appeal
Employees enthusiastically welcome travelling for work, but after a while the novelty can wear off. Different time zones, jetlag or the pressure of keeping up with the workflow while away on business, often takes its toll on the body and mind of the road warrior.
Occupational health specialists also advise that time away for home and loved ones has an enormous impact on travellers’ wellbeing and this should not be overlooked. Furthermore, they advocate that the responsibility to look after employees the entire time they are away for work, needs to sit with the employer and the organisations’ duty of care policies.
Help to ensure a work-life balance with a TMC
Travel policies often cover all types of unpredictability such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and even flight cancellation or lost passports. It is, however, crucial to place the same importance in travel wellbeing and work-life balance. As the UK’s leading representative body for the business travel sector, we at the GTMC urge organisations to work closely with TMCs in order to have clear policies regarding their responsibility for employee health and wellbeing while abroad. All in all, ensuring your employees are happy and healthy is more than a legal obligation, it’s a business decision that, in return, will make for a productive work force.