Could travel benefits be the solution to dropping employee well-being numbers? Recent studies have shown that employees are growing more and more reluctant to make use of the leave days available to them and this shift is not a result of workers losing interest in traveling. In many organizations, there are unspoken rules that govern who gets to take time off and when they get to step away from their jobs, and employees have no choice but to live in fear of going on vacation.
This has led to many hushed trips that have reshaped employee travel trends, but workers either continue to work while away or live in continued fear of getting caught in the act. Offering employees travel perks as a part of their benefits package is not only a great way to attract top talent, but it also helps ensure that workers are not coming into work completely burnt out.
The link between employee well-being and travel is not one that needs an elaborate explanation, but in 2025, we have to consider active implementation and provision of these benefits if they are to be useful to employees.
Subsidized travel employee benefits are extremely popular among workers who are allowed to use them. (Image: Pexels)
Targeting Employee Well-Being Through Travel Perks Can Get Workers Back on Track
In 2025, employees are losing their bargaining power at an unprecedented rate, forced to adjust to the whims of their employers with no say in how things get done. Employers are giving up their DEI principles and tightening the reins of workplace flexibility through RTO policies, and workers who don’t agree with the change are merely asked to quit. With the job market crowded by talented workers who have been laid off, employees can no longer leave and find a more suitable employer for themselves.
Of course, some are rebelling in their own small way, taking a stand against what their employers demand of them through hushed trends, but this is far from an ideal solution.
Why Should HR Offer Travel Perks as a Wellness Benefit?
From managers to employees, everyone is slowly growing more burnt out as we return to the archaic days of prioritizing hustle culture over all else. Despite employees being anxious about their jobs and careers, they are being forced to perform with harsher evaluation criteria that are being used to bring down their numbers as quickly as possible.
The flexibility that employees have enjoyed over the last few years is slowly dissipating and workers who want to separate work from their personal lives are being called lazy for not wanting to make their work their entire life. Under such circumstances, it’s no wonder employees are burning out.
In the past, employee well-being could be bolstered by short vacations and time spent on family and hobbies, but now, it’s understood that making the most of your PTO days is a sign that you don’t care about your job. The employee travel trend of hushed trips and quiet vacations suggests that it is not the holiday that workers are averse to, but more the responses they expect if they tell their employers they want to take some time off. This attitude towards vacation days needs to change, and it falls to HR leaders to lead the transformation.
Travel Boosts Employee Morale—a Tried and Tested Formula
Employers hardly get a break from their work to focus on themselves, working long hours and ensuring there is no cause for criticism of their work. This intense approach to work, coupled with all the other factors that stress workers, suggests that employees are still logging into work every day, but they do so while tired and disconnected. This is not good for the employees or the organization.
Subsidized travel employee benefits are one of the best rewards that employers can offer to employees, allowing workers to step away from their desks, clear their heads, and return to the job with a fresh approach. Travel boosts employee morale and well-being, allowing workers to be both physically and mentally present at work.
Employee travel perks allow workers to reconnect with the things that matter to them and find renewed vigor for staying on at their jobs more actively. This form of loyalty cannot be manufactured and needs to be earned authentically.
HR Teams Need to Be More Vocal About Employee Well-Being and Travel Benefits
Offering employees travel perks on paper is not enough to create a change—the work culture also needs to evolve. While HR leaders delve into the travel benefits it can offer to employees, they also need to consider how these benefits are implemented and how managers and colleagues respond to them. If employees are chastised for using their travel benefits or criticized for not caring about their work enough, they will remain reluctant to use their benefits.
Additionally, if workers are contacted constantly when they are traveling, there is no real benefit to the vacation when they are forced to carry their work anxiety around with them. Employers and HR teams need to create a culture that is understanding and accommodating and set up a system that allows employees to leave their work behind for a few days. There needs to be an active method of delegation to ensure that work is not held up and nor does it pile up to overwhelm employees when they return.
The link between employee well-being and travel can only lead to fruitful results when a careful system is crafted to ensure that the travel doesn’t impede the organization in a big way. If it does, then the problem has more to do with HR implementation rather than being the fault of the employee. Workers have a lot to live and work for, and the more reminders they have of these reasons, the better they will work to protect them.
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