How to Organize a Business Trip for Your Remote Team
Our world is changing, particularly for businesses across many industries and it’s a change that’s happening globally too. It’s the change to a hybrid working environment or to a completely remote working environment for some.
There has been a shift in remote working thanks to the recent years where a little thing called COVID-19 made working in the usual conditions difficult. From lockdowns to restrictions over social distancing, many companies adapted to remote working.
Some companies have kept up this remote working and there’s a growth of new companies that are operating solely on a remote basis. Whilst there may be many benefits to it, there are some challenges or downsides to remote working.
How do you organize a business trip with your remote team? The logistics of getting an employee or multiple employees to and from a destination may seem challenging. Fortunately, there are wonderful range of tools and software available nowadays to make business travel planning easy regardless of the working situation.
In this guide, we’ll look at how you can effectively organize a business trip for your remote team in 2022.
How business trips benefit teams in an organization
As a business, your employees are the most important part of it. You rely on them to show up, to work hard, and garner as much success for the business as possible. However, it’s apparent that some businesses don’t spend enough time helping to create a healthier working environment for their staff.
Did you know that more than one-half of all American workers are disengaged at work? A lack of productivity or motivation in the workplace can be detrimental to any business and it’s made worse if you’ve got multiple staff members who all feel the same way. Business trips, however, provide plenty of benefits for teams regardless of where they work. Read on to see how business trips benefit teams in an organization.
#1. Improves employeee relationships
Employee relationships are important to have established, especially when they are likely spending a lot of time around them on a daily basis. Whether that’s over Zoom calls, via email or in-person, everyone needs to get on.
Business trips are a great way of helping find a middle-ground for those who perhaps don’t have much of a working relationship in the business. It can help find mutual interests and building that communication can be helpful when it comes to their efficiency with work.
#2. Self-understanding and development
A lot of business trips, especially those that involve some team building activities and networking, can be great for self-understanding and development of the individual. All employees deserve the opportunity to flourish in their roles and as employees, it’s important to give them those opportunities.
Business trips can provide education as well as a chance to enjoy the social side of working for the company.
#3. Great for mental well-being in the workplace
Business trips, whether it’s a team away day or weekend, or you’re meeting new clients in another country, they’re a great excuse to enjoy some time away from the desk. As remote workers, they’re likely in an environment where they’re mixing their personal environment with their work one.
Having some time away can be great for their mental well-being so that they come back feeling less stressed and ready to take on any future projects coming up.
#4. Creates motivation and expresses appreciation
As a business, acknowledging the hard work of your employees is critical. It helps keep them happy in their job and satisfied enough so they don’t get elsewhere. With regular business trips, it keeps your employees inspired, helping bring new opportunities and experiences that give back to those who give a lot to the company on a daily basis.
Five handy tips for organizing a business trip for remote teams
How can you organize a business trip for your remote team effectively? We’ve put together five handy tips that will make organizing a work trip a doddle and something that won’t bring your employees responsible for booking them, sleepless nights!
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Use a corporate travel agency for sharing travel details.
Booking corporate travel of any kind can be challenging, which is why using a corporate travel agency to handle it all for you seems like the dream right? A problem with remote teams, as well as those who share the same workspace, won’t always be in the same place at the same time to share travel details.
With a travel agency, those traveling can regularly stay up-to-date with their travel arrangement through this platform. Not only is the booking element covered but users will get all the relevant information needed for their travel, whether they’re taking a plane, train, or hiring a car.
With many businesses outsourcing their business operations, it makes sense to do the same for your travel needs. In fact, before the pandemic, the market size for global outsourcing reached a whopping $92.5 billion. It’s a much-needed service that many businesses utilize now and will continue doing so.
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Create a travel itinerary that’s flexible.
For your remote team, it’s important that they’re aware of the plans that have been put in place when on the trip. Travel itineraries are a classic for both business and pleasure, so make sure to create one for the trip ahead of time.
There will be some business trips that perhaps don’t allow for much downtime, however, it’s always good to have a bit of flexibility in the schedule where possible. This can therefore make provisions for anything that doesn’t quite go to plan and where you might have to opt for a different approach.
There are great templates online that you can download and amend as you wish, distributing them to your remote team when required.
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Research and provide information on the destination.
Any business trip needs to provide its travelers with some background information on the destination. From the weather conditions expected to the local culture and anything that would be worth knowing, especially if going to another country.
If you have someone who’s responsible for booking this corporate travel in-house, then we suggest they put together a cheat sheet that every staff member can use and refer to when they’re on their travels.
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Organize team-building activities or excursions.
Business trips don’t necessarily need to be all business and no fun. Even those that are intended strictly for business and not necessarily team-building-orientated can still have an element of pleasure.
With that said, try to organize some team-building activities or excursions whether it be a wine tasting in the evening or taking a day trip out to a local hot spot for tourists.
These activities will help break up the trip to add more balance, especially when you’re expecting staff to be away from their personal life outside of work for so many days or weeks at a time.
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Plan for unexpected delays.
There will almost always be delays when it comes to travel. The pandemic has certainly thrown travel plans into chaos for some and still remains problematic in some areas of the world. So plan ahead but plan for the unexpected too. That can be easier said than done but having a backup plan just in case something doesn’t pan out the way you’d hoped can be better than not having any other plans.
What ways can you improve employee relationships remotely?
There are many ways you can improve employee relationships even when it’s a remote team that you’re working with. Here are a few suggestions to keep that communication alive and well at all times.
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Have Zoom coffee mornings
Zoom coffee mornings can still be a thing, even if they were a peak feature during the pandemic.
If you have a remote team, whether you do it every day or once a week, take 15-20 minutes out of your morning to organize a Zoom session where everyone enjoys a cup of coffee (or tea). It doesn’t need to be business-related, just an opportunity to unwind and chat!
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Check in with one-to-one meetings
One-to-one meetings are a great way to regularly check in with your employees and to ensure that they are doing well within their roles. Sometimes, employees can struggle with their workload or simply might be having a hard week.
It’s good to do regular check-ins to ask how the staff member is doing and how the supervisor or manager can help with anything that’s become a problem. In return, you’re going to get improvements in job satisfaction and it ultimately shows your team that you care about their personal wellbeing too.
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Use collaborative tools
There are some many online tools and software available for us to utilize in this modern world. Use collaborative tools because they’re out there for a reason. It’s beneficial to have a constant connection available, particularly when it comes to remote working. Whether that’s Slack for instant communication to Zoom for scheduling meetings.
Business trips are easy to plan with the right tools
For your remote team, planning a business trip doesn’t need to be difficult. It can actually be an enjoyable process that can be fun to plan, regardless of how work intense it is. Make sure to utilize the tools available and outsource any additional help you might need to have successful business trips every time.