Inefficient approval workflows can reduce travel policy compliance. Discover how to streamline processes for a smoother approval process.
According to our recent survey, 76% of business travelers said they were aware of their company’s travel policy. Yet many were unaware of the policy’s details compared to company decision makers, reducing overall compliance. The reasons for this gap between awareness and compliance range from poorly communicated policies to restrictive booking guidelines and the need for multiple approvals.
An inefficient approval process can be frustrating for traveling employees and management. It’s often expensive and time-consuming as well. A 2023 GBTA Business Travel Outlook Poll reported that manual pre-trip approval was required for 27% of domestic travel and 34% of international travel. While strict approval processes may help a business stay on top of unauthorized spending, they can also create additional challenges, including delays and non-compliance.
One of the best ways to make your employee travel policy more user-friendly and effective is by streamlining travel approval workflows. Below, we’ll cover common challenges and solutions associated with travel requests, so you can provide a seamless approval process.
An employee travel policy is a set of rules, guidelines, and procedures drafted by an organization to manage business travel. While one of its primary goals is to establish a budget and control travel expenses, it also includes aspects of risk management, employee wellbeing, and approval processes.
A good travel policy for employees provides structure for the full trip. This article covers a business trip’s stages, from pre-approval to debriefing, and all the steps in between.
Without a defined company travel policy, costs can quickly spiral out of control. Business travel policy guidelines set expense limits, reimbursement procedures, and preferred vendors.
A set of guidelines also provides consistency for employees, who can save time by following established procedures for travel approvals, booking trips, and submitting expense reports.
From a human resources perspective, travel policies protect the organization by ensuring compliance with legal requirements for duty of care and risk management.
The first stage of business travel is submitting a request for approval. Travel requests are submitted by employees to the relevant party for approval. This might be the finance department, a company travel coordinator, or a direct management team. Requests will include all the relevant details of travel, including dates, destinations, purpose, and estimated costs.
The request and approval process should be spelled out clearly in your company travel policy. Specific rules will vary depending on your organization’s size, budget, and the frequency of business travel.
For corporations, you can expect to follow most of the steps below, while small businesses typically require fewer steps and approval levels.
The employee initiates the approval workflow by submitting a travel request with all relevant trip details.
The employee’s manager reviews the request to make sure the trip is necessary, within budget, and follows the guidelines of the company’s travel policy.
In some cases, the travel request is passed on to additional stakeholders for higher approvals. The finance team may verify costs to ensure they fit within departmental budgets. Senior management may need to perform additional compliance and legal checks, consulting travel policies for guidance.
If there are any issues with the travel request, it will be sent back to the employee to adjust. Otherwise, it’s officially approved and can move on to the next stage.
After approval, the travel coordinator or employee has clearance to book flights, hotels, car rentals, and other arrangements. These bookings must match the cost estimates and details specified in the initial request.
The travel request, booking confirmations, receipts, invoices, and any other related documents should be kept for accounting.
Once the trip is over, the employee will submit an expense report to the finance department with all receipts. This is another area where it’s important to consult the company’s policy for reporting and reimbursement.
Business travel is typically a company’s second largest operating expense, with employee overspending taking over anywhere from a fifth to a third of the budget. The cost of non-compliance can be huge, particularly for smaller businesses.
Requiring manager approval for business trips ensures that travel is both essential to company goals and stays within budget.
While manager approval keeps costs in line with travel policy guidelines, the approval process presents its own challenges.
Travel requests must meet all company policy guidelines, including those related to budget, security, and booking procedures. If these aren’t saved in a centralized system or clearly communicated, there could be costly errors.
Even if your workplace has gone paperless, a manual approval process could involve a long email trail. Sending travel requests back and forth comes with an increased risk of error, miscommunication, and delays.
Some workflows require approval from multiple stakeholders, including direct managers, travel coordinators, and accountants. With each request passing through multiple tiers of bureaucracy, any lag in the process leads to delay.
An ineffective travel policy can increase the cost of business travel, whether it’s due to non-compliance or time-wasting paperwork. If you haven’t updated your policies in a while, use generic templates, or have a lengthy manual approval process, traveling employees are less likely to stay compliant.
If the answer to any of these questions is no, it may be time to reassess your travel policy.
In business, streamlining a process means eliminating any unnecessary steps that could prevent efficiency. The goal of streamlining is to increase productivity, reduce waste, and minimize uncertainty.
Today’s digital tools have transformed corporate travel, streamlining your approval workflow while making policies easier to understand. Digital solutions with efficiency features simplify the approval process, reducing the workload for business travelers, managers, and finance departments.
Streamlining your travel management system begins with digital automation. From travel request generation to document storage, automation software ensures that every step of the travel approval process runs smoothly.
Platforms like Traxo automatically detect confirmation emails and pull out relevant traveler data for your travel management system. Accounting software like Expensify automates expense reporting and the documentation of approvals, minimizing the errors and enhancing compliance.
Not every type of business trip will need the same approval level. For example, day trips and domestic flights might require approval from an employee’s direct manager. Longer international trips might need approval from more than one department. These approval workflows should be clearly stated in the company travel policy, ensuring requests are fulfilled in a timely manner.
When there’s a single manager tasked with all travel approvals, their absence can lead to delays. Travel management platforms like Tripeden.com for Business allows you to appoint multiple administrators to streamline your workflow. Administrative assistants, travel managers, HR, and finance teams can all log in to the platform to view traveler info from a central dashboard.
Inconsistent formatting can cause some travel requests to take longer for approval, since administrators need extra time for review. It’s best to standardize forms across departments, whether you’re approving travel requests for full-time employees or external contractors. If you’re using travel management software, it will automatically generate consistent request forms.
While complex travel requests will require detailed review, most requests can be pre-approved in the system to save time. In your business trip policy, differentiate between high-cost and low-cost approvals, each with their own approach.
The best workflow management software includes data analysis tools to identify travel trends, track expenses, and strategize cost-saving solutions tailored to your own business needs. For example, Monday.com offers custom dashboards to display your workflow using Gantt charts and real-time user data. With these business traveler insights, you can adjust your travel policy to reflect your team’s actual needs.
One of the best ways to streamline approvals is by integrating travel requests and policies with existing technology. Asking employees to refer to a PDF or Word document is outdated and time-consuming. By integrating your travel policy with booking technology, you can set guidelines and limits.
For example, Tripeden.com for Business allows administrators to set up recommended hotel budgets. This helps ensure that employee travel requests comply with policies. Using a business travel management solution like Tripeden.com for Business also streamlines approvals by enabling bookings without using separate account managers or IT support.
If your business is experiencing a high volume of non-compliant travel bookings, consider whether the language of your policy is the problem. Wordy, complicated travel policies are more likely to be ignored by business travelers, costing time and money.
To maximize compliance with your travel policy, it has to be communicated simply and effectively. The document should be easily accessible to all relevant stakeholders, typically within an employee or HR portal. It can also be integrated directly into booking software.
Write your policy with step-by-step instructions for travel requests, approvals, and reimbursements. Avoid using business or legal jargon, and break down the policy into sections for each role.
It’s helpful to include a business travel checklist that employees can follow to ensure they’re meeting all requirements of the approval process, as well as a FAQ section that’s updated according to business traveler feedback.
Apart from updating your travel policy, one of the best ways to improve the approval process is by using a travel management platform like Tripeden.com for Business.
Tripeden.com for Business keeps everything in one place, with efficient tools for booking, managing, and monitoring your team’s work trips. You can invite employees to the platform, assigning roles to each profile to streamline the approvals process. For regular trips, travelers can book their own flights, hotels, and car rentals according to a set policy and budget. A real-time spending tracker gives you full visibility over travel expense, which can be exported to detailed reports.
Integrate your business travel policy into digital platforms like these for better visibility, reduced stress, and a higher compliance rate.
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