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CREATING A TEMPORARY - Flight Centre ...
Why Traveller
Wellbeing?
A NOTE FROM OUR EXPERT

By Aisha Battersby, Head of Customer Experience

A new year will always turn people’s thoughts towards a fresh start,      get sick; the need for appropriate vaccinations before travelling or
and that means there’s no better time to consider the relationship        the disrupted sleep cycles and fatigue that can go hand-in-hand with
you have with your existing Travel Management Company (TMC)               jetlag, for example.
or the reasons why you don’t currently use one.
                                                                          Working with a TMC can’t stop these problems from happening
January too is traditionally a time to consider our own welfare. This     but it can help to plan for, and mitigate, some of them. It can also
can act as a good reminder to companies that the welfare of your          help spot potential issues before they occur and have detailed plans

CREATING A TEMPORARY
people should be paramount both when in the office but also when          in place to solve them if they can’t be prevented.
they are away travelling for business.
                                                                          There is nothing more important than knowing your people
The mental and physical wellbeing of travellers can often be              are safe, healthy and secure when travelling for business and at

TRAVEL POLICY:
overlooked, especially if your company doesn’t already have a
defined travel policy or a fully-developed Duty of Care procedure.
After all, no travel is without impact, whether that’s to the wellbeing
                                                                          Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT), we take your Duty of Care
                                                                          extremely seriously.
                                                                          Flight Centre Business Travel will become an extension of your own

RESPONDING TO CURRENT SITUATIONS
of employees through third-party events outside of your control
such as flight delays or room cancellations; their health should they
                                                                          business, and our travel experts work hard to ensure both you and
                                                                          your employees are looked after as if you were one of our own.
CREATING A TEMPORARY - Flight Centre ...
Why Traveller
  Wellbeing?
  A NOTE FROM OUR EXPERT

  CREATING A TEMPORARY TRAVEL POLICY:
   RESPONDING TO CURRENT SITUATIONS

With unprecedented times comes the need for flexibility,
especially with something as important as a travel policy.

While the common solution may be changing your travel policy all together, a more
practical approach is to implement an interim travel policy – a policy created when a
situation changes significantly for a brief period, with the expectation that things are
likely to return to normal.

As travel continues to pick up in a post COVID-19 world, there will be a period
where travel is essential but it’s not back to ‘normal’ or where we were in previous
years. It’s important to still give guidance during this time but equally to treat it
differently, because it is.

Why create an interim travel policy?
There are many benefits to temporarily changing your travel policy, we’ve outlined
below some of the reasons to consider if you’re thinking of creating an interim policy.

Financial concerns: There are factors that may deem it necessary to re-visit
spending habits when it comes to all aspects of business, including your travel
programme. Cash flow can easily be affected in volatile times, due to a global
downturn economy, reduction in demand in your industry or financial constraints on
your company.

Travel        Big impact events
        risks:Battersby,
  By Aisha                Headsuch   as natural disasters,
                                 of Customer     Experiencesecurity threats or disease
outbreaks like the one we’re seeing at the moment, all things that can put travellers at
high risk.
  A new year will always turn people’s thoughts towards a fresh start,           get sick; the need for appropriate vaccinations before travelling or
  and thatin
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  can act as a good reminder to companies that the welfare of your               help spot potential issues before they occur and have detailed plans
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ensure its success. Therefore, it is important that you put your employees               There   is nothing more important than knowing your people
                                                                                              at the
  The  mental    and   physical   wellbeing  of  travellers  can often  be
heart of the changes you make. Comfort is a priority for business travellers as well     are  safe, healthy and secure when travelling for business and at
as safety, yet with those two requirements come the costs to afford them, which Business Travel (FCBT), we take your Duty of Care
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CREATING A TEMPORARY - Flight Centre ...
Why Traveller
  Wellbeing?
What you should change                                                               Mandated duty of care: Regardless if there are high risk
AA  NOTE
 travel policy FROM
               can be a OUR    EXPERT
                        very detailed document, so there’s                           destinations involved, it may be worth mandating the use
many things to consider when creating an interim policy.                             of tools that ensure traveller safety when abroad – this can
                                                                                     be as simple as collecting emergency contact details. Our
Ensure responsibility is documented: What is everyone’s                              travel app Sam is a great tool when it comes to duty of care,
role in the travel programme? Regardless if these have changed                       complemented by our platform HelloFCBT. Sam provides
or not, it is important that everyone know their role within the                     destination information including emergency service contact
travel programme. It is imperative that the travel policy has an                     details, updates travellers on security concerns and allows
owner- this person may not decide what changes are made,                             them to check in using their live locations so you can be
they should be responsible for documenting, communicating                            sure they’re aware of security threats and are able to access
and enforcing changes. Another important role is having                              support. On top of that, using both the app and the platform,
someone in place to make business continuity decisions should                        travel arrangers are able to keep an eye on where all their
an incident occur such as travellers becoming stuck overseas.                        travellers are.

Approval processes: An approval process may be deemed
necessary if there are security or financial concerns to address.
This role would suit the CFO or HR manager of a company                                    COVID-19 CONSIDERATIONS
and can be adjusted based on the needs of a company. If it’s
safe to travel and your staff travel frequently then a simplified
approval process might be the most efficient. However, in a                              • Stay up-to-date with advice from your local
situation such as the current COVID-19 pandemic where only                                 government on where it is safe to travel.
essential travel should take place, it’s important to have an
approval process in place to encourage responsible travel.                               • Practice responsible travel, evaluate what your
                                                                                           company sees as essential travel and where a trip might
Cabin class: An easy way to cut costs in unprecedented                                     fall into the non-essential travel – factor in the threat to
times, would be to restrict travellers to lower cabin classes                              your business of not travelling.
when making short-haul journeys. Conversely, if you have the
same travellers travelling multiple long-distance journeys, it’s                         • When making cost cutting decision ensure it is not at
worth considering allowing them access to premium cabins to                                the cost of traveller safety or health.
reduce traveller fatigue and look after their wellbeing.
                                                                                         • Implement effective duty of care policies – while
    By Aisha
Hotel             Of the utmost
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meets a certain level of comfort for travellers and of course                              important now than ever.
has the highest level of safety and cleanliness, two factors that
    A new year will always turn people’s thoughts towards a fresh start,           get sick; the need for appropriate vaccinations before travelling or
areandmore    important than ever right now. However, if you are
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look   at  reducing   your  maximum      allowed  nightly
    or the reasons why you don’t currently use one.        hotel  rate  and              for one company could prove disastrous for another. This
differ from the norm your travellers are used to. Additionally,                    Working    with aaTMC
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the world, changes may need to be made and restrictions                                  So if an interim travel policy is something you’re not
   After all, no travel is without impact, whether that’s to the wellbeing         Flight Centre Business Travel will become an extension of your own
followed. Consider if some of the changes you make to you                                 aware of or feel comfortable creating on your own, we’re
   of employees through third-party events outside of your control                 business, and our travel experts work hard to ensure both you and
policy need to be region specific.                                                        here to help.
  such as flight delays or room cancellations; their health should they            your employees are looked after as if you were one of our own.
CREATING A TEMPORARY - Flight Centre ...
Why Traveller
Travel policy template
We’ve created a template to use when starting to think about an interim travel policy. This should be used as a guide for your TMC to

  Wellbeing?
understand your policy, working together to expand upon it to ensure all your needs are met.

 ITEM                             DETAIL                                                                                POLICY
  A NOTE
 Travel     FROM
        programme             The individual within your company in charge of managing the travel
                          OUR EXPERT
 manager                          programme.

 Mandated travel                  To minimise the risks associated with using multiple booking platforms
 provider                         and for effective duty of care coverage. All travel should be booked in
                                  one place.
 Travel risk manager              This should be an individual capable of making decisions around bringing
                                  travellers home and managing incidents that happen overseas.

 Emergency contact                Who should employees contact if there is a problem oversees? This could
 details                          be their TMCs emergency assist line or a travel risk consultancy should
                                  you employ one.
 Insurance provider               Policy number & emergency telephone number

 Duty of care                     Is there an app employees must download like Sam :] or a specific policy
                                  they must follow to ensure traveller safety?

 Travel Restrictions              Are there certain countries or regions your employees can’t travel to, or
                                  should they follow the advice of the FCO or your travel risk consultancy?

 Travel programme                 This person approves staff travel. If needed, this would be a set individual
 approver                         within the company who approves all travel or a job role related to the
                                  traveller ( i.e. their manager, or head of department) or both.
 Mandated airline                 Is there a mandated airline or alliance that travellers must use where
                                  possible? Specifying preferred suppliers

 Permitted cabin class            Which class of travel are staff permitted to travel in?

 Cabin class exceptions           Are there any exceptions to these rules i.e. Business class is allowed if
  By Aisha Battersby, Head of Customer Experience
                                  over 6 hours?

 A new year hotels
 Mandated   will always turn people’s
                               Do you thoughts towards
                                         require         a fresh start,
                                                 your employees            getinsick;
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 and that means there’s no better time to
                               certain    consider(i.e.
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  you have with your existing Travel Management Company (TMC)                 jetlag, for example.
  or the cost
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              limit             How much use one.
                                             is allowed to be spent on hotels perwith
                                                                                  night?
                                                                       Working        a TMC can’t stop these problems from happening
  January too is traditionally a time to consider our own welfare. This         but it can help to plan for, and mitigate, some of them. It can also
  can act as a good reminder to companies that the welfare of your              help spot potential issues before they occur and have detailed plans
 Hotel   cost  exceptions           i.e. An  increased   cap for high
  people should be paramount both when in the office but also when    cost cities
                                                                                insuch
                                                                                   placeastoLondon   or New
                                                                                             solve them  if theyYork
                                                                                                                 can’t be prevented.
  they are away travelling for business.
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  The  mental  and
 Transfer policies physical  wellbeing   of travellers can often be
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                                                                                           healthy and
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  defined travel policy or a fully-developed Duty of Care procedure.            extremely seriously.
 Other  policy
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                                          whether    is an to
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                                                                                       Centre    and everything
                                                                                               Business Travel will become an extension of your own
                                   should  be  considered.    Further
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                                                                                business, and our travelsuch
                                                                                        include  things      as work hard to ensure both you and
                                                                                                         experts
                                   whether   flights  should   be direct
 such as flight delays or room cancellations; their health should they   where   possible?   Or  whether  you
                                                                                your employees are looked aftershould
                                                                                                                    as if you were one of our own.
                                   limit the number of travellers per flight.
CREATING A TEMPORARY - Flight Centre ...
Flight Centre Business Travel is part of the Flight Centre
Travel Group, giving us access to a vast array of content,
with the widest range of airfares, hotel, rail and car hire.
Being part of a global company means we have our own
people on the ground at your destinations, sourcing
and negotiating the best products, service and deals
exclusively for FCBT customers. Flight Centre is a member
of ABTA giving you extra peace with financial protection.

0208 336 6475

enquiry@flightcentrebusinesstravel.co.uk
flightcentrebusinesstravel.co.uk
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