Ways to Improve your Travel Policy to Include Sustainability
According to the World Economic Forum, one of the greatest contributors to corporate carbon emissions is employee travel.
To reduce our carbon footprint in the transportation sector, sustainable behavior must be widely adopted and integrated into our work and travel routines. Let’s take a closer look at five ways to include sustainability in your corporate travel policy.
5 Ways to Incorporate Sustainability into Your Travel Policy
- Direct Flights – Use direct flights as often as possible. Flights with layovers are often more economical. However, that comes at a greater cost to the environment.
- Inform and Empower – Employees are far more likely to make environmentally-friendly decisions if you make it easy for them to find information. Provide a list of green-certified vendors and/or a list of carbon costs associated with various travel decisions.
- Go Green on the Ground – Offer incentives to employees for opting to take public transportation or use rideshares while at their destination. If using a rental car is a must, then consider only allowing for economy, hybrid, or electric vehicle use in your travel policy.
- Define Your Organization’s Online vs In-Person Meeting POV – Face-to-face meetings can have a great ROI. But the pandemic has proven that we can live without many of them. Consider what scenarios benefit most from live interaction and relationship building. For the rest, consider virtual options. Does a one-day meeting justify air travel? If not, stipulate a minimum number of days in your policy.
- Travel Automation – Put travel and expenses under the microscope so more carbon friendly approaches can be discovered. Software vendors, like Cornerstone (CIS), can automate your travel policy messaging and surface key opportunities for both cost savings and greener travel.
The Value of Having a Clear Travel Policy in Place
Usually, when employees are booking travel, most decisions are based on convenience, not on environmental sustainability. To make positive eco-friendly changes, it is important that travelers understand the cost and impact of travel.
How Can a Software Program help?
Travel operations automation is a key step to reducing your carbon footprint. Heightened visibility helps organizations take stock of current travel practices and use that information and data to make better, more sustainable decisions for the future. Properly integrating your booking tools with carbon impact data is key to providing employees with the necessary information to make the right decision.
At Cornerstone Information Systems, we know that it is not enough to just automate the transactions. Our solution automates and captures travel details that allow you to manage and measure a credible travel program. We work to keep your customers satisfied, reduce costs, and increase your team’s productivity.
Cornerstone Information Systems is the technology partner behind the scenes of tens of millions of automated bookings. Our Travel Automation helps you configure workflow and services that deliver measurable savings and insights to manage your travel program and operations. The Cornerstone Travel Operations Automation Suite helps TMCs and corporate travel offices optimize spending and revenue, manage safety and policy compliance, and improve the experience for business travelers. Contact us for more information.