Traveller Wellbeing – Who owns the travel time?

By Matthew Holman, Head of Traveller Wellbeing at Capita Travel and Events.

It’s 03:00, I am in bed at home and my alarm goes off. It is time to get up.  This is not a ‘normal’ day.  It is a business travel day and I need to fly to Amsterdam for a meeting.  I have to catch the 06:40 flight from Heathrow to arrive in Amsterdam at 09:05.  My meeting is in the city at a client’s office from 11:00 until 13:00. 

Now, here is my quandary: during the booking process I know that my company policy is to book travel at the lowest cost. I check for my return flight. The more convenient 15:00 departure is available, but costs £160, whereas the 21:15 is also available and costs just £67 (saving £93 for my company), but costing six hours of ‘my time’.  I am cost conscious for my organisation (it’s in policy) so I choose the later flight.  This now means that I land at Heathrow at 21:30, with all my best hopes that I clear security, head to the (lowest cost) car parking option and return home by - at the earliest – 23:00, before hoping to fall straight into bed and sleep. 

From getting out of bed to getting back into bed I have spent 20 hours of my 24-hour day.

This brings forward two questions:

1. When does my work day start?
2. Who owns my travel time?

The European Working Time Directive states the following entitlements for employees:

• An average of 48 hours ‘working’ in the working week 
• 11 hours of rest a day and the right to one day off each week 
• The right to a rest break if the working day is longer than six hours

In relation to travel time, the regulations state: Travel time to and from work is not usually counted as working hours. However, travel as part of the employee's duties is.

So, what is the answer to the question? Does my trip to Amsterdam belong to me or is it owned by my company and, therefore, have I already worked 20 of my 48 hour (average) this week?  We then bring up other questions as well:

1. Do I get time to recover before my next trip/working day? 
2. Does my company recognise how long my day is?

If we compare a business travel day to my normal working day, the patterns are very different. I know when I need to leave to get to the office, I know what time I will be working from – to, and what time I will get home. All is very clear.

The above was my life for 20 years. I was a very frequent traveller, and day trips to Europe were perfectly normal and expected as part of my job in sales. I didn’t mind, but also didn’t recognise the long-term impact until I had my own personal mental health crisis in 2016, caused by fatigue, burnout and an unsupportive organisation. This must change and these questions must be addressed.

What our data tells us about travel time

Looking at how long our customers travel within the day, 19% of the return trips undertaken this year are on the same day - with 14% of them being UK domestic flights and 5% to / from Europe. The average duration of these flights vary from just under one hour in the UK, to just under two hours for flights to Europe – add to that the journey time to / from the airport and the one hour pre-flight check in cut off - a same day return trip can incorporate anything from four to eight hours (or more) of travelling, which does not leave a lot of productive time for travellers to do the job they actually travelled to achieve in the first place.

When looking at the times of travel, then 18% of trips take place during unsocial hours (before 7am or after 7pm). In the UK this is less prevalent, with only 10% of trips, but increasing to 20% for European trips.

Lastly, there is the question of whether it is reasonable to expect your employees to spend part of their weekends travelling for work. Overall, 15% of trips undertaken this year have departed or arrived on a weekend (outbound Friday - Sunday or inbound Saturday - Sunday). When looking at the destination we have less weekend travel on UK domestic trips, with 7% incorporating a weekend, and see an increase to 15% for European trip.  

If we take this further and look at the difference of time spent travelling via air vs rail, we can see some routes don’t have much time difference. For example, Edinburgh to Manchester has just a 10-minute time difference yet rail costs less than half the air cost! By switching to rail for ‘long journeys’ it could aid productivity and health with the ability to move around and alleviate the stress that comes with airport security and queues.

Taking a smarter working approach

I manage my life differently now, not least by trying to live by the Capita Travel and Events’ Smarter Working practices and applying the Five Ways to Wellbeing framework.

When I must attend a meeting – especially overseas – I consider the following:

1. Ask and check if the trip is absolutely necessary
2. Try to work around sociable hours for travel. Whilst being conscious of the trip cost, I now also put greater emphasis on the cost of my time
3. Plan as far in advance for the trip, know my itinerary and have everything confirmed
4. When I travel, I sleep whenever I feel tired (I can nap 2-3 times a day).  I keep hydrated with plenty of water, and I try my best to eat light meals and nothing too heavy. 
5. On a day trip, I will try and walk as much as possible during the day to keep active
6. Take time on my return to rest well, recover and prepare for the next activity.

Capita’s Five Ways to Wellbeing when travelling for work highlights the importance not only of being active and healthy, but also keeping connected with friends, family and colleagues, and doing everything you can to be at your best.

We use it to help organisations shape their travel programmes to what matters really to their travellers’ wellbeing, but it is also a practical and common-sense way to think about the things you can do to take personal ownership of time on the road.

We have recently incorporated Smarter working dashboards for our customers so organisations can see the impact on people and making necessary changes.

All of these initiatives are one step closer to raising awareness, understanding and solving the challenge of who owns the travel time and how it can be optimised for both traveller and the organisation.

Capital Travel and Events is exhibiting at Business Travel Show, the international event for business travel, taking place 26-27 February 2020 at Olympia London. Visitor registration is open now at https://www.businesstravelshow.com/register

WHAT IS IT WITH SERVICED APARTMENTS?

Talk about alternative accommodation, and everyone thinks you’re referring to Airbnb. While it’s true that the use of disruptive providers – like Airbnb – is rocketing in leisure travel, business travel buyers are yet to wholeheartedly embrace them. The serviced apartment industry, however, is flourishing and we have the stats to prove it.

For the last three years, the Business Travel Show has collaborated with ASAP (the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers) to poll buyers. This year, our survey shows that nearly a third of corporate travel buyers increased their use of serviced apartments in 2018.

This is a huge leap from the 20 per cent who turned to serviced apartments more often in 2017. In addition, it was the only accommodation category to see an increase in use over the last 12 months.

Thirty-five per cent of the 134 respondents said they had used the same amount of serviced apartments as they did in 2017 – up from 25 per cent in the previous year’s survey.

When asked why they chose to book serviced apartments, the number one reason given by buyers was “better value for money”, followed by convenience of the self-catering option, more space, flexibility to experience the location like a local resident and long-term suitability.

Kat Hendry, Business Travel Show account manager, below

Buyers are also allocating a higher proportion of their budget to serviced apartments; 77 per cent spent less than 10 per cent of their budget on the accommodation option – down from 90 per cent in 2016. Meanwhile, 17 per cent allocated 11-25 per cent, compared to just 7 per cent in 2016.

For the first time in the survey’s history, a small number of buyers said they allocated 51-100 per cent of their budget to serviced apartments, with 1 per cent claiming to spend their entire accommodation budget on this option.

The number of buyers who didn’t use serviced apartments dropped from 42 per cent in 2017 to 32 per cent in 2018, whereas the proportion not using sharing economy accommodation options such as Airbnb rose from 38 per cent to 45 per cent. Furthermore, the number that haven’t used five-star hotels also went up slightly from 28 per cent to 31 per cent.

These are pretty extraordinary statistics that prove the industry is making considerable headway in raising awareness of serviced apartments as valid and valuable alternative accommodation for business travellers. Not only are more buyers aware of serviced apartments as an option, they also appreciate the pros they offer to their travellers and are much more open to including them in their travel programmes.

They also reflect the ongoing pressure on buyers to cut cost and display improved ROI on travel spend as well as the desire from younger travellers to enjoy the flexibility provided by alternative accommodation providers.

We asked ASAP’s CEO James Foice what he thought of the results. He pointed out how the landscape is rapidly evolving for the serviced apartment sector and how ASAP is also seeing a significant increase in supply year on year. In 2018, he said, they found that more and more companies are booking two-bedroom or two-bathroom apartments, as colleagues will often share the apartment, making it a more cost-effective choice as well as giving employees working away from home some companionship. A two-bedroom option also provides privacy and collaboration space under one roof.

We host the ASAP Pavilion at Business Travel Show, so if it’s a sector you are yet to investigate, come and meet a few them in February.

This post was written by Business Travel Show account manager Kat Hendry -kat.hendry@centaurmedia.com @kathendrybts. The Business Travel Show is the leading event for corporate travel in Europe attracting over 9,000 professionals and 260 exhibitors. Taking place from 20-21 February 2019 at Olympia London, the show is celebrating its 25^th anniversary.

GUEST BLOG: Mobility-as-a-Service: Buzzword or Business Strategy?

Last February when we attended the Business Travel Show to reveal our new app – Mobilleo - we were constantly being asked to explain Mobility-as-a-Service. Industry knowledge about the term seemed restricted to “that’s about driverless cars” or questions like “is that to do with public transport?”. In less than 12 months, the landscape has changed and suddenly anyone worth their salt has latched onto the industry’s latest buzzword.

The image above shows how Google search volume for the phrase has radically increased in 2017 and is set to grow well into 2018. Since the start of the year we’ve seen major players such as KPMG, Deloitte and even the UK Government create content and initiatives to explore what they think Mobility-as-a-Service is.

However, whilst autonomous vehicles and smart cities remain popular topics of conversations, many in our industry still do not grasp the true nature of Mobility-as-a-Service.

MaaS isn’t exclusive to public sector projects on providing accessible transport, nor is it just a new shiny feature that car manufacturers can entice fleet managers with. True Mobility-as-a-Service is the complete offering of not just transport, but the entire journey.

At Mobilleo, we’re one of the very few true technology providers to have created our own intellectual property that does Mobility-as-a-Service for businesses. Our app does the usual flights, trains and taxis but it also recognises the micro-elements of a journey like parking, airport lounges, WiFi codes and places for a bite to eat.

The industry needs to stop equating Mobility-as-a-Service to just a few facets of travel. It goes far beyond that in that it also involves expense management, data analysis, employee morale and much more. Mobility-as-a-Service isn’t a buzzword – it’s a business strategy, and it’s one that companies need to be taking a much closer look at in 2018.

With this in mind here are some of our favourite terms and explanations for those looking for a ‘cheat-sheet’ on MaaS.

What is Mobility-as-a-Service?

According to Mobilleo CEO, Justin Whitston, Mobility-as-a-Service is the intersection of technology and all aspects of travel. Its specific objective is to facilitate convenience, cost and comfort of travel using technology. Tech allows users to not be reliant on owning a car when instead they can quickly access a local car club. It allows users to assess every transport option easily and make a decision based on cost, speed, comfort and even how environmentally friendly it is.

Who is Mobility-as-a-Service for?

At the moment it’s largely a conversation topic amongst fleet managers, financial directors and technologists but in reality, it’s for everyone. Employees benefit from Mobility-as-a-Service as an alternative way to book their travel – they don’t need to be told “this is the cheapest train ticket so you’re going on this train” when they can find cheaper alternatives for themselves. Personal assistants and travel managers benefit from a quicker and more efficient way of finding, booking and paying for travel. Financial directors benefit in that they no longer need to be reliant on company car fleets that can prove costly and tiring to manage.

Does that mean Mobility-as-a-Service will replace the car?

No. Mobility-as-a-Service is about offering the car (or company car) as one option of many to users. Businesses can look to reduce their fleet size by adopting usership models like car clubs, taxis or public transport but can still retain a fleet for those “I need it right now” moments.

MaaS apps like Mobilleo allow car owners to look at their journey and compare how much it would cost them to take their own car versus the train. It’s just a question of what’s most important for that individual journey – cost, comfort or convenience?

What is Total Cost of Mobility?

Another favourite phrase of the industry – total cost of mobility – is a term you can expect to see more and more in the coming months. TCM refers to data analysis that reveals the true cost of your mobility. Too often consumers and businesses only count the obvious travel costs like train tickets or fuel. In fact, travel is often made up on far more micro-transactions that get spent but never recorded. Parking tickets, WiFi access codes, a cup of tea at the station – all of these are expensed but usually never incorporated into the cost of the journey.

By analysing this data and working out the total cost of mobility businesses can identify areas of wastage and make better decisions regarding their travel policies.

How do I get Mobility-as-a-Service into my business?

MaaS isn’t something that you can turn on overnight, nor is it something that requires major changes to the way your business operates. The first step to adopting a true Mobility-as-a-Service approach is to understand what you’re already doing.

Analysis of data such as costs, time spent booking travel arrangements and frequency of travel can all help identify how close or far away your business is from achieving MaaS efficiency.

Every day they are new initiatives and partnerships emerging that encourage businesses and consumers to think differently about how they travel. Ultimately the starting point is education – once you know what you’re doing, you need to explain the process to staff and clearly identify the benefits Mobility-as-a-Service can bring to employees.

What are the benefits of Mobility-as-a-Service?

Benefits include:

·    A more productive workforce as staff no longer need stress and spend valuable time scouring multiple travel websites and companies

·    A more empowered employee – MaaS apps like Mobilleo places the control of business travel into the employee’s hand, but carefully regulated with customisable travel policy settings such as spend limits and ticket restrictions

·    Better business decisions – access to easy-to-digest data means that finance and fleet teams can assess the demand for their fleet and assets when thinking about expanding or shrinking their fleet

·    Cost effective journeys – access to more options will only create more price-effective travel and help your workforce truly think about the cost of their journey

Mobilleo is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in February where you can meet them and find out even more about MaaS. Continue your registration now for a free ticket at www.businesstravelshow.com.