5 Things Export businesses should Consider for Travelling Workers

Frequent business travel has become part and parcel of many industries. With many organisations conducting business around the globe, ensuring that your workforce is safe, comfortable and well accommodated, has become a priority within many organisations.

Business travel can be extremely exciting but, at the same time, it can be challenging, tiring and demanding, so it’s important to plan every aspect of your workers’ trips and ensure that you, and they, are prepared for every eventuality.

Although travelling on business is far from a vacation, it’s still important that employees are able to conduct their business abroad with limited stress and disruption to their daily routines.

Here are 5 things that all businesses should think about before facilitating business travel. 

Serviced apartments

Whether it’s for short term or long-term travel, serviced apartments tend to be far more accommodating than small hotel rooms.

Although hotel rooms are fine for one or two nights, any longer, and they can be extremely restricting in terms of personal space and privacy.

Serviced apartments are far more accommodating and are very much like a home from home. Such apartments like those available on portlandbrown.com feature their own kitchen, living space, toilet and bedroom, they provide all of the home comforts that you can expect to find in your own home, boosting your employees’ moods and even their productivity. 

Location is everything

Travelling on business can be extremely daunting, especially long-term, international travel. Not only do you have to learn to adapt to your new surroundings, you also have to adjust your everyday routine to accommodate new time zones, cultures and even potential language barriers.

Therefore, when looking at suitable accommodation, location is everything. It’s important that you choose a base that is central and has easy access to day-to-day amenities and facilities, especially if your workers are travelling alone.

Think about your costs 

Of course, it’s important to make sure that your employees are safe, happy and comfortable when conducting business abroad, but it’s also important to think about the costs associated with business travel.

After all, it’s not just about providing suitable accommodation. You need to think about transportation, food, parking, and baggage fees, as well as expenses such as laundry bills, taxi fares and even restaurant bills.  These all add up incredibly quickly, so it’s important to budget accordingly to ensure that you are able to accommodate every aspect of the trip financially.

At the same time, all employees should be familiar with the protocol when it comes to reimbursement of the charges they have incurred when travelling on business.  

Do you employees have access to all of the facilities they need? 

Although it’s relatively easy to connect to WI-FI and stay connected outside of the UK, it’s important to check whether the area your employees are travelling to is a mobile hotspot, and whether or not they will have access to Wi-Fi.

In many countries, it’s difficult to obtain a connection, meaning that your employees could potentially be unreachable at certain points of their trip. Would this cause any major problems and how will this impact on the needs of your business?

Before embarking on any journey, it’s also important to make your mobile phone provider aware of your travel plans so that you can use your phone with limited distribution. Many providers offer special packages at a small additional cost, allowing you to reap the benefits of your current package abroad. 

Manageable workloads

Although it is possible to be productive when travelling, a lot of your employees’ time will be spent getting from A to B, so it’s important that you accommodate for the time lost.

Of course, it’s just as important to enforce manageable workloads that are achievable based on your employees’ change in circumstances, and understand that your employees’ may not be as responsive to urgent matters as they would be in their everyday office environment.