Leveraging Travel Benefits for Employees

Travel experiences provide an excellent opportunity for your employees to enjoy the world and for you to expand your business. This article talks in detail about the various benefits of travelling for employees.

On business trips too, employees like to explore the new place and follow their wanderlust like the lust for open roads, crystal-clear lakes, mossy hills, ancient towering oaks, and teeming wildlife. A person in love with the idea of travelling the world may also long to experience life’s richest comforts: a luxury royal Caribbean cruise that leads to whitewashed churches near sandy beaches, eating authentic local Malay cuisine in Kuala Lumpur, or a winery tour in Thailand.

The Various Employee Travel Benefits-

Being a stimulant of creativity, travelling is a great therapeutic agent for your body, mind and soul. Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind, especially if one is caught in their everyday routines and responsibilities. Break free from your mundane agenda and feed your soul while vastly improving your mental and physical health.

1. Travelling can Reduce the Risk of Contracting Heart Diseases

As asserted by The Yale Tribune, travelling can reduce the risk of contracting cardiovascular complications such as heart attacks, heart defects, angina and strokes. This is because while travelling; you are always on the move. This movement is a form of mild exercise that can keep your heart healthy.

Moreover, travelling can help lower your stress levels. When you travel, you will focus more on yourself and take a break from the pressures and routines of your day to day life. Stress is a common cause of heart diseases, and by reducing stress; you will protect yourself from contracting cardiovascular complications.

2. Travelling can Boost Your Immunity

When you travel constantly; your body will be always exposed to foreign allergens, viruses, and bacteria. This exposure will make your body system boost its immunity levels by fighting off these foreign allergens, germs and viruses.

However, this does not mean that you shouldn’t pay regard to sanitation and hygiene while travelling. You should always protect your body from being exposed to germs; for instance, you should put on a gas mask when you are in a hazardous environment.

By visiting new places, your body can build a robust defence mechanism against foreign disease-causing germs. This way, travelling helps to boost your immunity levels. Freediving will also revitalize your body by toning every joint and muscle while at the same time giving you a new experience underwater.

3. Travelling can Improve your Concentration and Memory

When you don’t travel frequently, your brain will be used to your typical day to day routine; and you won’t have a chance to improve your concentration and memory. This is because there will be no new information for your mind to process.

However, when you travel; you will get a chance to improve the concentration and memory of your brain. This is because your mind will be processing new information; such as different schedules, different languages, unknown navigation streets, among others.

When your brain continuously processes new information on say, an Amazon river cruise, the chances of you contracting cellular degenerative diseases will reduce. This way, you will keep your mind young; and automatically improve its concentration and memory.

4. Travelling can Improve Your Bone Health

When you travel; you will spend a lot of time outdoors. For instance, you may be outdoors visiting architectural sites, museums, beaches, among others. When you are outdoors, you will be exposed to sunlight; especially when you are travelling to warm places.

By being exposed to sunlight, your skin will absorb Vitamin D nutrients. This vitamin D is enriched with phosphorus and calcium, which are essential minerals used in the strengthening of bones.

Due to travelling, you will receive lots of calcium and phosphorus; which will improve your bone health. Osteoporosis is a prevalent disease in middle-aged people, and such people should be encouraged to travel to improve their bone health.

During travelling, most people tend to indulge in adventure sports. These are rigorous physical activities that can make you burn off that excess fat.

Furthermore, when you are in a new environment; your body will automatically increase its rate of metabolism. This can make you more physically active, and you will be able to engage in rigorous physical exercises which will help you lose weight.

5. Traveling Improves Respiration

If you stay in a congested city or, a populated urban area; your respiratory system is constantly being exposed to pollutants.

As illustrated by Well-being Secrets, these pollutants can invade your respiratory system and make you suffer from respiratory complications such as bronchitis, asthma, and lung cancer.

Therefore, you should always travel to the countryside and oceanic areas to detoxify your respiratory system. When you go to such places; your lungs will be able to breathe in fresh and unpolluted air – and pollutants will be expelled from your respiratory system. Breathing in salty, oceanic air is known to prevent cystic fibrosis, lung cancer and excessive coughing.

6. Travelling can Help You Lose Weight

Nowadays, many people lead sedentary lifestyles. This may be due to their work-office environments and lack of time and motivation to visit the gym or start exercising.

Travelling can put an end to your sedentary lifestyle; even if it is for the short term. Of course; you won’t sleep in a hotel room all day long while in a new place. Instead, you would want to go sightseeing, experience new cultures and have fun.

Travel Improves Productivity at Work

Productivity is proportionally related to the level of focus. If you can focus more you will achieve higher levels of productivity. There are several ways of improving your mental focus including forming positive habits which will help improve mental concentration and focus. While these methods are crucial, breaking from work-related activities and travelling can increase the level of concentration.

1. Connecting with Nature Improves the Level of Focus

In addition to improving employee happiness and satisfaction, travelling enriches your life. The expansive landscape, the fresh air of the off-the-city environment, and the harmony in nature will help rejuvenate your mind. Nature has a magical effect of quieting the ranging mental doubts and worries and improving employee well being. It helps the mind shed off excess pressure which has accumulated during the arduous work environment thus revitalizing your mind for better focus.

2. Changes the Person’s Perspective

The work environment is characterized by a familiar environment where you know what to expect and how to carry out different responsibilities. This predictability makes you gradually but surely develop a fixed perspective. Such a one-sided view of things is not ideal for solving the different problems which arise at work. If you get out and travel, you will be exposed to different situations and people who will challenge the way you see things and solve problems.

For instance, if you are using your bike, some of the bike parts may develop mechanical problems. Since you are in a remote place, you might find yourself attempting to solve the mechanical problem on your own. You may as well meet with new people who do things quite differently than what you thought to be conventional. All these situations will help you break from the one-sided view of the world and begin seeing the world and problem solving as multi-dimensional. Such thinking is essential in improving productivity at the workplace.

3. Sheds of Pressure Which Has Accumulated over Time

Though work sometimes is full of fun and quite rewarding, other work-related situations may accelerate your burnout. Such work-related fatigue reduces the productivity level and may even lead to undesirable health conditions. If you reach such high-pressure levels, don’t continue pressing on. The feeling of fatigue and a certain form of mental exhaustion is the body’s natural mechanism of communicating to you that you need a break.

Take time and go for your favourite escapade. Don’t be afraid to pack those pieces of camping equipment on your Hilux roof racks and go explore the wilderness. The bountiful nature will help you recuperate and regain your natural level of vitality. Once you are back in your workplace, you will realize that your productivity has increased drastically.

4. Improves Creativity and Problem Solving Skills

Creativity is needed in the job place. Creative people can come up with unique solutions and help their companies stay ahead of the competition. These individuals are indispensable due to their ability to create innovative solutions to most challenges.

Travelling will predispose you to a myriad of problems. Sometimes you will need to improvise or even befriend strangers just to get what you need during your travelling period. The result is improved creativity which is quite effective in boosting productivity.

5. Enhances Effective Communication

If you travel frequently, you must have noticed that different cultures of the world communicate differently. The gestures, facial expressions, and body movements which mean one thing in your culture may send a different message in another culture. In other cases, you might need to ask for directions from strangers, some of who don’t speak your native language.

You end up using gestures and any other available means of communication. Through this, you will improve your communication skills which are essential in improving teamwork and productivity.

6. Improves Overall Health

Travelling especially that which involves trekking will provide an opportunity to do voluntary and enjoyable physical exercises. Even if no physical exercises are involved, changing your environment and relaxing your mind has far-reaching health benefits.

Such a relaxed environment reduces stress levels, allows you to have long rests which are key in repairing the different body systems including the immune system, and improves your cardiovascular health.

7. Boosts Learning

Learning is highly tied to attitude. When you are preparing to travel, your mind tunes to a positive learning attitude. It’s through this that you find it easy to quickly learn and master a few foreign language words, quickly find your direction back to your hotel, or even fix your camping gear safely on the Hilux roof racks.

This positive learning attitude will most likely reflect even in your work environment. Such a positive learning attitude will help increase the level of accuracy, reduce the project turnaround time, and increase work efficiency.

Tips to Keep in Mind while Travelling

Here are some practical tips you must share with your employees before sending them off on a business trip, or before they take time off for themselves to travel.

1. Your Resource

Learn about their destination by reading the Travel Advisory for the country you plan to send them to. It has information about visa requirements, local laws, customs, medical care policies, driving rules and regulations, etc.

In case of emergency, you may utilize the resources of your country’s embassy, which is the headquarters for government representatives serving in a foreign country. Embassies are normally located in capital cities and are available 24/7. They offer many services to travellers, also for business travels, such as replacing lost passports, giving aid to the injured or ill, and assisting with marriages, births, and adoptions. Other sections of the embassy provide more specialized assistance.

For United States citizens who are looking for added insurance for safety while travelling abroad, they may enrol their trip with the nearest US Embassy through The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). This will allow your employees to receive important travel alerts and be reached in an emergency.

2. Health Insurance

Make sure your employees have medical insurance that is covered abroad and learn what medical services your insurance will cover overseas. The US government does not provide medical insurance for US citizens in foreign countries. In addition, some insurance companies pay "customary and reasonable" hospital costs abroad, but very few will cover a medical evacuation back to the United States, which can cost up to as much as $50,000. To check this, many companies use a mobile health insurance app. It's much more convenient and simplifies your time

Look for a plan that will cover all of the following:

Medical evacuation to the United States
Travel and accommodation costs
A 24-hour contact line
Sufficient coverage
The region(s) you travel in
Duration of travel
Pre-existing conditions
Activities you engage in
Emergency medical care

If your current company health insurance is not appropriate for travelling abroad, you can purchase a short-term supplemental policy for your employees, or have them purchase this for themselves. The best policy to select is one that will make payments to hospitals directly.

3. Vaccinations

Be sure to have your employees get the necessary vaccinations before embarking on their international journey. A visit to their local doctor should be sufficient to handle this task, but if you or your employees need more information on vaccinations you can turn to the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers.

4. Trip Cancellation Insurance

One can save a lot of money and hassle by purchasing trip cancellation insurance to cover financial investments such as flights, train tickets, and cruises. It’s also best to book everything through a single travel agent if possible. If you are scheduling the trip through a travel agency, there should be options to purchase travel insurance. If not, you will need to select trip cancellation insurance options for each aspect of the trip you purchase. It's also advisable to consider utilizing food tour booking software to streamline your culinary adventures.

5. Money Management

Before your employee leaves, have them notify their bank and credit card companies of their travel--unless of course, they want to get your card shut down the moment you use it in a foreign country. If you are good to employees, you will provide a good amount of paradigm, but they will likely want to spend some personal money beyond their allotment.

On business travel, to save your company money, check exchange rates and get company credit cards with no foreign transaction fees. Banks make a profit from the gap between the rate at which they purchase American dollars and the rate at which they sell foreign currency to you. On top of that, a card that charges foreign transaction fees will cost you an additional 2-3% for every purchase.

ATMs will charge a fee for each use, the amount of which is variable from year to year, so be sure to check the ATM fees before the trip. Most places do not accept traveller’s checks anymore, so just have them stick to using the company credit card and avoid carrying too much cash on their person.

Advise them against making financial transactions on public wi-fi, as it may compromise the company credit card. Hacking public wi-fi is incredibly simple--something that any common hotel employee or system installer could do--so don’t let your guard down, and ingrain this tip in your employees so they don’t forget.

6. LGBTQ+ Travelers

More than seventy countries consider consensual homosexual relations a crime. LGBTQ+ travellers may also face other types of discrimination while abroad. As such, queer individuals must take certain measures to ensure their safety. If you have employees on business travel that live this kind of lifestyle, be sure to take note of the following steps.

7. Passport Information

Have your employee update their passport so that their name, photo, and gender correspond to their current gender identity. Check their passport expiration date as well--some countries won’t let you travel with a passport that expires in less than six months. Have them pack their legal, health, parentage/and or custody documents.

8. Utilize the Embassy

Utilize the services of the nearest Embassy of your country. If your employee runs into any trouble in a foreign country, have them ask the police to contact the Embassy if they are arrested--the embassy will assist whilst protecting their privacy. Also, be sure to have the contact details of family and friends.

For instance, same-sex spouses of U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), along with their minor children, are eligible for the same immigration benefits as opposite-sex spouses.

They Can Never Be Too Prepared

Continue to do the necessary research for your employee’s business travel abroad and have them do their homework as well. Accumulating as much knowledge before the trip will help ensure that you and your employees take the stress out of travel. The processes of international travel can be difficult to navigate but given time and practice, your employees can have a very safe and productive journey.

Conclusion

Travelling improves productivity at work. Some businesses have realized this and have a program to take their employees on corporate getaways regularly. You can as well undertake travelling expeditions on your own whenever your work program allows you to. You will derive personal benefits and improve productivity at work.