How is business travel a common culture for all mobile professionals?
Laurence Rudeau - It's a culture in practice. Whether it's the CEO of a major Cac 40 company who spends four days at New YorkWhether you're a professional traveller, or a field engineer moving to the depths of India, the rituals are the same, as is the way you prepare for your trip. I don't think that the notion of comfort or time spent on site is the central point. There is obviously an impact, but the main idea remains the same: you're away from home, in a constrained environment. You don't decide where, when, how long or with whom you're going.. Whatever the trip, I'm firmly convinced that everyone does the same thing and asks themselves the same questions: what to pack, what's the weather going to be like there...?
If the business traveller has it so tough, why is this 'status' so envied?
L. R. - Because travel is the stuff of dreams... Even if travel is becoming more and more accessible, it's still something exceptional, something out of the ordinary. Many people are unable to travel, even on their own. I'd be curious to know, on the basis of a metro train, how many users have never taken a plane. There's always the the myth of business classAs if all business travellers travel in such conditions! Except at certain hierarchical levels, business travellers are more often than not in economy class with the other voyeurs, because of travel policies and the need to save money. But we live in an image-based society. When you go somewhere, even if it's a bit far away, you say so and show it off. That's the way human beings are, and social networking has nothing to do with it. They've only accentuated the phenomenon.
To what extent can business travel be a recruitment tool?
Laurence Rudeau - When recruiting young people, you can assure them that they will travel. But you might not say the same thing to a candidate who has already spent fifteen or twenty years travelling for work! I think that the more you travel for work, the more you're "disenchanted" by business travel. That doesn't mean that it's an ordeal, that nobody wants to do it. It's something very inspiring, which is very attractive as long as that aspect hasn't been 'worn out'. Rhythm plays a big part, as does duration. And once you've become disenchanted with business travel, the bad things about it - the fatigue, the stress, the distance, the loss of reference points - jump out at you.
There has been a lot of talk about 'bleisure' in recent years: is this a new phenomenon?
L. R. - It's a practice that has always existed. It's only now that it's been conceptualised and formalised. But it was fine when nobody realised it... The term bleisure has been omnipresent for the last two or three years, but the practice has existed informally for a very long time. And today, even if it has been conceptualised, the practice is still informal!
A culture is also based on the transmission of knowledge. In business travel, isn't this transmission reversed, with younger people telling their older colleagues about the new technologies and new offers that are emerging?
Laurence Rudeau - Yes, if you look at the phenomenon through the prism of tools. But if you look at it through the prism of the travel experience, the ways of getting around the city, the dos and don'ts, I think the transmission works the other way round. Incidentally, I have nothing against new technologies, but Internet sites tend to guide travellers within a very specific, very limited framework. It's very practical for companies, because their employees can't get out of the box. But maybe at the end of the street where the hotel is, there's a great little bistro that won't be listed on TripAdvisor. Experienced business travellers who have already been there several times know this little address. When you're abroad, you no longer ask passers-by for directions: everyone's eyes are riveted on MappsMe, TripAdvisor... On the whole, business travellers take very few risks - and so much the better - but this method of transmission works both ways, provided that employees talk to each other. It all depends on the culture of the company, its size... There also needs to be a place to talk: it could be the coffee machine, or a space on the intranet.
Why is it so difficult to enforce the rules of the travel policy?
L. R. - The rules are there to be bent... An employee is not a robotUber is a very popular means of transport, and it's only logical that the same everyday practices should also apply to work and business travel. An employee who uses Uber on a daily basis is bound to be tempted to do so in the course of his work. That doesn't mean he's right to do so, but there must be a way of finding common ground between the rules of the travel policy and the day-to-day practices of employees. We can also impose things more or less firmly, with tools such as nudges, and there are ways of changing behaviour. But it is utopian to try to change things head-on.
