Concur Survey Shows Corp. Travelers' Schedule Discontent

More than three-fifths of business travelers are unhappy with their current business travel schedules, according to an SAP Concur survey of 3,850 business travelers released Thursday.

The survey—conducted by Wakefield Research between April 28 and May 23 among travelers around the world who have taken at least three trips over the past two years—showed that 61 percent have a travel schedule that doesn't meet their expectations, according to Concur. A higher number, 82 percent, said their company is returning to pre-pandemic levels of travel, but that travel is being spread out among a smaller group of employees.

Of those not happy with their current travel levels, 23 percent said they would look for another job if the situation did not change, according to Concur. The vast majority, 92 percent, of travelers overall, also said they would not accept a job with more travel requirements than their current job unless it came with extra pay, benefits or travel flexibility.

"This year’s survey revealed that a degree of unhappiness and anxiety persists among business travelers and travel managers worldwide," newly appointed Concur Travel president Charlie Sultan said in a statement. "If things don’t change, nearly a quarter of global business travelers will consider looking for a new job—bad news for any business struggling with attrition, skills gaps, and a labor shortage."

Overall safety concerns are weighing more heavily on travelers than concerns specific to Covid-19, according to the survey. Fifty-three percent of travelers surveyed said they would decline a business trip if it was to a part of the world they considered dangerous, slightly higher than the 51 percent who said they would decline a trip if they had health concerns related to Covid-19. About a quarter said they would cancel a trip due to burnout, and a similar percentage said they would cancel a trip that required using non-sustainable travel options.

Wakefield Research also surveyed 700 travel managers for Concur during the same period, and every travel manager surveyed said their job would be harder over the next year compared with the previous year. About half of travel managers said they are seeing increased pressure from their company leaders to show the return on investment of their role.