Unsure on your company’s travel rules? You need a policy
Can your staff spend whatever they want on travel? Would you prefer they booked with a certain airline?
Answering these types of questions is the start of building a travel policy. Policies for business travel work by:
- Making company travel rules and processes crystal clear.
- Outlining how much staff are allowed to spend.
- Naming companies and travel suppliers that you’d prefer they use, such as a corporate travel agency, airlines or taxi providers.
- Explaining where exceptions can be made.
- Showing that you care about safety and wellbeing while staff are on work trips.
- Clearly stating what can be expensed and how.
Is it my job to write the travel policy?
If you’re reading this then possibly, yes. It needs to be an individual or team that makes the decisions on company policies. Usually it’s the CEO or founder, or possibly the CFO or HR department.
Whatever the case, it should be approved at the highest level. And don’t do it alone – involve frequent travellers and various stakeholders. Especially your accountant, who will be able to ensure everything’s in keeping with HMRC guidelines.
It's not a long boring document
Keep it short and sweet. Reading a policy isn’t exactly the most exciting part of anyone’s job. And it needs to be written in a way that everyone can read, understand and know exactly what to do. Otherwise there will be more confusion than before, which no one wants.
Travel policies should really match your company’s culture and wider objectives. If your company is really into sustainability then that should be reflected in your travel policy. If you’re attempting to keep costs down, staying in five-star hotels doesn’t exactly match that message.
By getting those stakeholders involved you’ll discover what rules or preferences your employees have already. You’ll probably hear some horror stories. Some might be spending way more than you thought. But that’s in the past and it’s valuable feedback. Time to wipe the slate clean and get it all written down.
Talk to your TMC – they will have the knowledge and templates to help take away the time and stress. They’ve worked with hundreds of companies to write unique travel policies and help businesses avoid all the classic traps and pitfalls.
Okay, what does this policy need to include?
At its core:
- Where to book
- How to pay
- How to claim back
- Flight, hotel and taxi company preferences
- ‘How to’ guides for booking tools
Want to know more about building a travel policy? Let's talk
