Less Corporate Travel Long Term?

[JB expat]

Those of you who work for large companies which typically have a hefty travel expense line item - have you received any subtle (or direct) messaging that they like the expense savings so much that they are going to be much stricter about who travels/how often, when COVID-19 is not a concern?

 

[daft009]

An interview with the Rex boss, he did say Virgin and Qantas aren't the competitors going forward post covid, it'll be zoom, teams etc

 

[cove]

I used to do 3 international trade shows and this may drop to zero in both 2020 and 2021.
We stay in touch with our international suppliers so yes it could go more to zoom.

 

[jakeseven7]

Those of you who work for large companies which typically have a hefty travel expense line item - have you received any subtle (or direct) messaging that they like the expense savings so much that they are going to be much stricter about who travels/how often, when COVID-19 is not a concern?

I think there will be a dip for a while but will resume and build back up. Was same for the GFC. We pulled back then but built back up - before you know it your competitors are doing face to face and smashing you so you have to match.

Telecon is good for small tic tac and maintenance but nothing beats a physical interaction.

We’ve done a few virtual trade fairs since covid and they’ve pretty much flopped so we will be drastically scaling back our presence in them until some level of physical normality resumes.

Humans need to interact physically at the core of things.

I just wish they would introduce solar powered planes The carbon offset I pay just feels like virtue signalling sometimes!

 

[woodborer]

If you look far enough into the future, it will return back to where we were. The real question is just how long will that take. Most people are punting on it being between 2 and 4 years.

 

[kpc]

I reckon face to face international medical conferences are probably dead for the next 2+ years...unless there is a vaccine of course!

 

[ja1]

This is the longest period of time I haven't been at an airport or on a plane in.. 25 years. I haven't gone anywhere since 2019. I doubt I will fly in 2020 at all and I'm not even sure what would happen in 2021.

A bunch of my actual work involves travel (including meetings) and a component of future work (business development) involved travel.. and neither of those are happening.

Every conference I might have gone to is either cancelled, gone to an online model or simply not one I am able to travel to even if it was going ahead (e.g. international venue).

So yeah.. I have trouble seeing the corporate market picking up much without a number of things changing in the short term.. and see a longer term reduction.

It's even a negative now (from talking to some folk who work in sales) - people pushing for face to face are being dropped to the bottom of the priority list as some businesses see that as dangerous/clueless behaviour and would rather deal with a business that is seen to be more adaptable/conscious of risks and so on..

 

[Seat0B]

My story is similar to @ja1's. Since returning from Japan in Feb 2020, the only flight I have taken is the 747 farewell. All my leisure trips and visits to family have vanished. All business development trips, cancelled for the foreseeable future. No conferences running to either attend or, more commonly for me, present at, so no travel there.

In terms of work, I usually deliver face to face training for government and large corporate clients. This typically involved at least 1 trip a month to somewhere in Australia other than my home in ACT. None of that has happened in 2020 and I have no forward bookings for 2021 either - I usually book out 6 months in advance, so by now would have expected to be taking bookings for Feb-Apr 2021. For me it is not so much zoom meetings, but rather another pretty clear reason - no one can keep up with the border closures. And no one wants to pay for/absorb the cost of quarantines. And no one is ever sure whether the border closures/quarantines are long or short term. So my clients in Adelaide, for example, have expressly said that they will not be booking for the foreseeable future. This certainly reduces my use of flights. I do think that once the internal borders settle down on a predictable more permanent basis, my face to face training will resume, and so will my flight use. However, who knows when that will be....

 

[jakeseven7]

My story is similar to @ja1's. Since returning from Japan in Feb 2020, the only flight I have taken is the 747 farewell. All my leisure trips and visits to family have vanished. All business development trips, cancelled for the foreseeable future. No conferences running to either attend or, more commonly for me, present at, so no travel there.

In terms of work, I usually deliver face to face training for government and large corporate clients. This typically involved at least 1 trip a month to somewhere in Australia other than my home in ACT. None of that has happened in 2020 and I have no forward bookings for 2021 either - I usually book out 6 months in advance, so by now would have expected to be taking bookings for Feb-Apr 2021. For me it is not so much zoom meetings, but rather another pretty clear reason - no one can keep up with the border closures. And no one wants to pay for/absorb the cost of quarantines. And no one is ever sure whether the border closures/quarantines are long or short term. So my clients in Adelaide, for example, have expressly said that they will not be booking for the foreseeable future. This certainly reduces my use of flights. I do think that once the internal borders settle down on a predictable more permanent basis, my face to face training will resume, and so will my flight use. However, who knows when that will be....

Funny you should mention training. I'm currently doing my learning and development training via Webex, in a 'class' of about 20 people and it is dire.

No interaction, no commentary, people just tuning in, video off, mute on, no questions, just ticking the boxes - and it is supposed to be a top rated course that people fight to get on, but zero energy from anyone (to be honest myself included).

Online delivery is just souless. I can see how great this course could be though, was supposed to be in Singapore with all people from the region flying in, interactive, making networks with other high potentials etc.

Might ask to repeat it when there is a vaccine!

 

[Seat0B]

Funny you should mention training. I'm currently doing my learning and development training via Webex, in a 'class' of about 20 people and it is dire.

No interaction, no commentary, people just tuning in, video off, mute on, no questions, just ticking the boxes - and it is supposed to be a top rated course that people fight to get on, but zero energy from anyone (to be honest myself included).

Online delivery is just souless. I can see how great this course could be though, was supposed to be in Singapore with all people from the region flying in, interactive, making networks with other high potentials etc.

Might ask to repeat it when there is a vaccine!

Which is exactly why my clients and I have agreed that my courses are not suited to the on-line environment, and that we will all wait until that is possible again. I have had to resist pressure from some clients, but a flick and tick on line experience is actually detrimental to participants and their need for sophisticated understanding of the subject matter. Much of that development comes from interactive discussion and questions about case examples.

Sorry you've had such a horrible experience though. Unfortunately I suspect you are not alone.

My daughter has a part time job at a gym and did covid infection control testing on-line. I swear that she was asked this question.
"If you have a cough, fever and sneezes do you:
a. come to work anyway?
b. stay home and get tested?"

I'd post the photographic evidence except that it would name her and the gym involved. But really how can you get any quality when the training run like that?

 

[TomJones]

Agree with the other posters.
While I don't mind doing work and meetings online rather than traveling (and my employer would be happy for me to stay out of aeroplanes as it saves money in here and now), as soon as my competitors are back in the air and getting face-to-face with clients, I will have no choice but to do so too unless I want to leave myself at a disadvantage.

That's why I don't expect much long-term change in business travel. Things will gradually return to the long-term equilibrium. Maybe we could see a slight decrease in those whistle-stop visits to an interstate office?

 

[JB expat]

I'm in a non-revenue function and prior to COVID had the "just right" amount of travel for my taste. The cadence fit nicely with my home life/responsibilities and it was the right amount to engage with my stakeholders around the region/colleagues around the world and build our relationship, and help them with issues that just don't come up in the non-face 2 face space. I also enjoy travel and of course appreciated the Q Platinum level that (usually) assured good treatment during personal trips.

I do hope that what has been suggested to me is that corporate memory is short and post GFC there was speculation that travel would continue to be discouraged and not even 2-3 years later it was back to "normal".

 

[Seat0B]

I too managed to retain platinum relatively easily on my previous flying schedule (mix of business and leisure), but as Facebook keeps reminding me, I often missed home and complained about being away so much.

However, from direct experience of colleagues and clients, I suspect a lot of people secretly enjoyed the time away from home responsibilities, nice nights in a hotel and eating out on allowances, as well as FF status. I think those people will push hard to return to previous ways as soon as they can, and that will drag/pull/encourage/invite the rest of us along for the ride?

 

[AisleSeat]

This was the first thing i thought of when i read the thread title.

 

[Seat0B]

This was the first thing i thought of when i read the thread title.

yes @AisleSeat - a great movie that says it all.

 

[QF WP]

yes, we all know how that movie went. Online companies that deliver the video and/or oral communication is making hay whilst the sun is shining as ongoing training and some interactions with clients is a necessity in the short term.

I'm the same as everyone above, in a very personal industry (financial planning) and the majority of my clients are retirees and a third of them live interstate as well as having 5 international clients (4l roughly my age, I have been doing Zoom/Skpye with them for past 2 years). But the retirees want to see me face-to-face. I've had 2 clients contact me today, wanting face-to-face meetings with me (one is in Vic, but understands that I can't travel there at the moment). I haven't travelled since February but when the borders are opened up again, I fully expect to go back to my normal travel almost immediately. Moving companies will also mean I need to spend longer away to go through all the additional documentation with clients (new service agreements etc). It will mean I expect to be travelling every second week until everybody is seen and I expect to be away a day longer on each trip and my wife is well, sort of understanding. So PER will go from 3 to 4 days, ADL 1 to 2, MEL 2 to 4 and SYD 2 to 4 days). Am looking forward to the travel, but not the grind to play catch-up with all clients as meetings are generally 2-3 hours long.

Whilst the cost per trip will increase (given an increase in nights away), the amount of my travel will be down until 2021 when hopefully it returns to normal programming.

 

[ceetee]

I used to travel 150 days a year and racked up a decent expense for travel, yet offset with good sales due to that travel. Our company is rightfully cautious on any current expenses but I am sure that as the world gets past this and opens up, activities will increase along with sales. One cannot beat face-to-face meetings or conferences.

 

[daft009]

I've booked flights for a trip to Frankfurt in June 2021..lets see how things go.

Its an exhibition spread over 130,000m2 of floor space... can't do that virtually!
I can meet all my suppliers at one place, rather than me going to each company separately all over Western Europe

yes, agreed. face to face cannot be beat!

 

[daft009]

This was the first thing i thought of when i read the thread title.

haha, and this one!

 

[Beano]

No restrictions on me. I'm a bit of a FIFO to Australia at the consulting level, with each visit generating more income, but which is gone now, and not the type of work which can be done electonically. The sooner we get back to flying the better.