Business Travel Compliance: Is Gamification the Way Forward?
Up to 15 per cent of business travel over-spend could be eliminated if firms adhered to the travel policies they already have in place, according to a report by Carlson Wagonlit Travel's Solutions Group.
The findings of the survey concentrate on how to ensure employees comply with these rules and how traveller behaviour can be influenced.
Failure to follow policy was primarily put down to:
- Details of a given travel policy are often handed to a new employee, then discarded or forgotten about.
- Carrot rather than a stick: brand loyalty programmes, along with individual preferences, are more powerful than any concerns over failure to comply.
- Travel plans change and need to be flexible, e.g. if it benefits a client. In this regard, some non-compliance has to be viewed as forgivable.
Enforcing compliance in the realm of business travel is not easy, admits Katie Raddatz, head of the CWT's Solutions Group Americas, but added that buyers often missed "significant savings" in the area.
Raddatz said: “Travel departments spend significant time and resources getting the best corporate deals to keep costs down. But often travellers think the policy might not apply to them or they just don't know the policy.”
In the report – Behaviour management: a new way to think about an old problem – fours stages are highlighted to support better traveller behaviour management.
1. Analyse: scrutinise possible cost savings along with the various traveller segments in order to pinpoint compliance failures.
2. Educate: With the introduction of traveller scorecards, stakeholders learn about the applicable issues through language they use in a format that can be actionable straight away.
3. Engage: Scorecards, featuring individualised reports, are given directly to the employee. Because the applicable information is laid out clearly, managers can get a handle on issues with booking behaviour – and address them directly.
4. Compete: Positive traveller behaviour is enforced with a gamification programme, which motivates with the inclusion of game-like components, incentivising travellers to operate within the travel policy's rules.
Raddatz explains: “There's pressure to reduce costs from every direction. Making sure people stick to the rules is an easy way to cut spend.
"We want to make sure we're increasing compliance as much as possible. When it's done properly, you can see the percentage of missed savings fall almost immediately.”
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