Modern business is evolving rapidly and sustainability isn’t just a buzzword anymore – it’s a core component to guiding decision-making and company culture. As companies aim to minimise their environmental impact, one area that often comes under scrutiny is business travel. From carbon emissions to travel expenses, the way employees move around can significantly impact the company’s carbon footprint. However, with a strategic travel policy, businesses can build sustainable practices without compromising productivity or efficiency.
For smaller businesses, building a sustainable travel policy shows a commitment to reducing environmental impact, enhancing employee satisfaction, and embracing corporate responsibility. In this guide, we will explore the essential steps to developing a sustainable travel policy tailored to the needs and challenges of smaller businesses.
Assessing Your Current Practices
Before building a sustainable travel policy, it is essential to assess the current travel practices within the company and the environmental impact. Start by looking at the frequency of business trips set over a specific period, such as quarterly or annually. By seeing the number of trips taken by employees and the purpose behind each trip, you can gain insights into where reductions or substitutions can be made.
Gain insight into your chosen modes of transportation for business travel. Evaluate the use of air travel, ground transportation, and commuting costs among your employees. By looking at the transportation choices, you can identify opportunities to encourage the use of more sustainable options, such as electric vehicles, public transport, or rail travel. Pinpointing areas where adjustments can be made will only help you reduce carbon emissions and promote eco-friendly practices from within the company. Use all of this data to identify trends, patterns and, areas of opportunity for improvement.
Define Objectives and Targets
With a clear understanding of your starting point, it’s time to establish your destination by defining clear objectives and targets for your sustainable travel policy. Make sure to align your objectives with the company’s core values and overall sustainability goals, this could be done by considering how sustainable travel fits into your organisation’s mission and vision.
When defining the objectives, prioritise metrics that directly measure the environmental impact of your business travel. So, focus on goals related to reducing carbon emissions, minimising energy consumption, or conserving natural resources. Putting detail into your desired outcomes, such as a percentage reduction in carbon footprint, will make it easier for you to track the progress and evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts so far.
Importantly, make sure to set targets that are realistic, measurable and time-bound. Establishing a clear milestone to reach will help you monitor progress over time and set adjustments if need be. By breaking down larger objectives into smaller, achievable goals you will gain more momentum by little successes along your sustainable journey. By defining clear objectives and targets, you are setting the pathway for a successful journey towards sustainable business travel.
Developing Your Policy
Developing corporate travel policies will help an organisation to transition towards more environmentally friendly practices. Begin by outlining clear guidelines and procedures for sustainable travel practices. These should show the company’s dedication to minimising its carbon footprint and bringing on eco-friendly alternatives where possible. One key place to look at reducing travel emissions is by deciding to use electric vehicles or public transport. Whether it is choosing direct flights over connecting or exploring virtual meeting alternatives, your sustainable travel policy should ensure practicality and flexibility for your team.
Consider combining flexibility into your travel policy to accommodate certain circumstances or individual preferences. Whilst it is crucial to promote sustainable practices, you need to recognise that there may be instances where they’re not realistic. For example, having a policy in place that states that if it’s after 9:00 pm a business traveller can get a taxi to avoid public transport at night, is especially important for solo women travellers.
Be inclusive within your travel policy so business travellers feel safe and secure, Good Travel Management has a comprehensive guide on safety tips for women travelling alone for business. Having a balance between environmental responsibility and operational efficiency, with room for adjustments will empower employees to follow and make decisions based on your sustainability goals.
Putting Theory into Practice
Turning your sustainable travel policy into action requires a good deal of effort to integrate eco-friendly options into your travel arrangements. This involves empowering employees with the resources and support they need to make environmentally friendly choices.
Choose eco-certified accommodations that prioritise sustainability practices, such as energy efficiency and waste reduction. Additionally, you can encourage employees to choose more sustainable modes of transportation where available. This could include choosing rail travel over air travel for shorter distances or using public transportation over rental cars during the day.
Empower employees to make environmentally responsible choices and demonstrate your commitment to reducing the environmental impact of business travel together.
Educate Your Team
Your team is your greatest asset in the journey towards sustainability. Educating employees on the significance of sustainable travel practices and their role is vital to declining the company’s carbon footprint. Providing comprehensive training sessions that cover eco-friendly options and highlight the best practices for minimising environmental impact during business travel. By encouraging a culture of environmental and corporate responsibility, you empower your employees to become the change from within the organisation.
Transitioning from policy to practice demands more than just written down guidelines; it’s a cultural transformation necessary for the company. It’s crucial to equip employees with the necessary tools of knowledge to integrate sustainable travel practices into their travel arrangements.
By instilling environmental responsibility towards employees, it gives you the ability to have a workforce that contributes as a whole to the organisation’s sustainability goals.
Implementing Travel Management Tools
Navigating sustainable travel requires the right tools to place your efforts in the right direction. Implementing a travel management company can significantly streamline the booking processes. Good Travel Management offers fully tailored travel management packages designed around the precise needs of your business.
As a client with Good Travel Management, we will integrate options into your travel options so you can see low-carbon flight paths or eco-friendly hotels. We also offer our clients the platform Thrust Carbon, to help with reporting, reducing and removing emissions. By using the power of technology to promote eco-friendly options and streamline processes, organisations can enhance their environmental goals whilst keeping operational efficiency and cost savings.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Sustainability isn’t a destination – it’s a journey of continuous improvement and innovation. Regularly monitor travel-related carbon emissions, travel costs and other objectives towards your sustainability goals so you can stay on track and keep improving.
One key aspect businesses miss out on is receiving feedback from employees to identify challenges and opportunities within the sustainable travel policy. By building a culture within your team on how to implement more green practices, you have engaged and empowered employees, encouraging them to be open and feedback on the needs and realities of what they want.
By continuously evaluating performance and adjusting your strategy accordingly, you ensure that your sustainable travel policy remains effective and relevant.
Key Takeaways
- For smaller businesses, building a sustainable travel policy shows a commitment to reducing environmental impact, enhancing employee satisfaction, and embracing corporate responsibility.
- Before building a sustainable travel policy, it is essential to assess the current travel practices within the company and the environmental impact. You can then use all this data to identify trends, patterns and, areas of opportunity for improvement.
- Choose eco-certified accommodations that prioritise sustainability practices, such as energy efficiency and waste reduction or encourage employees to choose more sustainable modes of transportation where available.
- Provide comprehensive training sessions for employees that cover eco-friendly options and highlight the best practices for minimising environmental impact during business travel.
- Implementing a travel management company like Good Travel Management can significantly streamline the booking process.
What’s Next?
By prioritising sustainable travel practices through an effective travel policy, companies can not only reduce their carbon footprint but also demonstrate corporate responsibility and enhance employee satisfaction and work-life balance. If you need to review your travel policy again but are not sure what needs to be updated or included, you can check out out Travel Policy Framework Guide.