Travelling is an excellent way to build relationships, close deals, and attend important events, making it an integral part of the business world. As much as business travel is exciting, it comes with its fair share of costs. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the most difficult expense categories to control, but if you get a better picture of the situation, you can gain better control of the expenditures. Not only can travel costs be unpredictable but also there are many missed savings opportunities. In this blog, we’ll show you how you can manage travel expenses efficiently.
Team Up with Your Favourite Airline Carriers
Virtually all airlines operate corporate flight programs for the benefit of regular business travellers, so think about reaching out to your preferred airline carrier. You can strike a basic partnership or a more advanced one that includes different levels of service and discounts for a negotiated rate. The taxes and fees can total hundreds of pounds, even with the benefits. Still, the overall travel costs are lower. Employees can take advantage of corporate flight benefits no matter the class of air travel on numerous flights. For instance, they may be able to leverage extended deadlines for ticket cancellations. Of course, there’s no guarantee.
Offering corporate flight discounts is a win-win situation. The airline carrier has the advantage of customer loyalty (and more business). In contrast, customers reap the benefits of travel discounts and secure a strong bond with their partner. Attention must be paid to the fact that convenience doesn’t include airport parking. Off-site parking is generally cheaper, but the schedule might not suit your itinerary. There should be some flexibility in the date of departure and arrival. Those flying out of London Stansted Airport can book a space in the Stansted parking lot for £5.00 per day.
Have A Corporate Travel Policy
The people in your organisation travel to different places to perform the duties and tasks of their particular roles, such as filling staff positions, meeting with clients, or overseeing sites, to name but a few. A well-formulated policy goes a long way towards reducing expenses, so you should better get to work. The corporate travel policy should outline the rules and procedures for work-related trips and costs. Non-adherence should include stringent disciplinary action and may even lead to termination. You must be clear on your position on the following:
- Approval requirements for all trips
- Rules around booking flights in economy versus business class
- Reimbursement and expense report processes
- Allowed per diem expenses (and whether a credit card will be provided)
- Personal safety & security of belongings
Having set guidelines and procedures helps both your company and travellers. You can keep travel costs low and within budget, not to mention that you can predict future costs and align them with your plans. Go through the corporate travel policy one more time to ensure it’s error-free (and ask your peers to read it to be sure it makes sense). Another person might come up with a different travel arrangement.
Set A Realistic Transport Allowance
As an employer, you have specific obligations, such as providing travel, reimbursing travel, ensuring accommodation, and providing meals and other subsistence while travelling. To be clear, subsistence refers to meals and other necessary costs, such as parking changes. Arriving by car at the airport has become a hassle due to increasing parking charges. Comparing prices can be hard, as they fluctuate daily, so consider booking through Parkos (https://parkos.co.uk/) to find affordable and reliable parking near the airport. Back on topic, provide an allowance to employees to compensate for their travel to meet their expenditure during their duty performed.
A transport allowance demonstrates your company is genuinely committed to enabling travel and, most importantly, willing to support it financially. Plus, it will be easier to identify lapses in your systems and procedures, allowing you to update the corporate travel policy immediately. Having a clear framework with guidelines for how it will work in the organisation is crucial, including who can apply. Have a plan for unusual work hours, unexpected commitments, or emergency situations. You’ll be exempt from reporting or paying anything if you have an employee with a disability. Nevertheless, you must report the value of travel and subsistence benefits if they’re provided as part of a salary sacrifice arrangement.
Advocate On Using Public & Shared Transportation
Encourage staff members to take public transport rather than use their cars or take a taxi. It’s better for your bottom line and the environment. If you reimburse your employees’ transportation costs in full, this will make people less hesitant in their choice of travel. Employees will forward their travel expenses, submitting all relevant receipts, after which you transfer the total amount to their accounts. In case you didn’t know, you can exempt these expenses from tax. If you fail to pay for the travel expenses, the people in your organisation can reclaim the tax from the government under certain conditions.
Shared transport offers you the opportunity to support your staff, the environment, and the local community. Above all, it can save your organisation money, which means you don’t have to spend millions of pounds on grey fleets. Create a carpooling program for your company; you can set up the parameters however you like. Find employees who live in close proximity to one another and invite them to share transportation, placing emphasis on the potential savings they could make. Email your staff members to share their contact information (with their permission, of course). Infrastructure costs for carpooling are minimal, yet high-occupancy vehicle lanes range in the millions.
Wrapping it up
Corporations can expect travel costs to continue to rise for the rest of 2023. It’s nothing new, but it’s important to know it’s a global situation. Find a way to cut corporate travel expenses without impacting employee needs. Consider offering incentives to those who save funds on business trips. For instance, Google splits the unspent allotment from the trip with the employee. You, too, can reap the benefits of enhanced collaboration.
