Skift Take

Business travel by remote and hybrid workers has presented new complexities for corporate travel managers, and costs are just one issue.

Corporations have largely maneuvered out of the workplace upheavals inflicted by the global pandemic. One issue continues to vex managers: How to handle business travel for newly remote employees.

Nearly half of companies have revised policies to address travel by remote or hybrid employees, according to a January survey by the Global Business Travel Association. 

More than a quarter of companies — 27% — said they’ve changed their travel policies since the pandemic and another 21% are formulating new guidelines. Another 40% of the survey’s 707 respondents said they are not altering travel programs for remote/hybrid employees.

“If you are kind of being pushed into the office, it may have been a client trip before and now it’s a trip to your head office,” said Andrew Wimpenny, a director at Amex GBT Global Business Consulting. “And are you staying a little bit longer?”

The top issues companies are working through: 

Which types of meetings are allowed for travel? (40%) How often can the employee travel to an office? (32%) What typ