2011 WINNER - Best Travel Compliance Programme

Matthew Griffin & Chris Banks,

Department of Work & Pensions

Matthew Griffin and Chris Banks achieved shifts in traveller behaviour that most of us can only dream of

 

The culture of entitlement to business travel, including first class travel, at the DWP had become deeply rooted, but Matthew and Chris still managed to achieve 99.2% compliance to a new travel policy focused on savings from use of travel alternatives and a shift from air to standard class rail. 

 

Matthew, head of business services, and Chris, head of travel and accommodation, embarked upon a total review of travel policy at the end of 2009 with the objective of reducing travel spend by 10%. They began by engaging with a number of senior stakeholders on the department’s executive team including the commercial and finance directors and ministers. Their strategy highlighted where there were major gains to be made, both quick wins and more long-term initiatives.

 

The Coalition Government’s overriding priority to reduce the deficit meant an even stronger emphasis on cost savings, including business travel spend.

 

“All these factors helped combined to create the perfect storm driving policy change,” Chris says. “There was willingness and engagement from stakeholders in both ends of the organisation from ministerial level downwards.”
For Matthew and Chris cuts in cost and carbon would be achieved through a new policy and compliance. All their policy changes were developed by looking at value for money.

 

Their key tactics were to encourage travellers to consider travel alternatives, promote rail over air and migrate most rail travel to standard class. As well as the effects on costs, they also highlighted savings in carbon emissions from such modal changes in behaviour.

 

Changing behaviour in a culture was a massive challenge for the two. They set challenging targets to cut travel costs, alongside a communications project to inform staff, and brought in a new travel policy in July. For first class travel they introduced restrictions and pre-trip approval on rail trips taking more than two hours. The proportion of rail journeys at the DWP that are first class has fallen from more than 40% to 4%.

 

The rail policy was done hand in hand with a carbon reduction and cost savings plan so flights on Manchester-London and Newcastle-London were banned in favour of rail. There was a strong culture at the DWP of wanting to reduce carbon emissions. The introduction of a dashboard on its intranet so that everyone could see the relative carbon reduction performance of all business units became a powerful influence on behaviour.

 

A culture of compliance in the department also helped achieve the transition. Domestic air transactions have fallen by 50% and having addressed the use of air on the London routes, Matthew and Chris are now looking to reduce flights out of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

 

Stakeholder involvement and active participation through travel forums in various departments were crucial in driving through compliance in the different business units. All travellers were encouraged to make informed decisions about how to travel.

 

The two also worked to create an atmosphere in which people started to query if travel were the best way of conducting a meeting. The travel culture was deeply embedded at the department so they needed to engender a fundamental shift in mindset towards alternatives such as webinars and audio and videoconferencing. Their communications strategy helped to counter the mindset of automatic travel.
As Chris says, “Travel avoidance saves you carbon as well as cost.”

 

Matthew Griffin and Chris Banks achieved an enormous amount in 2010 but, for them, seeing soaring rates of travel alternatives adoption, moving domestic air to rail and moving rail travel from first to second class is only the beginning. There is still more to do.

 

“We’re now going to look at the more voluntary nuances of travel such as time of journey, time booked, day of travel,” says Chris.

 

  

Matthew is a member of the European Travel Buyer Awards LinkedIn community: JOIN THE DISCUSSION TODAY