Business trips provide a unique opportunity of expanding your cultural horizons and enjoying new experiences. Combining business trips with relaxation can be a good way to maintain physical and mental well-being, even in the most challenging situations, as well as advice on post-travel fatigue or food and fitness suggestions. This trend is known as ‘bleisure travel’, ‘bleisure’ being a combination of business and leisure.
Nevertheless, in bleisure travel it is important to observe certain rules so that both managers and employees feel happy.
Bleisure travel makes employees happier and also benefits the company
Mixing work, culture and relaxation during business trips can be an extremely effective way for employees to take advantage of time away from home, visiting new places and discovering new cultures while on the road for work.
This breaks down the boundaries between work and leisure – which is not a bad thing.
Business trips are necessary and should not be a tiring duty for the employee. For example, an experienced travel manager can plan a business trip incorporating a weekend, providing tips to make the experience positive and unforgettable.
If the company chooses to include private and leisure elements in its travel policies, the trip can help improve employees’ well-being, with positive consequences for workplace performance as well.
Bleisure travel, combining work and leisure time on business trips, can contribute to the improvement of travellers’ work-life balance.
Introduce calm into the working day
Often, during business trips, the day begins and ends in a frantic way, with at most just a few minutes of personal time and the pressure to return home quickly. Inviting the employee to take some time to visit a museum, take a walk, enjoy a peaceful dinner or a moment of relaxation can introduce calm into the working day and relieve the pressure. This has a positive effect both on work activities on the road and on the journey home.
Make travelling attractive
For business travellers, returning from a business trip and having nothing to say about their destination apart from the hotel room and the means of transport might make them look back on their trip with frustration. It certainly doesn’t encourage satisfaction. It’s better to make a business trip into an opportunity not to be missed – on an individual as well as a professional level.
Create memories
Travel creates memories, feelings and emotions that cannot be had at home – experiences that make you happy. Business travel should become an unforgettable experience, something to be remembered and talked about with pleasure. A pleasant and enjoyable business trip makes employees feel satisfied, happy and more closely attached to the company they work for which generally results in better performance and greater involvement.
Value employees
Allowing employees to add a few private days to the business trip will make them feel appreciated, listened to and motivated. They will tend to be more loyal and will contribute to the spread of a company image that will also have an impact on recruitment.
There are thus several reasons why business travellers should devote time to themselves after a business meeting or at the end of the day. Sometimes, however, there is not enough time to fulfil all commitments, leading to stress, chaos and exhaustion.
The best solution is therefore to invite employees to add a few more days to the business trip, time dedicated exclusively to their own well-being, time they can look forward to after work and experience as a ‘reward’. Having already paid for the trip and invested time in planning it, perhaps there is even the opportunity of taking a small vacation, maybe with the family, in line, of course, with company policies.
Ultimately, the business traveller will return satisfied and happy and increasingly inclined to take more business trips, perceiving them as an opportunity to visit a new place and to gain positive experiences – feeling also more connected to the company both morally and emotionally.