Traveling for work is often stressful for employees, but a recent global survey of business travelers by SAP Concur dug a little deeper into the personal safety concerns, and the frustrations around ineffective bookings and reimbursement experiences.
Many business travelers also report feeling stressed and unsafe. Women and LGBTQ+ travelers regularly experiencing harassment. More than 80 per cent of Canadian female business travelers have faced harassment while traveling, the report indicates.
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In the first quarter of 2019, business travel decreased by 11 per cent while the number of domestic trips for other business-related purposes in Canada eight per cent higher than the same period last year, according to StatCan.
“This research clearly shows employees aren’t getting what they need from their employers while traveling for business,” said Victoria DeBoon, director of sales at SAP Concur Canada. “Organizations of all sizes shouldn’t let these concerns go unnoticed. Employees want more support, resources and technology that will improve their overall experience and increase feelings of security while on the road.”
Outdated business travel tools and technology are contributing to the problem. Canadians surveyed have the third-highest rate of agreement that their company is behind in adopting the latest technologies to manage travel (73 per cent), compared to the global sentiment (67 per cent).
As a result, the majority of Canadian business travelers (61 per cent) have called out a desire for their employers to provide better safety travel tech, including online booking and travel safety tools, to improve their corporate travel experiences. These two tools, respondents said, are the technologies that need the most attention.
The survey was carried out among 7,850 business travelers in 19 global markets, which included 500 business travelers within Canada.