Independent research commissioned by business-travel-management platform CWT finds the two biggest concerns of frequent business travelers across the world are home-life friction and putting pressure on office colleagues. However, the top worry of American respondents is different than that of respondents from Europe and Asia Pacific.
Overall, 22 percent of respondents believe their business-travel commitments erode the quality of their home life—but 26 percent of American respondents think so, versus 23 percent of European and 18 percent of Asia Pacific respondents. On the other hand, 22 percent of all respondents feel guilty that their office colleagues must bear a greater workload while they are gone—but only 16 percent of Americans feel that way, versus 24 percent of European and 25 percent of Asia Pacific respondents.
“Relationships are a fundamental part of a person’s well-being,” says Catherine Maguire-Vielle, executive vice president and chief human resources officer for CWT. “Companies have an obligation to ensure their employees’ travels are not jeopardizing them at home or in the office.”
Meeting planners who understand the attendee demographic for each of their events can help reduce the outside worries of attendees. One possibility: Setting breaks in a meeting agenda at times that make it easiest for U.S. attendees to connect with their families or for international attendees to contact work colleagues, depending on the makeup of the event audience. A pre-event survey could ascertain attendee preferences on specific break times and the length of each break.
