Andrew Foster is VP consulting services EMEA at AppZen
Of the many sectors impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the global travel industry is certainly one of the hardest hit. But as industry experts continue to push back their estimates of when business travel will recover, corporate travel managers now have a unique opportunity to reassess their T&E processes.
With the sudden, large-scale switch to remote working, companies have experienced a seismic shift in the nature of business travel and expenses being claimed. Yet a recent survey of ours about how remote working has changed employee expense claims revealed that nearly half (49 per cent) of organisations have not updated their expense policies as a result of Covid.
This lack of clarity around what types of expenses can and cannot be submitted has caused confusion and frustration among employees.
In companies where expense policies have not been updated, only 29 per cent of employees said their employer fairly compensates them for their expenses related to working from home. That compares to 83 per cent of employees who did receive an updated policy due to Covid.
Given that nearly three out of four employees say they would likely look for another job if they faced frequent reimbursement issues, according to Trinet research, it’s evident that clear and current T&E policies should be a top priority for organisations.
T&E in a Covid world
Whilst Covid-19 has grounded most business travellers, travel for work purposes remains one of the few "legally permitted reasons" for people to travel under current UK government directives.
However, employees who do have a genuine reason to travel abroad will be encountering different self-isolation requirements on arrival – depending on the destination – as well as upon their return. What’s more, the quarantine guidelines in place when an employee left on their trip could have changed by the time they return.
Similarly, travel requirements around Covid testing are changing daily, from the question of which countries require fit-to-fly certification and what type of Covid test is acceptable, to whether testing is required before departure and/or after arrival, and the time frame within which it must be completed.
Pandemic business travel has introduced a whole host of new variables into corporate T&E reimbursement and it’s vital that such policies are flexible enough to adapt to these changing circumstances.
The need to extend trips to accommodate unexpected quarantines, or authorise premium 24-hour service Covid-19 PCR tests, may become par for the course for some time to come.
How to build Covid-resilient T&E policies
Companies rely on corporate travel managers not only to process T&E reports and handle reimbursements, but also to ensure regulatory compliance and develop strategic policies that meet the company’s needs.
Unquestionably, their role is particularly challenging today, but there are key steps corporate travel managers can take to build a repeatable structure for managing T&E that works now and is capable of adapting to necessary changes moving forward.
The first step is to review current T&E policies and determine what needs to change now in response to present conditions, and how policies can be developed to best support employees going forward.
Some companies have created specific expense types to track Covid-19 related spending more closely. Others have created expense categories for their accounts payable departments to process high-priority purchases more quickly.
Next, develop a plan around pain points, such as cancellations and travel credits. Travel delays and cancellations are to be expected for the foreseeable future, so be sure to discuss with travel providers how to handle no-show fees, cancellation credits or travel credits to employee loyalty accounts.
Finally, corporate travel managers should take advantage of the time and space for change that reduced business travel has presented and implement technology that streamlines T&E management.
It looks as if remote working is here to stay, and digitalised T&E management allows corporate travel managers to ensure their management processes are more structured, adaptable and efficient.
The newest AI-powered solutions can automate policy enforcement, spotting innocent errors as well as detecting, for example, whether an employee’s ten-day quarantine at the Atlantis Dubai over Christmas was, or was not, a legitimate expense.
At a time of historic business travel disruption, corporate travel managers are being called upon to create T&E policies that are clear and fit for purpose.
Although this is no mean feat, by taking the time to think proactively and strategically about refining such policies, and utilising the right IT systems to implement them, companies can manage expenditures effectively and provide a fair and consistent approach to T&E that benefits employees and businesses alike.