*EXCLUSIVE Q&A* Business Travel Wellbeing Community

Business Travel Wellbeing Community was started by a group of like-minded people who wanted to change business travel for the better, and who felt that the best way to go about this was to focus on helping people with their mental health, physical health, jet-lag, sleep management, recovery, thriving and calm mind-sets and cultural intelligence. 

We find out more in this exclusive Q&A with co-founders of Business Travel Wellbeing Community; Dr. Lucy Rattrie, John Lee, Katie Virtue and Matthew Holman.

What inspired you to co-found BTWC?

We are business travellers, love working in the industry and are passionate about people doing incredible work. We have been frustrated that wellness challenges are not being addressed, despite statistics and anecdotal reports emphasising the importance of wellbeing. We want to enable people, organisations, and the industry to flourish, so collectively founded a global community with no hidden agenda and a values-based purpose.

Thankfully, traveller wellbeing is a topic gaining momentum, confirmed with a 2019 report revealing 89 % of organisations polled will increase their approach to wellbeing in 2020. We realised the people who matter (that’s the business travellers btw!) were not being asked what they want, need, think, so felt the need for something different, radical, right.

What excites you most about BTWBC?

Harnessing our collective energy to make a difference in the industry, speaking as a single voice that puts people at the heart of actions! A central point will bring together opinions, insights, knowledge to address challenges faced, guide people, organisations, suppliers, and professional bodies in decision making and action, bringing sustainability and putting people first.

What will make traveller wellbeing front and centre for the next ten years?

The increasing impact to travel programmes, high turnover, absenteeism, increasing fears around risk (amongst other factors) are causing travel managers and HR to take ownership. We expect the travel-HR conversations to become status-quo, driven by internal advocates, willingness to allocate budget and resources to help travellers, and suppliers who up their game. It’s been accepted for a long time that people are the heart of HR, and we feel people will soon be viewed as the heart of travel management – taking a balanced view and stopping a dominant default to savings, compliance, cost etc. We expect a change in travel policies to become more people-centric, with a degree of flexibility to enhance wellbeing.

Building a global community around wellbeing is a crucial first step, but ultimately, the leaders will make a difference and be recognised as first movers, courageous in taking a holistic business metric view.  Wellbeing is not an easy topic as the KPIs and business metrics to follow can be difficult to measure or take time to emerge.  They don't appear in any profit and loss account, but they do have a considerable business impact.  Losing a talented employee to anxiety, stress or burn-out can cause a ripple across an organisation beyond just their direct salary. Some are leading the way and we’re looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Business Travel Wellbeing Community are exhibiting at BTS wellness retreat. Register for FREE now www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* Top 5 ways to deal with business travel stress

Business travel can be stressful. One of the ways to monitor the travel worries of employees is through regular surveys about their views of business travel. In a recent survey, over 100 points of potential anxiety for travellers was identified, ranging from planning a trip, not knowing the location well, delays, cancellations, language and culture to home-related stresses including childcare, pet cover and personal social commitments.

To achieve a less stressful travel experience, travellers are encouraged to embrace ‘Smarter working’ – a unique approach to booking and travelling.  

Matthew Holman, Head of Traveller Wellbeing at Capita Travel and Events, shares his top five tips to dealing with business travel stress:

1)     Book Smarter

Changes to the way we plan travel and book, such as advance booking as well as integrated itinerary information, a traveller can prepare mentally for it.   When changes happen during the trip, travellers benefit from our support and our technology, which has been developed to provide relevant and timely communications to help them.  After the trip, we encourage the traveller to take time to recover and prepare for their next activities.

2)     Sleep is key

When travellers fly long-haul, their circadian rhythm is disrupted.  On average, it takes one day for each one-hour time zone change to reset your circadian rhythm to its home settings. We encourage travellers to sleep well and avoid stimulants, such as caffeine after lunch or alcohol in the evening.  

3)     Educate on coping strategies?

One of the best coping strategies I recommend for travellers is to practice mindfulness and breathing exercises.  When travelling, try to stay connected with home and your normal routines.  If you use the gym at home, make sure to pack your kit so you use the gym when travelling.

4)     Understanding of individuals’ needs

Managers need to seek deeper and more-connected relationships with their employees. They should focus on understanding what the challenges are for the individuals and, where they see something that they are worried about, they should be open to having a discussion to understand the employee’s issues.  The best leaders are the ones who show their employees empathy and compassion.  Simple steps, such as making sure travellers are fit to travel before their trip, making sure the traveller has downtime when they travel and are allowed the time to recover make a difference.

5)     Not travel

It may sound obvious, but travellers should really question whether they need to travel in the first instance. Is the trip necessary and how can it be as efficient and effective as possible?  Is there an alternative to being their physically? Employees should look attending meetings via video call or conference call. 

We have hosted numerous ‘Smarter working’ workshops with customers and our own travellers, as well as steering groups with suppliers so we can enhance the overall traveller experience and continue to improve traveller wellbeing. If you are interested in finding out more about Smarter working and want to speak to our wellbeing experts, Matthew will be on our stand (B140) at various times throughout the show. If you want to book a specific appointment, please contact Matthew.Holman@capita.com

This blog was posted by Matthew Holman, Head of Traveller Wellbeing at Capita Travel and Events, who are exhibiting on stand B140 at the Business Travel Show over 26 – 27 February. Register for a FREE visitor pass now www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* The research is here. Why you cannot afford to ignore business traveller wellness

There has been a lot of news and research in the last few years about the effects of frequent business travel and I am sorry to say that the majority of it is not good. At first a job that includes travel may seem glamourous and enviable, but when you look at the facts it is clear that business travellers are facing challenges to their health and wellbeing with every trip they take. As more people recognise the need for consistent healthy routines and balance for their mental and physical health, it is simply not good enough to say business travellers have to sacrifice that when travelling for work.

The business travel industry is set to grow to 1.6 trillion this year and it shows no signs of slowing down, which is no surprise as companies that invest in business travel continually see a significant return on business travel and face to face meetings. The fact is that frequent travel is good for business but bad for the travelling employee and that needs to change.

Studies show the most prevalent problems facing business travellers today are:

So, the research is here, there is no denying it. You can no longer ignore traveller wellness if you want to keep healthy, happy and productive employees in your organisation. You may be wondering how you can you help your employees to travel well? Taking some simple steps can make a huge difference.

Make wellness part of your travel policy

A corporate travel policy lists a set of guidelines for business travel. They focus on flights, accommodation, expense guidelines and security. Health and wellbeing initiatives are often forgotten. Corporate wellness programmes saw (and continue to see) a huge surge in the last few years and companies that successfully implement them are reaping the benefits. Wellness is not just for in the office, you need to take care of your travelling employees too. Include wellness initiatives in your travel policy to show your employees that their health and wellbeing are a priority and help them to create healthy routines while on the road.

Help your travelling employees plan ahead

A little planning can go a long way. Travel managers should take the time to plan trips with their travelling employees and identify and gaps in wellness. Perhaps your employee has a few hours to spare before they catch a flight that they could spend at the gym. Or perhaps knowing where the healthiest places to eat at the airport would help them stick to their healthy routines.

Invest in travel wellness programs

The best way to help your travelling employees to stay healthy on the road is to invest in travel wellness programmes and apps and provide access to those on the road. Sanctifly is a great option for frequent travellers. Members get access to leisure, relaxation and fitness facilities worldwide, all within 5 miles of the airport. With Sanctifly, members can spend their layover in the pool or working out at the airport hotel gym or visit one of our 250 lounges and freshen up with a shower before their next flight. Another great digital option is Timeshifter, the jet lag app. Manage jet lag and help your employees stay productive on the road with a Timeshifter subscription.

There are lots of options out there to help travelling employees to Travel Well. Don’t ignore the research, your travelling employees need help to create healthy travel routines today.

This blog was posted by Maeve Power, Digital Marketing & Customer Experience Executive, Sanctifly, who are exhibiting at the Business Travel Show on Feb 26-27. Please register for your free visitor pass at www.businesstravelshow.com

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