Employee Travel for Well-being and Company Success

How Employee Well-being and Performance are Changing

Today's work world has more job demands and stress, making employee well-being very important for keeping and improving how well a company works.¹ The constant pressure at work can cause long-term stress, which harms important brain functions like memory and setting goals.³ So, companies are seeing that putting money into employee health and well-being is more than just following rules or offering small perks; it's a key step for long-term business success.⁴

A key finding shows how urgent this is: burnout is very high, with 67% of workers reporting at least one burnout sign in the month before a recent survey.⁵ This common problem directly leads to less output, more missed work, and more employees leaving, showing a strong need for good well-being programs. This sets up the main problem that smart employee travel can help fix.

What This Report Is About: Showing the Double Benefits of Employee Travel

This report will show, with facts, how giving employees chances to travel helps them emotionally and mentally. Importantly, it will then show how these personal benefits turn into real, smart gains for the company. Beyond just stories, this report uses studies and industry knowledge to build a strong case for adding good travel policies into main employee plans.

I. Emotional and Mental Benefits for Employees

A. Less Stress and Mental Refreshment

Travel often has big good effects on how healthy people feel and their overall well-being.⁶ Taking time away from a busy work environment helps release built-up stress and tension, letting the mind relax and start to heal.³ This refreshing process is not just good, but needed, because constant work pressure affects not only mental states but also physical health.³

A large study of 32 smaller studies from nine countries found that vacations are much better at boosting employee well-being than once thought, and their good effects last much longer than just after the trip.¹ Specifically, signs of well-being can stay for several weeks, with one study author guessing it takes about 43 days for a person's well-being to go back to how it was before vacation.⁷ Also, traveling often can lead to lasting mental health improvements, with good effects seen for up to five weeks after coming back from a trip.³ This longer time changes how employers think about costs and benefits. It means that giving employees time off is not just a short break but a long period of better mental and emotional ability and strength. This lasting good state makes a stronger case for encouraging travel, changing it from a short-term perk to a more lasting, helpful way to refresh that helps with ongoing employee performance and well-being.

Many studies consistently show that "psychological detachment"—mentally disconnecting from work thoughts and tasks during non-work hours—is the most important factor for getting the most well-being benefits from time off.¹ This is key because it means just giving vacation days isn't enough; employers must actively create a work culture that not only allows but also encourages real disconnection. The link is clear: good detachment helps mental recovery, leads to less stress and worry, improves sleep, and greatly lowers the risk of burnout.⁹ This understanding gives companies a direct, clear way to make sure their vacation policies work best.

B. Better Thinking and Creativity

Travel helps reset the brain, making mental power better by letting it rest and recover from long-term work stress.³ This refresh leads to more output and better focus when an employee returns to work.³ Seeing new places, different cultures, new languages, and unique experiences naturally makes the mind work better, greatly boosting creativity and problem-solving skills.³ This is directly linked to seeing the world in new ways and coming up with more new ideas.³ Studies also show that doing active fun things, like travel and cultural visits, helps improve thinking skills.¹³ Specifically, long-distance travel has been linked to better thinking and fewer signs of sadness.¹³

In today's fast-moving and competitive business world, being quick to change, always coming up with new ideas, and solving problems well are not just nice to have, but needed for a company to survive and grow. The personal thinking improvements from travel—like better creativity, stronger problem-solving skills, and a wider view ³—directly help these important company abilities. When employees come back with a "new way of seeing the world" ³, they are more likely to tackle work problems with new answers, helping a culture of constant improvement and change. This turns individual thinking benefits into a group company advantage, directly affecting how a company stands out from others.

C. Personal Growth, Being Able to Adapt, and Strength

Traveling, especially to new places, greatly helps build self-efficacy—a strong belief in one's own ability to handle new and tough situations and reach goals.⁶ This "can-do" attitude is very important for successfully dealing with hard problems and building mental strength.⁶ The demands of moving around new countries, understanding new social rules, and dealing with language differences greatly improve a person's ability to adapt and solve problems.¹² This learning from experience directly helps people stay calm and work well in high-pressure work settings ¹⁴, and also helps them handle unexpected problems and be flexible.¹² Travel also broadens one's view of the world, making it easier to understand different viewpoints, which then leads to better interactions with others and improved teamwork.¹² It can also build a deeper sense of thanks and humbleness.¹² Research supports the direct link between travel and work performance, with one study showing that people who traveled more worked better, partly because of their increased self-efficacy.⁶

The personal qualities gained through travel—like better adaptability, strength, self-efficacy, and understanding of different cultures ¹²—are exactly the soft skills and character traits that companies want in their workers. These are not just personal benefits but direct improvements to an employee's work tools. When employees return to work with more "mental strength" and an "open-minded approach to life" ¹², they are better able to handle company changes, work well with diverse global teams, and help create a more flexible and strong company. This shows a clear way where personal growth directly leads to a group company ability, building a stronger and more adaptable workforce that can do well in a changing business world.

D. Better Social Well-being and Life Happiness

Travel offers great chances for social interaction, which has been directly linked to less loneliness and sadness.¹³ Actively seeking out and spending time with people who give positive emotional energy greatly improves overall well-being.⁷ Vacations naturally add to personal well-being by giving people more chances to disconnect from work, experience new and exciting things, and have more control over their daily activities.⁶ Good thoughts about trip experiences greatly add to overall life happiness.⁶ Fun travel specifically offers more feelings of relaxation and well-being, along with clear improvements in social relationships.¹³ For older adults, traveling often has been shown to help keep physical and mental health, promote a longer life, and support healthy aging.¹³

Studies clearly show that travel improves overall life happiness and strengthens personal relationships.⁶ This good effect is not just for an employee's personal life; it creates a strong positive effect that spills over into the workplace. People who are happier, more relaxed, and have stronger social connections are more likely to bring that positive energy, better mood, and improved mental state to their jobs. This helps with better team dynamics, a more positive company atmosphere, and more engagement. This creates a good cycle where personal happiness directly fuels work motivation and contribution, showing how an employee's full well-being and their work effectiveness are connected.

The table below summarizes the main emotional and mental benefits that travel gives to employees:

Table 1: Main Emotional Benefits of Travel for Employees

II. Real Benefits for Employers: A Smart Advantage

A. Boosting Output and Performance

Giving employees vacation time clearly makes them more productive, energetic, and focused at work, leading to better quality work.¹⁶ Employees often say they come back to work feeling refreshed and more excited, ready to get back to their tasks.¹⁶ Studies on mentally disconnecting from work show that employees who truly disconnect come back to work more energized and focused, directly improving their job performance.⁹ Studies have also found that workers who used their holiday time were more efficient overall.¹⁷ While some sources admit it's hard to put an exact money value on productivity gains ¹⁸, the main reason—stress reduction, which travel helps with—is strongly linked to better health and fewer sick days, thus indirectly but greatly boosting overall output.¹⁸ The idea of "strong periods of rest and recovery" ¹ suggests that these breaks are needed for ongoing high performance.

The usual business thinking often assumes that working longer hours means more output. But the facts challenge this simple idea. Research suggests a more complex, repeating link: "We think working more is better, but we actually perform better by taking care of ourselves. We need to break up these intense periods of work with intense periods of rest and recuperation".¹ This means that best output is not reached by working all the time but by smart cycles of hard work followed by enough, refreshing recovery. Travel, as a form of "strong rest and recovery," directly helps with ongoing high performance and stops efforts from becoming less effective, rather than just offering a short break. The finding that "less output per hour" happens with too many working hours ¹⁸ further shows that well-being programs like travel are not just kind but also make good business sense.

B. Keeping Employees and Building Loyalty

Companies that have and actively support full paid leave and strong Paid Time Off (PTO) rules consistently show higher employee happiness and much lower employee turnover.²⁰ Paid leave is a very important factor, with a huge 92% of employees seeing it as a key point when looking at job offers.²⁰ Companies offering good paid leave policies have reported 25% lower turnover compared to those with little or no PTO.²⁰ Also, employees who feel truly recognized and valued through benefits like company travel reward programs are much more likely to stay loyal to their company.²¹ Giving flexible work options, including "work-from-anywhere weeks," also greatly helps employee happiness and, in turn, retention.²²

In today's very competitive job market, where pay and basic benefits are often expected, offering strong and truly helpful travel chances—whether through good PTO, travel money, or sabbaticals—is a powerful way to stand out. This commitment shows a company's deep values about employee well-being and work-life balance.⁵ This, in turn, greatly improves the company's image, making it more appealing to top talent and then cutting the high costs of hiring and training new people that come with many employees leaving.⁵ The feeling of being valued ⁵ created by such forward-thinking policies builds a deeper, more emotional bond with the company, creating loyalty that money alone often can't achieve.

C. Less Missed Work and Lower Healthcare Costs

Vacations are very important for improving employees' overall health, acting as a way to prevent various illnesses, helping manage worry and sadness, and clearly improving sleep quality by almost 20%.¹⁶ These direct health improvements lead to real money benefits for employers, including lower healthcare costs and less money spent on stress-related issues.¹⁶ Full workplace wellness programs, which can include travel benefits, have been shown to cut missed work rates by up to 16%.⁴ Also, 72% of companies that started wellness programs reported lower healthcare costs.⁴ The money impact of unplanned missed work is large, costing about $3,600 per year for each hourly worker.²⁴ On the other hand, planned time off, like vacations, effectively reduces unexpected call-outs and problems.²⁵ A study on doctors showed that taking more vacation days and truly disconnecting from work were strongly linked to lower rates of burnout and less missed work.²⁶

Missed work and rising healthcare costs are big and often hidden drains on company money.²⁴ By smartly promoting and helping employee travel and its well-being benefits, employers are not just spending money but making a smart investment in preventing health problems. The direct results—less stress, better mental health, and better sleep—directly mean fewer sick days, less need for healthcare services, and lower medical claims, thus offering a clear Return on Investment (ROI) and Value on Investment (VOI).⁴ This changes how travel benefits are seen, from a choice cost to a very effective, smart way to save money, especially important in high-stress jobs and fields.²⁶

D. Building a Good Company Culture and New Ideas

Companies and leaders who actively support and encourage employees to use their vacation time create a clearly happier and healthier work environment.¹⁶ This active encouragement of time off helps build a more engaged and motivated workforce.²³ Companies that consistently promote and encourage employees to use their vacation time effectively show values like understanding, kindness, and openness, which directly help increase retention rates.²³ Seeing new cultures, ideas, and views through travel can greatly inspire new thinking and improve creative problem-solving skills at work.²¹ Interestingly, travel companies themselves often build core values of new ideas and employee growth into their company culture ²⁸, showing a natural link.

A company culture that truly puts employee well-being first, especially by encouraging refreshing travel, starts a strong positive cycle. When employees feel truly cared for, respected, and given many chances to refresh and grow personally, their morale greatly improves.²³ This higher morale and fewer cases of burnout ⁵ directly lead to more employee engagement, which in turn acts as a strong driver for creativity and new ideas.⁹ The act of travel itself, by broadening views and building adaptability ¹², naturally helps create a more innovative, strong, and active company culture. While less easy to measure than retention or missed work, this is a deep, system-wide benefit that supports long-term company success and competitive edge.

The table below shows the real benefits that employers can get from supporting employee travel:

Table 2: Company Benefits from Employee Travel

III. Getting the Most Out of It: Smart Ways for Employers

A. Creating a Culture of Real Disconnection

A big problem in getting all the benefits of travel is that employees find it hard to truly unplug from work. Data shows that 46% of employees struggle to fully disconnect, and 57% feel worried if they don't check emails while on leave.²³ Worryingly, a study on doctors found that 70.4% still did work tasks during their vacation.²⁶ This constant connection basically cancels out the good effects of time off.¹

Employers must actively create a culture that not only allows but also helps and encourages real mental disconnection.¹ This means having clear rules about after-hours expectations, managing employee workloads well to prevent too much work before and after leave, and most importantly, having leaders show real unplugging behavior.⁹ Practical steps, like making sure there's full electronic health record (EHR) inbox coverage for medical workers, have been shown to greatly reduce burnout.²⁶ Studies clearly show that just having a vacation policy (e.g., offering PTO) is not enough if the company culture quietly or openly discourages using it fully or expects employees to stay connected.¹ The big benefits of travel mostly depend on true "psychological detachment".¹ So, a truly smart approach needs not only strong policy changes but also a basic shift in how things are done. This means leaders must actively support and show how to disconnect, making sure employees feel able and safe to fully disengage. Without this cultural support, the money and people investment in time off will not give the best results.

B. Making Good and Encouraging Travel Policies (e.g., PTO, Sabbaticals, Money for Travel)

A well-made and clear Paid Time Off (PTO) plan is key, as it makes employees feel valued and directly helps with higher job happiness.²⁰ Employers should make sure policies are easy to understand and actively encourage employees to use all their given time, removing any bad feelings about taking leave.²⁰ Companies like Netflix and Adobe, which have unlimited PTO policies, have shown very low rates of employees leaving on their own.²⁰

Sabbaticals, different from regular vacations or family/medical leave, are longer breaks meant for important personal or work growth.⁵ These offer deep, lasting effects, including more creativity, new motivation, and gaining new skills, which employees bring back to the company.³⁰ Companies that offer sabbaticals report keeping more employees, stronger loyalty, and a better image among job seekers.⁵

Beyond normal PTO, companies are more and more offering direct money help for travel. Examples include Salesforce, Google, and Microsoft, which give yearly wellness or travel stipends.³¹ Airbnb famously gives employees a yearly travel stipend.³³ These stipends can be set up as yearly amounts, rewards for good work, or even "bucket list" bonuses to encourage dream trips.²² Also, flexible work setups, like "work-from-anywhere weeks," let employees extend personal trips and experience new places without using up their main vacation days.²² Company travel reward programs, made for relaxation and adventure, are strong motivators, helping keep employees, strengthening team bonds, and bringing new ideas.²¹

Research shows a range of travel-related benefits, from standard PTO to newer sabbaticals and stipends.⁵ A strict, one-size-fits-all approach to vacation policies might not fully meet the different needs and wants of today's workers. Instead, making PTO policies fit specific worker groups and needs ²⁰, and offering choices like volunteer travel grants or work-from-anywhere weeks ²², lets employers cater to individual preferences and life stages. This customization maximizes both employee engagement and how much the benefits are valued. Also, actively promoting these benefits, instead of just offering them, is key for more people to use them and for the company to get all the intended benefits from its people.

C. Promoting Restful Travel Habits

The kind of activities done during travel greatly affects how much it helps people recover. Physical activity, even light, has the strongest good link with well-being and recovery during and after vacation.¹ Social activities, like spending time with loved ones, also help well-being.⁷

While longer vacations usually offer more benefits, the times right before and after the trip are very important for getting the most out of them.¹ Encouraging employees to plan and pack early can lower stress before vacation, and adding a day or two to get used to being back can make the return to work easier.¹ While longer vacations tend to give bigger benefits, the quality of the time off—meaning a feeling of control, chances to relax, and true mental disconnection—is most important.³⁴ Even shorter vacations can help improve health and well-being, though their good effects might fade faster than longer breaks.¹¹

Beyond just giving time off, employers can greatly boost the benefits of travel by giving employees knowledge and advice on how to make their time away most restful. This means teaching them about the importance of mental disconnection, encouraging them to do physical and social activities, and advising on smart planning for smooth returns before and after their trip.¹ This approach puts some responsibility on the employee while giving them the tools and information to get the most out of their personal well-being. This helps create a more self-reliant, strong, and engaged workforce, as employees become active in their own recovery and growth.

D. Dealing with Possible Problems and Details

It's important to know that travel, despite its many good points, can also cause stress and worry for some people. One study reported that as many as 11.3% of travelers have mental health issues, most often signs of worry.¹⁵ Things that add to this include culture shock, feeling alone, the natural unpredictability of travel, jet lag, and even drinking more alcohol.¹⁵ Business travel, in particular, often leads to more stress, tiredness, and disruption of work-life balance because it's demanding.³¹

To fight these possible bad effects, employers can take several helpful steps. Giving clear and full travel information, advising on less crowded travel options, promoting plenty of planning and preparation, and encouraging sticking to personal routines while away can greatly reduce stress.¹⁵ For business travelers, specific plans include planning trips with a clear goal, choosing hotels that support well-being (e.g., hotels with gyms, quiet rooms), building in times for balance and rest, and providing strong support tools.³⁷

While the benefits are clear, it can be hard to precisely measure the direct Return on Investment (ROI) of wellness programs, including travel benefits. This is because of problems like relying on expected versus actual savings, possible biases in groups that volunteer for studies, and the natural difficulty in putting a money value on productivity gains.¹⁹

A full and effective plan for employee travel must do more than just promote its benefits; it must also actively recognize and deal with the possible downsides and problems.¹⁵ By giving resources and support to lessen travel-caused stress, such as clear information, thoughtful planning guides, and fitting it into wider company wellness programs ³¹, employers show real understanding and a full commitment to employee well-being. This approach not only protects against bad experiences but also builds trust and loyalty. Also, knowing the limits in precisely measuring ROI ¹⁹ means focusing more on "Value on Investment" (VOI), which includes the wider, harder-to-measure benefits like better morale, more employees staying, and more new ideas.⁴ This smart view makes sure that all benefits are considered, even those not easily shown by typical money numbers.

The table below gives smart suggestions for employers to get the most good from employee travel:

Table 3: Smart Suggestions for Getting the Most from Travel Benefits

Conclusion

Showing the Connected Value for Employees and the Company

The strong facts in this report clearly show that travel, when smartly made part of a company's employee plans, greatly helps improve employee emotional well-being. This, in turn, starts a positive chain of benefits that directly help the company succeed. From greatly reduced stress and faster personal growth to real increases in output, more employees staying, and building a more lively and innovative company culture, the linked relationship between employee well-being and company performance is clear and deeply connected.

A Call to Action: Making Travel Part of Your Employee Plan

Employers must change how they see vacation time from just a right or a choice perk. Instead, it should be seen and smartly managed as a key investment in their most valuable asset: their people. To get all the benefits from this investment, a many-sided approach is needed: smart policy design that encourages and helps travel, a clear cultural push for true mental disconnection during time off, and an ongoing commitment to helping employees get the most from the deep refreshing power that travel offers.

About the Writer: Tom Mendez, the passionate travel curator behind Mendez & Associates Travel LLC (The Bespoked Traveler), understands that strategic travel is a powerful tool for business growth and employee well-being. He recognizes that well-planned journeys can directly contribute to a company's success by boosting employee morale, fostering stronger client relationships, and driving productivity.

For companies, we provide a free company travel website designed to streamline both personal and business travel. This complimentary platform helps companies efficiently manage bookings and ensure their team's travel is as productive and stress-free as possible. Beyond just efficiency, company partners can also unlock exclusive offers and save up to 60% on travel. The goal is to empower your company and its employees with seamless travel experiences while providing significant cost savings.

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