According to a recent survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of NexTravel, more than 20% of US business travelers surveyed report that business travel has a negative impact on their physical and mental health. Managing finances, maintaining personal relationships or missing important family events, lack of or poor-quality sleep and a decrease in productivity are just some of the factors that frequent business travel is having an impact on. There has been a lot of research into how business travel affects employees in the past few years and I’m sorry to say that the result are resoundingly negative. Combine this with the fact that face to face meetings are 34 times more likely to get favourable results, according to a research study conducted by the Harvard Business Review. So it seems that employers are pushing for more in person meetings and more business travel but falling short when it comes to looking after their employees’ well being. The opportunity to travel can be an inviting perk of any job however with more people researching company culture before taking a job, your company’s attitude to business travel and travel culture could be losing you valuable talent.
So that leads us to the question...
What can you do to improve you company’s travel culture and help attract and retain top talent?
At Sanctifly we talk with employers every day about their company culture and how they promote travel wellness among their traveling employees. Here are some of our top tips:
1. Help your employees to build a healthy resilience to frequent travel.
Frequent travel takes it toll on your health. Late nights, long flights, uncomfortable and unfamiliar surroundings all contribute to create unhealthy travel habits, removing us from our routine and normalises unhealthy behaviour. We drink more, sleep less and barely exercise and because we are away from home and outside of our normal routine, we justify it. Active steps need to be taken by employee and employer to help traveling executives counteract the negatives and build a healthy resilience to frequent travel. There are many things you can do to achieve this such as making wellness part of your travel policy, plan with your traveling employees so they know where they are going and what they should expect and help them to re frame their thinking around business travel and airport downtime. You can read about it in more detail here or, if you prefer to listen check out our webinar on ‘How to build a healthy resilience to frequent travel’ with Travel Wellness Expert, Sara Quiriconi.
2. Set realistic expectations
Time is always scarce when it comes to business travel. And it is understandable, everyone wants to get as much return on their investment as possible and unfortunately this can sometimes come at the expense of the traveling employee. According to the survey ‘22% of people say they feel they are being unproductive up to 50% of the time while on a business trip.’ Pressure from management to get things done combined with the feeling of being unproductive and not meeting expectations is extremely bad for your mental health. Setting clear and realistic expectations and setting out a plan for business trips can help alleviate stress for employees. Make it clear what they are expected to achieve, when they are expected to be contactable and what other work tasks they can realistically expect to get done while on the road. Talk through the plan with your employee and make sure you both sign off on it because sometime what may seem achievable from the office is just not feasible while on the road.
3. Prioritise physical and mental health
We always encourage employers to stress the importance of health and well being while on the road and help them to see airport downtime as a time to practice self-care. Workout, stretch, meditate or get a massage, if airport time is not considered work time and the employee is free to spend it as they wish, you can be sure they will arrive off that plane and into the meeting refreshed and energised. Sanctifly is the best option for employee travel wellness. Your employees can get access to airport lounges and spas and airport hotel gyms and pools without booking a room. For information on corporate rates contact us today.
4. Be proactive about jet lag and sleep deprivation
There are countless studies out there that prove lack of sleep leads to a reduction in productivity. We don’t even really need to read the studies; we have all had those days after a bad night’s sleep where we have been unproductive and probably a bit cranky. According to the survey ‘26% of people say business travel makes them feel exhausted’. Is it any wonder that so many also say they feel they are unproductive which traveling for business? Tiredness can have a greater negative effect on traveling employees than reducing productivity and effectiveness in meetings, it can also create negative connotations with business travel that can be difficult to change. Lack of sleep seriously affects our mood and overall happiness and if we associate a bad mood with traveling for work, we won’t be jumping with excitement at the prospect of our next business trip. By encouraging employees to look after their sleep schedule and take active steps to fight jet lag, you can help them to sleep better while on the road. Timeshifter is a create technological solution. Developed with sleep scientists the app helps you to create your own personalised jet lag plans. Sanctifly members can get a special rate on a Timeshifter membership as well as access to travel wellness content designed to help promote a healthy sleep schedule while on the road.
5. Ask your employees how their business travel experience can be improved
‘59% of those polled said ‘always, often and sometimes’ when asked how often they are ‘left unhappy with the experience of a business trip’. This is a worrying statistic as the majority of those surveyed travel for business multiple times a month. Business travel is clearly a large part of their working life and having a negative business travel experience will reflect negatively on their overall view of their job. Stress also plays a part here. As mentioned above, a stressful business trip experience can lead to bad connotations with travel and cause stress and anxiety when the next trip is looming. 16% of people have quit a job because of stress. Only your traveling employees can really know what will make them feel better about business travel so ask them. Conduct an in-house survey and really figure out what you can do to make your employees experience with business travel better.
Business travel is an important activity for a lot of businesses but it should not come at the expense of your employees. And it doesn’t have to! Take these steps and help your traveling employees to Travel Well in 2020.
If you are looking for the best travel wellness solution for your traveling team then you need Sanctifly. Sanctifly is the number one global provider of wellness options ans activities in and around airports. Members get access to airport lounges and spas at a discounted rate and get access to airport hotel gyms and pools without booking a room. Help your team take back their airport downtime and start Traveling Well.