GUEST BLOG: THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING EDUCATION ENGAGING AND RELEVANT

Education and training is an essential component for success if aspiring to change employee behaviour or increase the uptake of a company policy.

As a travel manager, you would like more employees to comply with your travel policy and, as a security manager, you would like more travellers to be safer when on the road, as well as knowing what to do if something goes wrong.

Education and training can be conducted formally or informally – in an ideal world the former approach is preferable for legal and compliance reasons. However, an effective solution should be dictated by an organisation’s culture and delivered in a way that fully engages employees. 

Traditionally, a formal approach is achieved through tracked eLearning modules or registered classroom sessions. Some organisations use proof of training as a travel policy control and will not allow their TMCs to process an employee’s booking unless a training certificate is presented or verified. 

Another technique, in a bid to promote general awareness and behavioural change, is to employ informal methods such as short engaging videos and gamification. The approach taken, whether formal or informal, will reflect an organisation’s culture, but offering some form of training to employees is always preferable to providing nothing at all.

Conducting the same old training each year can be boring – keeping content fresh and interesting will engage and encourage your employees to be safer and more compliant with your policies. 

The beTravelwise team aims to make travel safety training an interesting and interactive experience for all employees, so we've put together the five-minute ‘Travel Wise’ game, inviting, corporate travellers to test – and refresh – their travel safety knowledge by answering multiple choice questions on 10 pertinent topics that cover every aspect of their journey: pre-travel booking, things to know before you travel, packing, arrivals, vehicles, at the hotel, health, free time, medical support and home again.

You can find the game here: http://betravelwise.com/travelwisegame/

The current buzz word in business travel is ‘personalisation’ and by making education relevant and accessible to your employees you will deliver a better and safer travel experience for all stakeholders. 

beTravelwise is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in 2017 - 22-23 February at London's Olympia Grand. Buyers can register for a free pass now at www.businesstravelshow.com. 

About Andy Prior

Andy Prior, Director and Co-Founder of beTravelwise, is passionate about all aspects of travel risk management. He has extensive experience in assisting multinational clients across several industries globally, having worked for International SOS as the firm’s EMEA Regional Security Manager. He is passionate about travel and has visited 80 countries worldwide. Before specialising in travel risk management, he spent six years as a British Army Officer. He has a BA (Hons) from Newcastle University and an MA from CASS Business School. He is a Certified Protection Professional (CPP). LinkedIn Profile.