What will change, however, is that the stakes will likely be closer to home than before. From now on, employees can still travel overseas for a business trip, but the assigned location is expected to remain in the region. For example, an employee is sent on a journey in the Asia Pacific region to manage a plant or business in the region. This compared to the past where you might get someone from Greater China, Europe or America to travel the world to manage an APAC project.
“We will encourage more contracts in the region that should also be easier to manage and implement,” he said. “I mean when you have different regions that need to be considered and covered [for travel plans], that’s even more complex. So if you narrow down to one region, this will probably reduce the complexity and make it easier for us to implement orders. “
Continue reading: COVID-19: Can HR “force” employees to travel?
Cut business trips – only travel when you need to
On the flip side, the other panelist, Natalie Wright, Group HR Director at CÉ LA VI, an F&B and hospitality organization, believes the company may no longer travel as much as it did before. Prior to COVID-19, every time it opened a new F&B location overseas, the company would send a team of people to manage the opening. They helped set it up and traveled frequently in the months that followed to make sure everything started off well.
However, since the pandemic, traveling back and forth between locations has not been so easy, so the guide has had to adapt and introduce a fundamental change in mindset. The team decided to trust local leaders and instead increase communication on a weekly or daily basis. They were pleasantly surprised when their new business in Shanghai was doing really well – “our local market leader” [did] a fantastic job and actually was more successful than us when we left. “
