Drafting a travel policy is one thing but if you don’t enforce it, it’s a waste of your time. Your employees, managers and even your travel management company need to adopt your Travel Policy and adhere to it.
Here are 5 top tips to get your staff to use and comply with your Travel Policy.
1. Get your managers to buy into the Travel Policy
The bottom line is if your managers don’t buy into or help enforce your policy, chances are your staff won’t adopt it either. Communicate to the managers the benefits of a travel policy and let it be known if they feel the policy or processes aren’t doable, that you are open to discussions to adjust it. In the meantime, they still need to enforce it.
2. Ensure your policy reflects your culture
It’s important for your travel policy to reflect your company culture. For example, if you are a laid back, informal company you can’t expect your employees to use a very formal, strict policy. Ensure it has flexibility, written in a style your employees can resonate with and easy to adhere to. If your company is very corporate, your approval processes for travel should echo this.
3. Include everything in your Travel Policy
The success of a travel policy much depends on it covering absolutely everything – from how to book; approval processes; designated class of travel and how many hotel nights are allowed per meeting, to expense allowances; payment methods; advance booking requirements; and travel documentation. If your policy has everything a traveller needs, they won’t have a problem using it.
4. Constantly communicate your travel policy
If your employees don’t know you have a policy, they won’t know to adhere to it. Make sure you communicate your policy across a range of channels like your intranet, shared drives, emails etc. Send out reminders once a quarter of where they can find the travel policy and perhaps share some tips and tricks for their travels.
5. Get employee feedback and take it on board
By asking your employees for feedback, you show you are listening and developing your travel policy around what is best for your employees. Try to do annual traveller satisfaction surveys and quarterly reviews to open those channels of communication. Take their advice into account and be flexible in your ways of including their feedback. This way your travellers and travel bookers feel involved and engaged, which means they will adopt and adhere to your travel policy.