Stress Triggers for Business Travelers

More and more corporate travel managers are paying more attention to make life and travel easier for their corporate travelers. They understand that frequent business travel has an impact on travelers’ personal health, productivity and affects employee’s willingness to remain at the firm. Many travel managers indicated that they were dissatisfied with the way their companies address the impact of business travel on travelers. Concerns about traveler’s health and willingness to stay at the firm weighed heaviest, followed by safety and productivity. Carlson Wagonlit (CWT Solutions Group) put together a study that discussed key stress triggers for travelers.

Here is the synopsis –

“What emerged from this survey is that the 33 stress triggers studied can be grouped into 3 main categories (which are not mutually exclusive), based on the way they impact a traveler:

1. Lost time: situation in which work is difficult or impossible (e.g. Flying economy on long haul)
2. Surprises: when an unforeseen event occurs (e.g. Lost or delayed baggage)
3. Routine breakers: inability to maintain one’s habits (e.g. Unable to eat healthily at destination)

The main stress drivers reported by our respondents all have a “lost time” component and fall into at least one additional category (surprise and/or routine breaker):

Lost or delayed baggage [79/100]
Poor Internet connection at destination [77/100]
Flying economy on Medium/Long haul [73/100]
Delays [72/100]

Furthermore, we observed significant differences in the stress perceived by the different demographic groups we studied. For example: Women report on average four points of stress more than men (on the most stressful factors, defined as scores above 60/100).

There is a cumulative effect of stress with increased travel frequency. A difference of four stress points is measured between  frequent (over 30 trips per year) travelers and occasional travelers.  Frequent travelers are more skilled at tackling surprises, but  more distressed by “lost time” events.  There is a high correlation among the demographic groups segmented by job seniority, age and trip frequency, creating similar patterns of perceived stress.  For respondents living with a partner, traveling during weekends and long stays (over 3 days) generate an additional 8 points and 4 points of stress respectively compared to those living alone. The same effect is observed when comparing respondents with and without children.  This research lays the groundwork that will enable us to build an overall measure of stress and to assess the corresponding productivity impact on an organization. Our ultimate objective is to provide recommendations to tackle the hidden costs of  business travel.”

The full report is available here