What is a corporate travel policy?

Like many other policies, a corporate travel policy sets some rules and conditions for employees when they travel on behalf of your company. You’ll likely have this as a document alongside the other policies that you expect employees to follow, set out in a way that’s clear and understandable to all of your employees.

Recruiting a corporate travel agent

To arrange corporate travel, some companies choose to recruit a corporate travel agent who can plan trips on behalf of employees, or provide advice to them if they’re arranging their own trip. A corporate travel agent can also be employed by the company on a one-off basis as a consultant.

Corporate travel policy best practices

When creating your travel policy, it could be a good idea to have a checklist of what you’ll offer employees when travelling on your company’s behalf. This could include, but is not limited to the following:

• how reimbursements work
• when employees should seek authorisation from a senior member of staff for their trip
• how employees can report expenses
• which suppliers are to be used for booking, discounts and partnerships
• what travel insurance employees will receive
• the process of arranging visas
• the budget for hotels, flights and any other transportation
• what to do if there’s a delay

In this way, your employees know what to expect well in advance of any trip. It also gives them time to think over any information you provide them, as your policy may inspire them to ask some questions about their trip beforehand.

Accommodation, travel and entertainment best practices

You might want to break down your policy best practice into rules for accommodation, travel and entertainment. This could include spending limits for each, whether your employees are allowed to consume alcohol, which receipts they need to hold on to for reimbursements and whether personal expenses such as laundry and phone bills can be included as part of expenses.

Benefits of a corporate travel policy

As well as giving employees an indication of what to expect from their trip, travel policies can also be of great benefit to your business for several other reasons:

A corporate travel policy can help with better budgeting

Having this type of policy in place means that your employee will know what their budget will be for certain types of trips, and it also means that you’ll be able to control your budget as well. While companies are not legally obliged to offer reimbursements to employees, many choose to do so as part of their perks package. This reimbursement might cover their journey but also other additional expenses like meals or accommodation.

By making it clear what you will and won’t reimburse, your employee is less likely to run into any surprises when they spend money on their company trip. If they do want to take up any issues regarding their expense coverage, you’ll have the corporate travel policy to refer to if you wish to discuss it with them further.

According to the UK government, there are tax, national insurance and reporting obligations when offering reimbursements to employees. For more information on this, please visit the UK government page on expenses and benefits.

Safety

In your policy, you might include some information about whether your employee is tracked or not. This can be reassuring, especially if they are travelling long distances for a conference on their own, or with people they don’t know well (perhaps colleagues based in another office abroad). It is useful to consider the ways you plan to keep your employees safe, as even outside the office, all employers have a ‘duty of care’ towards their employees. For more information about what ‘duty of care’ involves, you can refer to the UK Health and Safety Executive website.

You might consider factors like the political stability of the country your employee is visiting, the healthcare standards available to them on the trip and whether the accommodation booked is secure enough. Other factors to consider include whether your minority background employees and/or women employees will feel safe on the trip – they might need additional protections.

Flexibility

At the end of the day, this type of policy is designed to make planning a trip easier for your employees. That’s because having a policy gives your employees the flexibility to book their own trips themselves, which might save you time overall. It means that instead of having to book on their behalf, they will be able to do it themselves. When your employee knows the budget, as well as how they’ll be reimbursed, it could save your company hassle in the long run. When putting this kind of policy in place, you might find it useful to bear in mind some of the corporate travel policy best practices.

Corporate travel policies can help your employee represent your company

In the same way that your employees represent your company when they are working with your clients or customers on site, your employees also represent your company when they attend a conference or meeting away from the office. Just like your policies for dealing with clients and customers, a travel policy can help employees understand how they can be at their best when meeting clients or peers outside the office. 

Corporate travel policies can help you to organise and budget company trips more effectively. Your travel policy does not have to be too complex or detailed, but can instead be a helpful reference guide for both you and your employees so you know how best to plan their next trip. It also provides them with some rules to follow when representing your company, as well as how they can expect to be reimbursed. As a UK company, it’s also worth remembering that you’ll have certain expense reporting obligations for tax and national insurance purposes.