Wednesday 25 September 2013

Almost every company, large or small, will require some of its employees to travel on occasion. Whether your firm's employees are hardened road warriors who crisscross the globe or just need to attend a few out-of-town conventions each year, a clear, concise corporate travel policy will help ensure that your company gets the best possible return on investment for business travel.

Instructions

    1

    Analyze your company's travel needs. Examine your employees' travel patterns for the past year or two. Note how many trips they took, what destinations they visited, their reasons for traveling, and what travel providers they used. If you already use a corporate travel agent, she should be able to help you gather and evaluate this information.

    2

    Decide what class of service you're willing to pay for. Are certain employees entitled to travel in premium classes? At larger firms, executives' contracts may stipulate that they travel in business class. Do you need refundable airline tickets for maximum flexibility, or can you get by with nonrefundable tickets, which tend to be much less expensive? What class of hotel should your employees stay at?

    3

    Contact travel suppliers such as airlines, hotel chains and rental car agencies. You may be able to negotiate discounts or rebates in exchange for directing all your corporate travel business to those companies. The more business you can promise a travel provider, the better your position to negotiate volume discounts. Depending on the volume of your travel, you may want to set up relationships with more than one company for the sake of flexibility; your preferred provider might sometimes be overbooked or may not serve a certain destination.

    4

    Write a document that outlines your corporate travel policy. Make it as short and simple as possible, but be sure to address common questions employees might have. Aim for a policy that balances employees' comfort with cost-effectiveness. If employees must book their own travel, outline the procedures they should use for booking, the travel providers they should use, the class of service they may book and the steps they must take to obtain authorization for their travel. Explain when and how they must submit their travel expense reports and what documentation they should retain. Establish expense thresholds for meals and entertainment, and spell out what is and is not permitted.

    5

    Set up a wiki on your internal Web site so employees can easily find answers to their questions about the corporate travel policy. A wiki can help cut down on the amount of time you or your travel manager spend answering basic questions that come up repeatedly. It can also provide employees with a place to share tips about commonly visited destinations and ways to save money on the road. Your IT department or a provider such as Wikispaces.com can help you create a wiki.

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