Wellness, work-life balance now on corporate travel managers’ agenda

With non-essential travel on hold, corporate travel managers turn their attention closer to home

With Covid-19 derailing business travel and placing staff at home, corporate travel managers and their partners are now shifting their focus to employee wellbeing and work-life balance.

During a recent webinar on Traveller Wellbeing in a World in Crisis, speakers shared that several measures are in place to manage the stress of working from home. They include working in 15-minute yoga sessions prior to meetings; a mandated weekly Mental Health Day; and no meetings scheduled after 12.00 on Fridays.

With non-essential travel on hold, corporate travel managers have shifted their focus to ensure employees’ wellbeing while working from home

Brendan Morris, CEO of international rugby sports federation SANZAAR, commented: “Psychologists, on top of doctors, are taking care of the players, as we need them to be happy (in order for them) to produce their best efforts. There is support for families to be connected and downtime.”

Stephen Turner, group procurement manager, Wesfarmers, added staff may not be facing travel stress, but there is stress when transiting from working in the office to working from home.

Apart from Wesfarmers’ management reassuring staff that they are not alone and encouraging team members to continue to be as normal as before, Turner said a fund was set up to provide ergonomic chairs for home use and the company is also conducting home safety checks, while HR team members look out for telltale signs of unhappiness and loneliness when staff contact them.

Ben Wedlock, vice president of sales, Asia-Pacific, said BCD Travel was looking at revising its work-from-home strategy to help staff balance life outside the office.

Wellness measures such as team meetings starting with 15 minutes of yoga and ergonomic stretches are now in place. BCD is also looking at more learning and development opportunities for staff who aspire to be in consulting or management.

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