The art of travel planning

When it comes to corporate travel, employers should consider a variety of factors – namely cost, carbon footprint, and risk. ACFO chairman Julie Jenner explains further

Cost management, carbon footprint reduction, risk management, business efficiency and time management are all issues that impact on business travel.
    
Historically, the car has always been the preferred form of travel for the vast majority of business meetings and appointments. But it is not always the optimum option in terms of cost, time, reducing risk exposure or carbon-cutting, for example.
    
To help public, private and voluntary sector organisations make the correct choice and employees in charge of corporate travel implement positive changes that lead to improved corporate efficiency, ACFO has published ‘From A to B: The ACFO Guide to Journey Planning’.

FINDING AN ALTERNATIVE
The 28-page guide is not about reducing business travel or differentiating between ‘right and wrong’. Indeed, it can be argued that there is no ‘right or wrong’.
    
Instead, the guide suggests that corporate travel – whether by company car, employee’s own car, hire car, public transport, motorbike, bicycle or indeed car share – should be overseen by a business mobility manager, who could also influence the increased use of technology-based solutions to travel, for example telephone and video conferencing, instant messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol, as well as smart working.
    
Central to the business mobility decision-making process should be a desire by employers to reduce travel costs, reduce their carbon footprint and reduce the risk exposure of their organisation and staff. That means for the majority of employers a radical overhaul of how work-related travel is presently conducted.

A BIG EXPENSE
A report by the influential employers’ group the CBI argues that time and money wasted on Britain’s congested roads can be saved.
    
The report – 'Tackling congestion driving growth – a New Approach to Roads Policy’ – calculates that with vehicle traffic having grown by a quarter in just 20 years, road congestion now costs the economy an estimated £7-8 billion a year, which is likely to more than double by 2025 unless action is taken.
    
There are a number of different kinds of business mobility. Some, such as the traditional company car fleet, are in the main aimed at enabling employees such as sales people to travel on company business.
    
However, in the 21st century we are seeing the increasing availability of alternatives to the company car, the uptake of flexible benefits, the launch of car clubs and the increased use of technology to conduct business meetings without the requirement for those involved to leave their office.

FINDING THE BEST FORM OF TRAVEL
Against that background how can employers weigh up which option is best for each employee when they find the need to conduct some form of business meeting?
    
The decision-making process is made even more complex by a variety of other factors. These include cost, time of journey, distance of journey, associated risks for both employer and employee, environmental considerations, and business flexibility.
    
Therefore, employers must ensure that both they and their employees have all the information available to make a clear decision on whether to travel by car, train or plane; whether to use a company car, their own vehicle or a hire; for short journeys whether to walk, cycle or use public transport; or alternatively whether car share, taxi or one of the many technology options such as video or teleconferencing are viable.
    
Almost certainly many organisations will already be using many of the business mobility options outlined in the guide to a greater or lesser extent.
    
However, it is highly likely the options will have been introduced in a fragmented way. That is not to say that business mobility is disorganised, simply that old habits die hard and neither employers nor employees may be too certain as to how the decision-making responsibilities should work in the new age of business mobility.
    
That fragmentation may also be apparent across departments. For example, it is quite probable that in larger organisations the decision-making process will reside not in one department but across many – fleet, HR, finance, corporate social responsibility and procurement to name just five.
    
Which one of those departments takes responsibility for deciding whether, at its simplest, car or train is best for a specific journey will almost certainly be unclear. Equally if it is a car journey, is it a trip made in a company car, an employee’s own car or a hire car. Who decides?
    
There may also be conflicting agendas between the employer and the employees. For example, the employer may expect a meeting to take place utilising in-house video conference facilities, but an individual employee may decide a face-to-face meeting is required not necessarily through business necessity but the fact that they want to claim mileage.
    
When it comes to business mobility the law of unintended consequences is most definitely at work.
    
Therefore, should the business mobility strategy – taking into account cost, risk and environmental issues – based on business need and operational effectiveness and efficiency, not be designed and managed with a business mobility manager at the head of their own department?
    
In planning travel – or deciding to use alternative options such as telephone or video conferencing – numerous other factors must be considered. Critically they include journey cost, but also employee duty of care and an organisation’s carbon footprint.
    
Therefore, every single journey made by each employee must be considered on its own individual merits taking into account the issues highlighted above.

LOCAL FACTORS
But, that is not all. Local factors must also be added into the mix, such as:
•    If an employee is travelling by train how will that individual travel to and from the station and what will the cost be, if any – station car parking, taxi, bus, walking, cycling? On leaving the train what will be the mode of travel to the final destination – taxi, bus, walk or underground?
•    If travelling by car then issues such as car parking at the destination must be considered and if travelling to central London then the cost of the congestion charge must be accounted for
•    Depending on the duration of the journey and length of the meeting/appointment an overnight stay may be required. Therefore hotel bills and a subsistence allowance need to be factored in to the cost/time equation
•    Employee welfare is also essential so organisations must consider whether lone workers should be allowed to travel early in the morning or late at night.
    
As can be seen, there is much more to mobility management then simply considering whether a journey should be made by car or train or another option. To a large extent this is simply an extension of the best-practice technique of whole life costing used by many fleets to identify and optimise vehicle selection in respect of total cost to the business.
    
Ultimately organisations that want to optimise mobility solutions must take a flexible multi-modal approach that mixes a wide cross-section of options while stressing to employees and their line managers the multitude of variables that must be considered in making the final travel decision.
    
The opportunities for employers to implement a diverse, multi-faceted, sustainable mobility plan and display corporate social responsibility have never been greater.
    
But, it is not only vital to implement a business mobility policy, it is critical to fully communicate it to staff addressing the relevant issues relating to cost, safety and environmental matters set against whether the need for a journey is essential.                

Alternatively, can the objective be achieved equally successfully using technology while always focused on ensuring optimum business efficiency?

FOR MORE INFORMATION
‘From A to B: The ACFO Guide to Journey Planning’ is available from the membership office on 01730 260162 or by emailing info@acfo.org

CASE STUDY
Business mobility is a balancing act with no ‘right answer’ and many variables, according John Pryor, ACFO director and group facilities manager of Arcadia Group, headquartered in London.
    
Fleet and travel management are all part of Mr Pryor’s wide-ranging job brief giving him a complete overview of who travels, how, when and where they travel and the cost of travel.
    
“My job is to ensure that the group policy is implemented and the best value is given to the traveller to make their trip, while also taking into account other factors such as duty of care,” explained Pryor.
    
“For example, our policy is lowest price but we don’t want to save a few pounds on a hotel bill if it means young female staff having to take taxis late at night when a more suitable hotel is conveniently located for the meeting/appointment.”
    
The company has undertaken a ‘trip modelling’ analysis that highlights that, if possible, tickets for plane and air travel should be booked at least 14 days in advance of the scheduled trip to deliver financial savings.
    
In March 2011 almost 2,400 train tickets were booked by staff – more than 1,100 at 14 days notice with the remainder closer to the time of travel. On average advance booking saved £7 per ticket (£7,252 for the month) – a significant saving given the number of rail journeys made by staff in the course of 12 months.
    
Similar rules exist for airline travel but the savings are less pronounced due to the mis-match between the volume of short haul and long haul flights.
    
Pryor explained: “We aim to explain the trip cost to employees so they make the wise choice. If four people are travelling from London to Birmingham the preferred option would be to travel by hire car and not by train. But almost every trip is different.
    
With offices in London, Leeds and Hong Kong, both video and tele-conferencing play a role in reducing business travel if deemed appropriate for use."
    
Pryor concluded: “As a company we have joined up mobility policies and procedures, but the key to successful implementation is how they inter-relate and how they are taken into account by employees when they make their travel-related decisions.”

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