Think back to the time before the global pandemic. When someone said "business trip", what image did you see in the ad? Maybe it was a smartly dressed George Clooney strolling through the airport with a compact suitcase and a loyalty card. Michael Scott may have done it as a mysterious international traveling business class, charmed in the door of a hotel in Winnipeg.
Or maybe it was your boss, or your boss's boss, or a salesperson, or a group of colleagues who traveled to the trade shows every year. Whatever you envision, the end result is the same. The errands were mostly clearly defined, it was clear. For example, you traveled to build a relationship with a potential customer, business partner or close a deal, or you did not travel.
Today everything is different. The role of corporate or corporate travel is evolving in organizations to be ready for other purposes in an increasingly digital world. The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives, including the way we work and our relationships with colleagues.
Work is the new norm of the future
With international mobility down 65% amid the global health crisis due to lockdowns and travel bans, businesses have an opportunity to rethink how they operate. Against this background, a hybrid work model was born, which gives employees the opportunity to work from home and meet in person - "the best of both worlds". In fact, 79% of executives indicated that they are considering implementing this model of work in their companies.
With this seismic shift to hybrid and remote work setups, it's only natural that the workforce will become digital and teams will become increasingly distributed. That's right, humans are an inherently social species. We thrive on collaboration, and perhaps some of humanity's greatest endeavors, developments, and achievements are the result of this ability to collaborate. Did you know that "Rome wasn't built in a day"? Well, it was built by more than one person.
And this collaboration and interaction is what knowledge workers need. Recent TravelPerk research shows that the number one reason employees want to meet in person is to build relationships in the real world, which they can't do with video conferencing tools like Zoom, which are 100% online. Or the Microsoft team.
So how do you do it when your team members are in 30 countries, 12 regions and 95 different cities? The answer is quite simple.
Work in the company
Business travel is the key to unlocking the future of work
Simply put, today's business travel is a tool to facilitate face-to-face interaction in an increasingly decentralized and distributed world. If you will, it is a ship that brings people together - a train that pulls, a flight that lands on time.
And this is not speculation or wishful thinking. Global data shows that business travel is making a comeback in a post-Covid world:
The business travel industry is changing its game. It is becoming more democratized and becoming a tool for a fuller, richer and more connected employee experience. As distributed teams become the norm, employees are finding the right balance between flexibility and meaningful, meaningful personal interaction with their colleagues. Not only that, but companies are looking for ways to retain talented people, and the answer lies in that delicate balance of authentic engagement and flexibility.
Flexibility is clearly a major trend in the post-pandemic world of work. In fact, 75% of employees say they would sacrifice other amenities to be able to integrate into their work environment. Additionally, 54% of recruiters said they turned down a job because of a lack of flexibility. However, this does not mean that flexibility means not seeing colleagues face to face. What employees really want in today's workplace is the ability to shape their lives and work environment around their personal and professional needs.
And yes, that includes interacting with colleagues in real life. In fact, the ability to walk between offices or move from one site to another is a benefit that employees are looking for:
- 72% of respondents to our survey said that ideally they would like to go to the office 1-2 days a week, 63% would like to choose the time of arrival.
- The main reasons why colleagues travel for business or work are:
- Meet face-to-face for interactive sessions such as workshops or team-building activities (26%).
- Visiting customers (21%)
- Take advantage of the hybrid work environment for meaningful one-on-one meetings with your teammates or supervisors (20%).
- Meet potential job candidates in real life (18%)
- Regular conversations with colleagues and face-to-face meetings are the #1 and #2 things employees miss the most while working remotely (68% and 46%, respectively).
In addition, employees and companies are eager to return to social events, team building and company-wide meetings:
- 88% of companies will resume in-person events and team meetings in 2022 and beyond
- 79% of employees are happy to return to events for the opportunity to meet other colleagues and build meaningful real-life relationships.
- Social communication is important for employees to feel truly included in their company culture. 73% say that what they miss most is communicating with colleagues on a regular basis!
And we see this more and more every day in the booking trends of our customers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the adoption of hybrid or remote work has doubled the frequency of meetings with colleagues from different locations on the same day:
In addition, an interesting new trend is emerging where outbound events, seminars and venues are becoming an increasingly important factor for new regular business travel. In particular, out-of-area travel doubled as the main reason for travel before the pandemic, increasing at the beginning or end of the quarter. Events have increased their volume by 30% as a "destination" before the pandemic.
Introducing the future of business travel for a new world
The Cambridge Dictionary defines "business travel" as travel for business purposes . At TravelPerk, we've decided to take that definition even further.
In business:
If you want to meet colleagues, clients and partners in real life, the value of meeting in person goes beyond the digital workplace.
Business travel becomes essentially a personal collaboration tool, similar to a conference room or office. It serves several purposes, from building relationships to immersing employees in your company culture, increasing retention to prioritizing employee well-being and happiness. And with these new goals come new types of business travel, including:
- Travel between centers to meet colleagues and participate in group work
- Frequent travel to participate in campaign launch and strategy sessions
- Regular outdoor trips, team retreats and social events
- A mix of business and leisure travel (or "stopovers") where you combine work and leisure
- Travel to conferences, summits or trade shows for networking opportunities
These are just a few of the many business trips that employees can look forward to in the new world of work. And they're 100% here at TravelPerk - we've even changed our mission statement to reflect that. Now we want to connect people in real life in a pleasant and lasting way. It's exciting because we've seen firsthand the magic that happens when colleagues come together: bursts of inspiration, sparks of creativity, laughter, connections... and lasting, but because we believe that the journey should and will return (and even exceed) pre-pandemic rates, it should not come at the expense of the environment.
Everything we create here at TravelPerk is focused on making business travel as easy as possible at every stage of the journey, from booking to travel to reporting. For us, it's about helping you do better: we're like Slack, we start conversations in real life, not on a screen.
And that's why we believe so strongly that business travel will become a key part of the future of work. It will shape relationships, company culture, and be a bridge that connects people in meaningful, rewarding, and enjoyable ways. So, if you agree with me, get on the IRL 2.0 train and contact us to find out how we can make important meetings happen in person.
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