Without a doubt, you heard about the 20 March ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that caused chaos to business travellers across the globe. As you saw on the news or perhaps experienced yourself, numerous flights were cancelled, European airspace was closed for days on end and business travellers had to seek alternative ways of finding their way home. Just when it appeared everything was getting back to normal, another eruption meant business travellers were faced with the same issue all over again.
Whilst travel seems to be gaining some stability again, the fallout from the crisis will cause financial disruption for businesses for months to come. When employees who were stranded file expense claims, the real cost for businesses will become painfully apparent. Figures from ACTE show that 29 percent of travel buyers did not have a specific program and policy in place to deal with this type of crisis.
What about the employee who bought an extra couple of shirts because he ran out of clean ones? Or the employee stranded abroad after a weekend on vacation, who had to rent a car to get to a local office to work. Who bears these expenses? Where does a company draw the line? Businesses will be faced with tough decisions about who gets reimbursed, and where the money is going to come from.
It is imperative that businesses have a fair and explicit expense policy for these kinds of events to ensure that employees know exactly what they can and cannot expense. Visibility and transparency mean that when a natural disaster that disrupts business travel happens again – and you can be sure it will – employees have a clear blueprint for how their company expects them to behave. The ash cloud is an important lesson for all of us. What is your organisation doing to assure your expense policy is tailored towards natural disasters like an erupting volcano? Now that it appears the eruptions are over, how is your organisation handling the expenses?
We didn't have a system in place. I got lucky, I was only stranded for a couple of days. There was a couple of awful bus rides and an overcrowded ferry involved but I was one of the lucky ones.
Thing is, you're always going to get people taking the mick. Like the MPs expenses scandal on a lower scale. I bought a couple of cheap shirts and the money came out of my own pocket and they paid for the additional travel expenses.
It depends on how much your company pays for in the first place. My clothes aren't bought for me, so I buy those myself. My accommodation is paid for but if I can't get the same room in the same place, look for the cheapest place you can find that you're going to be able to work in. Don't go for luxury London serviced apartments when there's a cheaper b+b available.