Why Employees Ignore Travel Policies and How to Fix It
If your employees are ignoring your travel policy, here’s a hard truth: It’s probably not their fault.
Most organisations assume non-compliance is a discipline issue and that travellers are careless or deliberately bypassing the rules.
But in corporate travel management, behaviour is rarely about rebellion, it’s about friction. And if your travel policy creates friction, people will work around it.
The Compliance Myth
Many companies believe that writing a comprehensive business travel policy equals compliance. Here's the truth - it doesn’t.
A 17-page PDF saved in a shared drive is not behaviour design. It’s documentation.
Travel compliance isn’t driven by policy length or strict wording. It’s driven by psychology.
If you want better compliance, you need to understand why employees ignore policies in the first place.
Why Employees Ignore Travel Policies
1. Convenience Wins Every Time
People choose the option that’s fastest and easiest. If booking outside policy feels simpler, quicker or requires fewer steps, that’s what will happen. When compliance creates friction, non-compliance becomes the default. If following policy takes more effort, it won’t stick.
2. Travel Feels Personal
Business travel disrupts routines and impacts personal time. Travellers want choice and control. When policies feel overly rigid, employees push back, often quietly by booking elsewhere. Structure is important, but so is flexibility.
3. Employees Don’t See the Bigger Picture
Most employees don’t see negotiated rates, total travel spend or duty of care gaps. A slightly higher fare seems harmless in isolation. Scaled across an organisation, it isn’t. Without visibility, compliance feels optional.
4. Policy Fatigue Is Real
If your travel policy is long, complex or buried in a shared drive, it won’t influence behaviour. Clear and accessible beats comprehensive and forgotten.
5. Culture Always Wins
Here’s the uncomfortable question: Do your leaders book within policy?
If leaders ignore policy, others will too. Compliance is shaped by behaviour at the top, not just words in a document.
The Real Cost of Non-Compliance
Non-compliance isn’t just a minor inconvenience. It impacts your entire travel program.
- Increased air and hotel spend
- Missed negotiated savings
- Fragmented booking data across channels
- Reduced reporting accuracy
- Weakened duty of care
- Poor travel spend visibility
And here’s where it becomes strategic:
Without accurate, consolidated data, you cannot make informed decisions about your corporate travel management program.
Insight drives performance, but poor compliance leads to poor insight.
How to Fix Travel Policy Compliance (Without Policing People)
If stricter rules worked, you wouldn’t have a compliance issue. The solution isn’t tighter control, it’s smarter design.
1. Make Compliance Easier Than Non-Compliance
Your approved booking channel should be seamless, fast, mobile-friendly and integrated with approvals, with real support available when plans change. When the compliant option is also the easiest option, behaviour shifts naturally. This is where the right travel management company and booking tool makes a measurable difference.
2. Design Policies Around Real Traveller Behaviour
A graduate travelling occasionally does not have the same needs as an executive flying long-haul every month. Effective policies recognise this. Segment your travellers, build structured flexibility and align guidelines with real travel patterns. Rigid rules create resistance; smart structure creates alignment.
3. Communicate the “Why”
Don’t just share the rules; share the results. Show the savings from supplier negotiations, the improved visibility across travel spend and the strength of your duty of care framework. When employees understand the impact of their choices, compliance improves. People find it easier to support what they understand.
4. Use Data to Reinforce Behaviour
Travel reporting shouldn’t sit quietly with finance. Share compliance rates, leakage trends and behavioural insights with leadership. When compliance is visible, it becomes manageable. Insight drives action > Action drives results.
5. Align Leadership
Compliance breaks down when leaders operate outside the rules. Clear expectations, consistent enforcement and executive modelling set the tone. When leadership backs the policy, the organisation follows.
So… Is Your Travel Policy Working?
If you’re experiencing:
- Frequent out-of-policy bookings
- Limited travel spend visibility
- Inconsistent reporting
- Ongoing exceptions
- Frustration from finance or leadership
The issue may not be enforcement. It may be policy design.
If you’d like a review of your current travel policy compliance strategy, we’re happy to provide a travel program health check and identify opportunities for stronger alignment, better data, and improved performance.
Because better compliance isn’t about stricter rules.
It’s about smarter corporate travel management.
At Phil Hoffmann Corporate Travel, we simplify the business of travel by designing programs that people actually use.
Because when the system works, compliance follows.
