Brits have found novel ways to make every penny count since the start of the cost of living crisis, which saw everyday bills put more of a dent in their bank accounts every month. But alongside turning off the heating and canceling subscriptions, they’re also turning to work to help get the most out of their holidays.
More U.K. employees than ever are blending business and leisure travel to cut costs and explore new locations with the help of their bosses.
Blended travel allows employees to bolt vacations onto work trips. A company might pay for an employee’s flights as part of their work trip before they add annual leave and fly home at a later date. Businesses also often cover expenses, like meals and transport, paid for on company time.
While the movement has proliferated over the last decade, it appears to have surged in the last year.
According to a survey from spend management platform Pleo, demand for blended travel has doubled in the last 12 months, with 34% of U.K. employees saying they have taken a combined business and leisure trip. That’s up from just 17% last year.
Bleisure: the cost of living savior?
The trend, first coined as bleisure by Future Laboratory in 2009, has gained more traction in recent years, in part thanks to the “revenge travel” trend that proliferated after months of restrictive lockdowns saw travelers rush to take their long-delayed trips. It also aligned with increased flexibility due to hybrid working, allowing workers more fluidity between their work and personal life.
An Opinium survey for American Express in 2022 found businesses were keen to increase their travel budgets to drive revenue and growth while exposing them to new markets.
Workers have also endured the last couple of years under a historic cost of living crisis, driving further demand for a practice that can help trim some of the costs associated with traveling. Almost a fifth of respondents said the extent of the cost of living crisis means they could no longer afford to pay for their trips without the help of their company.
Nearly a quarter of surveyed workers said they could save over £1,000 per blended trip, while the average Brit saved a total of £788.
Alongside the money-saving aspect of blended travel, younger workers who have driven the digital nomad boom since COVID-19 also said “maximizing time out of the office” was a key benefit to bleisure.
An enduring gripe, however, is the burden of using a personal card to pay for the business aspect of trips before being reimbursed later. Three out of five employees said they were unhappy about having to pay out of pocket for a work trip, exposing the tight budgets Brits have been operating under since the onset of the cost of living crisis.
Data from travel management company TravelPerk also found that one in five companies don’t allow employees to extend work trips.
Benjamin Swails, general manager of UK and Northern Europe at Pleo, said: “Workers are enjoying the perks of blended travel this summer, but businesses can enhance this experience by offering leisure extensions and providing company cards for work trips. This not only benefits employees but also helps businesses better control spending and ensures no one is left out of pocket.”
For those lucky enough to benefit from the bleisure option, data suggests their companies will give more money to employees to keep the savings going.
TravelPerk’s survey found 46% of U.K. companies expected to increase their travel budget this year, compared with 39% of companies in Germany and 48% in Spain. The U.S., however, leads the pack with 61% of businesses planning to increase travel expenses this year.
