How to incentivise employees with travel opportunities

Employee acquisition and retention are important aspects of running a business, but a good salary alone will not necessarily guarantee that people will join and remain loyal to your company.

Perks can make a job much more rewarding, and one of the best perks to motivate your employees is by offering travel opportunities as part of the job role.

Why should you offer travel as an employee incentive?

Most people have the desire to travel, whether it’s just in the form of short holidays or longer-term adventures. Many would even list having the means to travel as one of their chief reasons for wanting a higher salary.

Meetings with potential clients, networking events, visiting suppliers or even market research can all be sufficient reasons for business-related travel.

Employees will be more likely to stay loyal and look forward to their work if their desire for travel is being met as part of their job description. People often change jobs because they need a change of scenery, but regular travel for work automatically provides significant variety. Having travel as part of the role will also attract more job seekers to your company.

These incentives will also motivate your employees to improve their performance and try and work their way up the corporate ladder so that they can secure more opportunities for travel.

Tips for incentivising employee travel

Organise the travel and transfers on their behalf 

Travelling for business will be much more appealing to your employees if they don’t have to arrange their own flights and airport transfers. Even though these expenses are usually reimbursed, the process of finding and booking the travel is an unnecessary stress and, by booking them yourself, you can determine when your employees will arrive, accounting for any necessary prep time for meetings etc.

Find good accommodation 

Even when the location of a business trip isn’t that exotic, some time away can still be good for the soul and relaxing in nice accommodation at the end of the day can make all the difference. If there is a certain location your employees will have to visit frequently, you may even be able to arrange a reduced price with the accommodation for future visits.

Extend the trip times where possible 

You don’t need to pay for your employees to turn their business trips into holidays, but you also don’t want the turnaround to be so quick that everything feels like a mad dash. Provided you don’t need your employees back in the office immediately, having some leniency when it comes to the return flight is advised so that they can pack up and leave a bit more leisurely. Small gestures such as these will make your employees feel more appreciated and, in turn, more likely to stay loyal to your company.

Fly in luxury 

If you have the means, private flights are a great option for business travel that will certainly make your employees feel valued and well looked after. Private jet charters come with many benefits, such as no luggage limits, no queues at the airport, high-quality catering and more. 

Private flights can be great for those businesses who want to reward their valued senior employees, but they also make important business trips for a small team smoother and more straightforward. The lack of downtime compared to flying commercially means there is less out-of-office time that you need to pay employees for, and the privacy of the flight means that your employees can prepare for presentations or meetings and discuss sensitive matters without fear of anyone overhearing.  

Offering travel as an incentive for your employees is a great way to motivate them, and hopefully improve retention too. If employees can achieve their personal goals as part of their job, then they are much more likely to want to stay with that company and work hard to earn more opportunities.