The Role of HR in Business Travel Management

HR isn’t just about policies and payroll—it’s at the heart of business travel management! From crafting smart travel policies to ensuring employee safety and cutting travel costs, HR plays a pivotal role in creating smooth travel experiences. Curious to know how HR can elevate business trips with the help of travel management platforms? Read the blog below to find out!
 

HR as a Travel Manager

In companies with fewer employees, the HR may do what a corporate travel manager does in a large organisation. The HR manager is responsible for:

• Creating the corporate travel policy 
• Ensuring that the employees have a safe trip 
• Enforcing travel policy guidelines  
• Book flights, hotels, and car rentals
• Monitoring travel expenses 
• Reviewing the travel policy for improvements 

Here's a detailed look at the role of HR in business travel: 

Creating the Corporate Travel Policy

The main goal of a travel policy is to maintain control over employee spending when travelling for business-related purposes. To ensure this, HR may be responsible for formulating a travel policy that defines:

• Booking allowances as per the employee hierarchy
• Approval flows for booking and claims reimbursements
• Preferred suppliers for bookings 
• Alternatives for out-of-policy bookings

… and more.

Additionally, an organisation has a legal obligation to minimise risks involved in travelling for business. This commitment to ensuring employees' well-being is known as the duty of care. HR fulfils this duty in many ways, including:

• Researching business destinations and determining if they're safe to visit 
• Educating employees on staying safe during their business trips
• Ensuring that employees can get assistance when they face an emergency during their business trip

After creating the duty of care policy, HR shares it through the company intranet or training program. HR is also available to take any feedback from employees, put them at ease and make them feel cared for.

Determining a Realistic Travel Budget

HR considers cost categories of business travel and external factors that affect business travel expenses. 

Categories of business travel costs

• Transportation: Flight bookings, train travel, rental cars/taxis/ride-sharing services.
• Accommodation: Hotels, corporate apartments or resorts.
• Meals and entertainment: Lunches and dinners, client entertainment like tickets to events or shows.
• Miscellaneous expenses: Fees to industry events or trade shows, visa fees, mobile phone charges and unexpected costs that may arise during the trip.

External factors that affect travel expenses

• Economic conditions: Exchange rates, inflation rates and fuel prices are some examples.
• Travel regulations: Changes in visa requirements or entry restrictions may affect travel plans and result in additional fees.
• Seasonal demand: Travelling during a business destination's peak season will attract high airfare and hotel rates. 
• Industry events and conferences: Major industry events and trade shows in the destination cities can increase the demand for flights and accommodation, leading to higher costs. 

HR determines how much to allocate to each category. They also set the allowable expenses and spending limits. Travel expenses must be monitored to ensure compliance with the travel policy. To do this, HR uses tools or software to monitor expenses. myBiz is a popular business travel management solution to track work expenses and maintain accurate expense records. It helps HR keep control over business expenses and identify areas for cost savings. 

Handling Business Travel Planning

HR takes care of flight booking, accommodation and cab rentals. Their area of responsibility also includes gaining favourable rates and optimising travel spends. 

To reduce workload while ensuring efficient travel planning, HR can use travel management software such as myBiz. HR or employees can book flights, hotels and car rentals on a single platform. The platform allows bookings based on the spending limits for the particular employee designation and pre-determined travel policy. 

Addressing Potential Risks

Another important role of HR in business travel management is to effectively manage issues that may arise during the trip. This includes:

• Flight delays
• Problems checking into the hotel 
• Lost or stolen items. 

Responding to employees' concerns and managing other work can be challenging for HR. To effectively address these concerns, it makes sense to use  travel management solution that simplifies every aspect of the journey and also offers 24x7 assistance, ensuring stress-free trips everytime! 

Ensuring Employee Well-Being

The role of an HR is not just restricted to booking business travel and ensuring duty of care during the tip. Since business travel can be tiring and take a toll on employees' physical and mental health, HR helps employees stay relaxed and productive on their business trips by providing the following:

• Health and safety information
• Necessary travel documents
• Hotels with healthy dining options, fitness facilities and comfortable workspaces
• Flights that minimise layovers
• Mobile apps that offer health tips, emergency contacts and itinerary

Identifying Areas for Improvement

The corporate travel policy must evolve with the times and improve with employees’ feedback. HR collects feedback from business travellers, reviews trip success and actively identifies areas for improvement. For example, HR may negotiate better rates with vendors or provide more support or assistance to employees during their trips. 

Tips to Improve Business Travel Management

To streamline business travel planning and management, HR should use a travel management company (TMC). A TMC handles supplier relations to bring the best corporate rates for an organisation, expands the booking choices available and provides industry knowledge to help HR make the right decisions. 

It also automates key aspects of a corporate travel program such as trip approvals, expense reporting and serves as a one-stop platform for travel booking. myBiz brings all these benefits, helping HR plan and manage trips easily, empowering employees to book compliantly, and ensuring cost control and savings. Hence, with myBiz, HR professionals can juggle their responsibilities in an efficient and stress-free manner. 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q1. What is the Role of HR in Business Travel Management?

Ans. In an organisation that doesn't have a dedicated travel manager, the HR takes care of planning and managing business travel. The role of HR in business travel is vast and the HR can manage these responsibilities easily with a travel management software. 

Q2. How Can HR Optimise Travel-Related Costs?

Ans. HR can control business travel expenses in a few ways:

• Establish clear policies on allowable expenses and ensure everyone understands the guidelines.
• Implement a pre-approval process for travel expenses.
• Use an automated expense tracking system.
• Use data analytics tools to gain insights into spending trends.

Q3. What are the Key Priorities of HR in Business Travel Management?

Ans. HR managers are prioritising providing more guidance to travellers, increasing policy compliance, focusing on traveller safety and well-being and using tools to track travel spend. 

Q4. What is the Role of HR in Business Travel When it Comes to Creating Policies?

Ans. HR creates travel policies that align with the organisation's broader objectives. Companies that have a clear travel policy are more successful at achieving employee compliance. Some of the policies HR can create include:

• allowable expenses and limits on meals and incidental expenses
• guidelines for booking accommodation and transportation
• guidance on using company credit cards
• policies on combining business and leisure on trips

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• •  Business Travel: Its Significance & Impact on Your Bottom Line
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