Wellbeing: Travel for business or work from the office?

If this COVID period in which we have seen our life turned upside down has taught us anything, it has been that we must take care of our wellbeing, both physically and psychologically. And companies have also detected this need, so one of their objectives for next year is to invest more in wellbeing, according to the International SOS Risk Outlook 2022 report. In fact, the study throws some very revealing data, as it confirms that half (56%) of organisations intend to increase spending on both mental and physical health support. Now the question remains: Travel for business or work from the office?

The need for increased investment comes as organisations expect to face increased risks in 2022, as over two thirds (68%) of organisations anticipate risks to increase or stay the same next year. And in particular, decision makers responsible for business travel wellbeing (69%) and international assignees (67%) expect risk levels to increase or stay the same in 2022.

After COVID-19, mental health issues have been the biggest employee productivity disruptor in 2021, and this is the first time this has entered the top three in the past six years. Natural disasters (including extreme weather events), is the third most likely disruptor predicted in 2022, followed by the perennial concerns about transport, security threats & civil unrest – all exacerbated by COVID-19. Although it is true that little can be done to avoid these risks on many occasions, it is possible to mitigate the risks and be prepared for them.

What can be done?

According to the study, adequate resources to deal with COVID-19 and the ability to define vaccine and testing policies are the biggest challenges for organisations at present.

It may seem that in this environment, employees are not very willing to travel due to the risks that it can potentially pose, but the data gives us other results: according to the report, employees are more willing to travel for business than work from their organisation’s office or site, meaning that employees continue to value face-to-face meetings positively for the value they add.

But this is the case as long as a series of premises and support methods are met. For example, employees’ ability to communicate in a crisis unifies all employee types, but location-specific health & security information are priorities for business travel wellbeing.

And this is where the need to implement methods in which the data on restrictions and different government policies on COVID are as up-to-date as possible arises.

When organising business travel, meeting planners need to have all the information related to restrictions, prices, and carbon footprint, and currently there is only one tool that connects all the dots: TROOP.

Information that minimizes risks

TROOP enables a scientific, algorithmic and data-driven approach to planning the most effective global meeting and events for your team, saving time and money while significantly reducing your carbon footprint.

We know that events and travel planning need to take all kinds of risks into account, and at TROOP we provide the means to not only mitigate those risks, but also minimize the possibility of any negative consequences, whether in time, cost, travel restrictions or any COVID-related aspects.

Since the pandemic, 70% of organisations say that their decision-making speeds have got faster, and this is where our platform plays an even more relevant role. We take efficiency to the next level in the world of meeting planning, offering data on costs, times, restrictions associated with COVID, as well as carbon footprint data. In this way, decisions are informed and can be made in minutes, instead of days as was the case before.

Do you want to know more? Don’t hesitate and book a meeting with our team now!