4 Tips for Writing a Clear and Organized Travel Policy

Are you getting ready to write a travel policy? 

If so, you may be thinking to yourself:

“I’m not sure how to do this. This seems complicated. I don’t want to mess it up.”

Well, rest assured—creating a corporate travel policy doesn’t necessarily have to be rocket science. 

In fact, the complexity of such a policy would probably depend mostly on the complexity of your organization. 

But you’ve probably got what it takes to succeed at this project. 

With that being said, you’ll probably also quickly learn that you’re likely going to have a lot of help in creating the perfect policy for your organization. 

So let’s talk about how to do it. 

1. Set Clear Goals

Before you actually begin the process of creating (or even updating) your travel policy, it’s important to identify what the goals are. 

Setting clear goals and expectations gives you a target to shoot for, which is a very good thing whenever you’re attempting to create regulatory procedures. 

Some examples of goals you may want your travel policy to accomplish could include:

• Make traveling more efficient
• Reduce unnecessary travel spending
• Improve company policy compliance while traveling

2. Bring The Organization Together

Here’s where you’re probably going to get a lot more help than you bargained for. 

In fact, depending upon the size of your organization, this step might even blow past the ‘helpful’ state to become ‘cumbersome.’ 

One of the first steps you’ll need to take in drafting your travel policy is to check in with the different offices within the company, to figure out what they’ll need the travel policy to contain in order to make sure that all of the departments are working together. 

Some of the departments and executives who should be brought into the travel policy writing process will include:

• Your travel manager
• Your office manager
• The CEO
• The COO
• Employees or team members who will frequently be traveling
• The human resources department

It’s important to note that bringing these people together should streamline the travel policy process and empower you to reach decisions about who will be in charge of what and who will be responsible for what. 

If there’s confusion between the different departments, then it may be up to you to help sort out a solution so that the travel policy will be streamlined, clear, and precise. 

Having a clear, precise, and streamlined corporate travel policy is crucial for ensuring that employees understand the company’s expectations and guidelines for business travel, which helps to reduce confusion, minimize expenses, and promote compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

3. Determine How ‘Strict’ Your Policy Is Going To Be

Keep in mind that creating unnecessarily strict travel policy guidelines will result in a lack of efficiency—not a boost. 

The best travel policies are those that provide necessary guidelines for traveling teams and employees while avoiding tangling up everyone involved in some kind of bureaucratic net that’ll make it impossible to function. 

So in other words, figure out how strict you are going to be, and then proceed as you see fit. 

It’s important for travel managers to avoid making their corporate travel policies overly strict, as this can lead to reduced employee satisfaction, lower productivity, and decreased willingness to adhere to policy guidelines.

4. Decide What Does And Doesn’t Matter For The Policy

Will you need your team to be able to book their own travel bookings and lodging accommodations? 

Will you need travel managers to make bookings for them? 

Would it be better if the majority of the funds for the trip were planned out in advance, or can you trust your team to make their own financial choices while on the road? 

Or—do you really just need to allot certain amounts of funds for certain things, and then let the team disperse those funds as required?

Figuring out what does and doesn’t matter for the policy is a crucial part of drafting a policy that will empower your teams for success—without getting them tangled up and slowing them down in the process. 

The most important thing to keep in mind is the overarching goals that your company is trying to accomplish. 

Your travel policy should be a tool that empowers your company to achieve those goals with a minimal amount of hassle and frustration. 

Conclusion

There you have it. 

Four tips for writing a clear and organized travel policy. 

Equipped with this information, you can now head out and start your project. 

Good luck. You’ve got this!