Business Travel promotes staff retention...

Worth a share... Headlined “Redefining Event Attendance”, this year’s Future Meeting Space (FMS) research phase looks at what motivates people to take up travel to attend in-person events and highlights the arguments in favour of leaving your desk to meet other people face-to-face in a work context. The results of the second of a total of three surveys conducted as part of the research clearly show that business trips not only considerably impact on the attractiveness of employers, they also are a major source of inspiration for everyday work life. On 14 December 2022 at 2 pm (GMT), the GCB German Convention Bureau and Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, together with their research partners, will present the full results live from Frankfurt in a free online event.

During the session, the key results from the research phase’s research radar and three surveys as well as recommendations for organisers and business event service providers will be presented. The insights from the first two surveys already reveal how important business travel is. Networking and idea generation are proving to be key motivators to attend events in person in the future. "Business trips inspire because they enable personal encounters, boost people’s professional network and generate new ideas," says Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the GCB German Convention Bureau. Joining on 14 December, attendees can expect an inspiring agenda of presentations and discussions to assess the results.

Business travel as a factor of employer attractiveness The second survey of the current FMS research phase looked at how attractive business travel is in general and how it contributes to recruitment and staff retention. The results show that regarding the attractiveness of and loyalty to their employer, people who say they enjoy travelling rank business travel in fourth place out of a total of 17 factors. The survey results also provide information about whether business trips to attend events are considered a source of inspiration for new ideas and innovation. Generating ideas through attending in-person events is in fourth place with 9 percent. Compared to interacting with colleagues in the office or when working from home, people are more (above average) inspired by attending in-person events while online meetings are much less relevant in that respect.

"Events are very inspirational and companies that enable their employees to go on appealing business trips are attractive. These aspects confirm how important business trips to attend events will be for everyday work life in the future," says Dr Stefan Rief, Head of Organisational Development and Work Design Research Unit at Fraunhofer IAO. For around 75% of those surveyed, easy planning and approval of work-related trips are an important factor that will considerably influence their future travel activities.

Sustainability also plays an important role in the planning and implementation of business trips and was considered throughout the research process. Among the findings to be discussed on December 14 is that two-thirds of respondents consider the use of climate-friendly means of transport and the compensation of CO2 emissions to be relevant.

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