Make managing business trips simple

Employers are required by law to reimburse their employees for professional expenses incurred during business trips made as part of their work. The following expenses are covered:

1. Meal expenses
2. Accommodation expenses, such as hotel rooms
3. Transportation expenses (train tickets, car rentals, etc.)
4. Kilometer expenses

There are two options for an employer to reimburse their employees:

1. Reimbursement by flat-rate deduction
2. Reimbursement at actual cost

With actual cost reimbursement, the amount paid by the company matches exactly the amount of expenses incurred during the business trip. However, this solution requires employees to submit expense reports to their employer and attach all supporting documentation.

Opting for reimbursement by flat-rate deduction frees employees from managing expense reports after each business trip. However, this solution may be more costly for the employer as expenses are reimbursed based on URSSAF rates rather than actual amounts.

If your employees use their personal vehicles for business travel, your company is required to compensate them for each trip. To do this, you must apply the state's official kilometer compensation scale.

Calculated based on the vehicle's horsepower and the number of kilometers traveled during business trips, kilometer expenses cover:

1. Depreciation of the vehicle
2. Repair and maintenance costs
3. Tire costs
4. Fuel costs
5. Insurance premiums

Note: the kilometer compensation amount is increased by 20% if your employees use an electric vehicle for business travel.

Organizing a business trip is not a task that should be improvised. In fact, this work requires setting up a specific process with the following three main steps:

1. Planning

The first step in organizing a business trip is to ask basic questions such as:

1. Is the trip a good opportunity to meet other business partners (customers, suppliers, etc.)?
2. What is the best means of transportation to facilitate your employees’ mobility?

Organizing a business trip is easy when it is part of an employee's daily work routine. However, business trips abroad require much more precise planning.

For example, a long journey may involve booking several flights and accommodation at each stop, which complicates the planning stage.

2. Making reservations

After planning their business trip, employees will move on to the next step: booking. Most business trips involve booking transportation or accommodation.

There are several options to help companies manage their bookings.

Companies whose employees are frequent travelers often use a dedicated in-house service, such as a travel desk or manager.

In this case, members of this department are responsible for each booking based on the information provided by the employee (route, duration of the trip, etc.), while respecting the company's travel policy.

Employers can also delegate the organization and management of business travel by using a travel agency that specializes in planning and booking business trips.

The last option is Self-Booking, which is mainly preferred by small and medium-sized enterprises.

With Self-Booking, it is up to the employees to book their own transportation or accommodation. They can use a specific tool or an online booking platform to do so.

3. Tracking expenses

Tracking expenses incurred during a business trip is essential for the financial management of the company. This way, the employer can ensure that their employees have respected the company's travel policy and can assess the budget used for each business trip.

This reporting work is also essential to know the return on investment of the trips made by each team:

1. What sales did each business trip generate?
2. What was the cost?

In this way, employers can optimize their planning and booking process to better judge the interest of each future trip.

The management of business travel can be entrusted to different members of a company's workforce, such as:

1. Travel Manager
2. Financial team
3. Human resources team

Regardless of the chosen solution, managing business trips involves taking care of the following tasks:

1. Organizing business trips for employees
2. Choosing various providers
3. Controlling the quality of services
4. Managing different payment methods
5. Verifying the safety of travelers
6. Reimbursing professional expenses
7. Tracking costs and performance

To make business travel management easier and save a considerable amount of time, the company can use expense management software or a specialized tool (such as an online management platform).

Implementing a travel policy is essential for the proper management of your employees' business travel. Here are our 5 tips for drafting a policy:

1. Assess your company's needs

There is no point implementing a travel policy that does not meet your company's needs. For example, do not include a chapter on business trips abroad if your employees only travel domestically.

2. Keep the traveling employees involved

Your business travel policy should find the perfect balance between cost-effective management and optimal comfort for traveling staff.

Therefore, get in touch with your employees before it is implemented to check that it matches the reality on the ground. It is essential to solicit the opinion of all stakeholders.

3. Set rules and limits based on the type of expenditure

Defining clear rules helps staff plan a business trip. Therefore, determine the budget for each type of expenditure within your travel policy:

1. Accommodation
2. Meals
3. Transportation
4. Miscellaneous expenses

If you practice Self-Booking, mention the companies (hotels, car rental companies…) to be prioritized when booking a business trip if you benefit from advantageous rate conditions.

4. Specify the terms of reimbursement of expense reports

Your business travel policy should also explain the operation of expense reports within the company:

1. The tools or software to be used to prepare the expense report
2. The process for providing receipts and proof of purchase
3. The deadline for submitting the expense report to the manager and the accounting department
4. Reimbursement terms

If you choose to give a business card to some of your employees, describe the terms of use that must be respected.

5. Define the process for approving expenses incurred during business trips

Even if the law requires you to reimburse certain travel expenses, you remain free to define the rules to be respected to obtain approval for an expense.

Therefore, you can decide that each employee must systematically request approval from their manager, or reserve this process for specific situations.