High-performing organisations focus on providing frictionless travel
For a growing number of working professionals, business travel is a part of the job. The travellers’ experience before, during, and after the trip doesn’t simply get packed away with the suitcase and passport. Instead, the sentiment from the travel experience lingers, directly affecting the way the professional feels about the job —and about the company, too.
Traveller friction has a negative impact on employee engagement, productivity, emotional and physical well-being, attrition, and recruitment. Whether the professional is an infrequent traveller or a road warrior, high-performing organisations all have one thing in common: They prioritise positive traveller journeys.
Rather than focusing on what a travel program costs in terms of
dollars, these organisations analyse the total cost of travel in terms of
traveller well-being and transaction costs. And the organisations that provide a more frictionless business-travel experiences are positioned to win by being more likely to benefit from an engaged workforce, higher retention rates, and positive business outcomes.
Travel effects job satisfaction
According to a recent study on traveller friction conducted by Sabre, in partnership with the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), 40 percent of travellers say business travel impacts
business results to a
great extent, while 32 percent say business travel impacts
job satisfaction to a
great extent.
GBTA found that job satisfaction is influenced by the organisation’s travel policy, booking and reservation process, safety and security policies and initiatives, employee well-being policies for travel, expense reporting process, and even the pre-trip approval process. From end to end, the traveller journeys that are the most frictionless are often perceived as the best experiences.
This holds true for business travellers of all generations. Whether the traveller is a millennial, baby boomer, or a part of Generation X, the journey experience is an important driver of job satisfaction.
Refocusing the travel program
Until recently, most organisations focused on
travel program costs, looking for money-saving measures to boost the bottom line. Today, organisations have found that the lowest cost isn’t always the best, and shifting to a
traveller-centric program may be the key to longer-term savings, particularly when incurred costs, employee sentiment, and new talent hiring and training are considered. Today, the cost of hiring a new employee is 15 percent to 30 percent of an annual salary. That cost can jump to 300 percent if the company must replace a senior-level employee (
source: Center for American Progress).
Travel management programs that prioritise frictionless travel with self-service tools, personalised offerings, and engaging content to provide convenience, comfort, safety, and helpful information are the ones that drive true value for the organisation. By realising the direct connection between traveller stress (burnout and low morale) and attrition and talent acquisition costs, the value of a traveller-centric program becomes clearer.
Download Sabre’s Insights Deck, “Creating Frictionless Travel,” for more information on frictionless travel across the globe.