Why employers should offer ‘blended travel’ for staff during a talent crisis

The ‘new normal’ is a term that I have a love-hate relationship with. While it painfully reminds me of the difficult two years we’ve all just come through, it’s undoubtedly the most apt term for the changed world that we’re now living in, particularly when it comes to hybrid working patterns. How we want to travel, live and work is changing, and it’s changing fast. Our attitudes towards careers, leisure, home, and family are in flux due to social changes, technological progress, and the evolving nature of work and leisure. However, alongside this, one of the major fallouts of the last two years of economic unrest and various socio-political events, is a talent crisis. The UK has recently hit the grim milestone of the highest number of job vacancies in 20 years, and as we demand more from our employers, whether it be work-life balance, pay rises, or other perks, business leaders across multiple industries are facing unprecedented pressure when it comes to hiring and retaining staff. So, why is blended travel so important to attract and retain talent? Research from the whitepaper reveals that the majority of Millennial and Gen-Z consumers are more inclined to work for a company that offers frequent travel or flexible (work and leisure) travel possibilities as a perk. Additionally, flexibility in working hours is the must-have work perk amongst consumers over a high salary or a reduced working week, with over half of UK consumers believing that combining work with a leisure trip abroad would be beneficial to them and allow them greater flexibility. At Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, we’ve recently worked with Stylus, a global trends and insights business, to develop an industry-first whitepaper looking at the rise of ‘blended travel’. The report explores the major emerging lifestyle trends reshaping the future of a blended travel landscape, including travellers tagging leisure time on to work trips, spending longer in a holiday destination to work, or simply harnessing the benefits of advanced connectivity and a desirable destination to work from anywhere in the world. As employers, we need to seriously consider how we can hire and then, perhaps even more importantly, retain staff by taking this ‘blended travel’ approach to business trips. When travelling with work, can we tag on an additional day or two for leisure purposes? With Crowne Plaza for example, employers can opt for a hotel or resort that caters to leisure and wellbeing once business is complete (or blends the two!) using our hotels’ wellbeing facilities. Being able to wind down and recharge with a massage or a dip in the pool after a long day of meetings is also a great benefit. Our business is evolving to meet this growing demand for blended travel, with our new hotel openings in 2021 and 2022 specifically designed to cater for these needs. We’ve got specific WorkLife rooms, as well as Plaza Workspaces, which are hybrid workspaces to cater for gatherings and include pods, workstations, and meeting spaces. Employers can also choose from a myriad of options for a blended business and leisure trip with premium hotels based in more than 429 locations in city, airport, leisure and suburban destinations across 63 countries. The ‘new normal’ may be something of a cliché, but there’s no doubt we will need to continue adapting and responding to meet evolving consumer habits and needs in the years ahead.