Analysis: Only a third of workers are happy to be back travelling for work post-pandemic, so what are their concerns and how can they be addressed?
Business travel in 2024 is set to surpass pre-pandemic levels. According to the Advantage Travel Partnership's latest Global Business Travel Review, 2023 booking volumes reached 92% of 2019 levels, with 2024 expected to exceed pre-pandemic transactions by at least 6.2%.
The hidden costs of business travel
Business travel is well understood as positive to a company’s bottom line – estimates indicate a return of $12.50 (€11.64) in revenue and $3.80 (€3.54) in profits for every dollar spent, but at what expense? Business travel can have a negative impact on a company’s most important asset: its employees. In fact, 60% of business travellers report experiencing discomforting incidents while on business travel - a figure that rises to 80% for females and members of the LGBTQ+ community. As a result, only a third of business travellers (33%) report they are happy to be traveling for work again post pandemic.
Concerns include feeling stressed, exhausted, homesick and anxious during or after travel. Moreover, emerging threats due to ongoing geopolitical conflicts, rising discrimination against certain communities and ethnicities and increased incidence of natural disasters are causing further anxiety. There are also the negative health impacts business travel can have.
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Why is understanding this important? In today's competitive business landscape, a paramount concern for organisations is attracting, developing and retaining top talent, but "workers who don’t feel safe travelling are unlikely to stay with their employer". Moreover, providing improper support for business travellers is likely to have a negative impact on a company’s performance, whilst potentially causing reputational damage. Collectively, presenting even greater risks.
The need for personalised risk management
Existing travel risk management (TRM) policies regularly fail to consider these personal issues and concerns, capitalising on the often overly glamorised impression of smooth business travel. More concerning, however, is that many organisations employ a one-size-fits-all approach, failing to address the diverse risks faced by different groups of employees.
Even where such policies mention gender or members of the LGBTQ+ community, they are largely generalised, over-looking factors such as ethnicity, disability, or health status. This lack of personalisation not only undermines employee well-being but also exposes organisations to increased risk, given that research shows that factors in a given location can put certain individuals at greater risk than others who may share some but not all of the same characteristics.
Read more: Why money doesn't always motivate employees
Notwithstanding this knowledge, most companies have yet to capitalise on this opportunity, despite often considerable investment to ensure they comply with their duty of care obligations to protect their employees from reasonably foreseeable risks, when travelling.
The business case for prioritising employee well-being
The positive is that the converse is also true. Companies who prioritise their employees, both at home and abroad, are likely to retain staff with better levels of performance. Therefore, good travel risk management policies are not just a moral imperative but also a strategic necessity for organisations. A tangible way of doing this is for companies to move away from a 'one-size fits all’ approach, to an individualised, dynamic assessment model that offers greater personalisation of risk assessment, and as a result, management.
By adopting personalised solutions and investing in employee safety and well-being, companies can retain top talent, enhance performance, and mitigate risk. By fostering a culture of safety and prioritising employee well-being during travel, companies not only cultivate a sense of confidence and eagerness to embark on business journeys but also underscore to their employees a profound sense of value, ensuring that their safety, security, and overall well-being remain paramount. Moreover, an approach such as this, also provides a powerful catalyst for advancing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity and Inclusion obligations.
Is there a solution?
Kowroo, an Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation funded project in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at Dublin City University is one example of an individualised approach: building an application that enables companies to personalise their policies and practices relating to travel risk management in real time, whilst providing companies with a means to implement their environmental, social, and governance obligations, which has largely been untapped until now.
In a rapidly evolving business landscape, prioritising employee well-being and implementing personalised travel risk management solutions isn't just a matter of compliance—it's a strategic imperative for companies looking to attract, retain, and empower top talent, while ensuring sustainable growth and resilience in an increasingly complex world.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
