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I work at a megacorp with a famously liberal travel policy: you can book any fare that's below a (high) cap, and if you save money by going under cap, you get "credits" to use on your next trip. In practice, this translates to business class most of the time. This policy is publicized outside the company, told to prospective hires, well documented on the company intranet, and followed by all other teams that I know of.

Unfortunately, the director of the division I happen to work in (~500 employees out of the company's ~50,000) has decreed her own policy: All travel is to be in cheapest economy class, accumulated fare credits may not be used, and anybody who deviates from this will have their expense report rejected and will have to foot the entire bill themselves. This was announced as a "temporary" cost-saving measure, but it's been well over a year now, the company is making record profits, and there's no sign of a change.

Most of the group travels little, but my team is scattered across four continents, meaning any travel is long (my next trip will involve 48 hours on a plane), and my colleagues, my boss and my boss's boss are all unhappy with her policy. I've contacted the company's travel policy manager, who has apologetically informed me that the "policy" is, in fact, more of a wouldn't-it-be-nice-if guideline that can be overruled by individual managers.

Short of transferring to another division, what, if anything, can I do to get the company travel policy restored?

Update: The company has a number of internal forums where I could raise the issue, garner sympathy, and quite possibly get this escalated. They're not anonymous, though, and I'm unsure if I want to put myself on the line by taking direct action this way. Also, my division is a cost center, not a profit center (and this has been a useful reminder of why you should always aim to work in a profit center, but that's another story).

Seems like there's not a lot to be done except complain. Next employee evaluation meeting you have, make sure to mention this inconvenience and how it affects your enjoyment and willingness to work there. Also mention that this was advertised as a benefit when you joined and you feel misled with the current situation.

My guess; I think she might be measured on how much her department costs and her bonus could be tied to her being able to reduce costs. So, this new policy could give her a larger bonus. You suffer, she benefits. Just a guess though, but it's quite common with bonuses tied to reducing costs.

So, I got the policy changed. More specifically,

• my team increased their travel budgets to match the company policy, and


• the company travel head has promised to change the way credits are accounted in next FY's budget, so there's no longer an incentive for teams to ban usage.

Without going into too much detail, I confirmed that my manager was on board with this plan, then posted a public question for the next company all-hands meeting about why the company isn't enforcing its own travel policy. I then drummed up some support on the company's internal forums, helped by a few well-respected people who shared my concern. It turned out my grievance was wide-spread, so the question was voted up to the top and put to the CEO, who decreed the change.

Now, since I did this under my own name, this did involve publicly outing my own org, and there was a bit of a private shitstorm with various muckety-mucks in the org accusing me of spreading 'misinformation' (eat my economy-class-flying shorts) and my manager needing to step into to do damage control. This was expected and I don't expect it to cause meaningful harm to my career; but my company is unusual, and there are plenty of other places where this would have been be a firing offense. YMMV.

48 hours of travel is highly unreasonable for a large business. Be prepared to be let go, but I think this is one of those cases where you need to tell your manager or float it all the way up that you will not travel half way around the world in coach.

Also, this should be being paid directly by the company anyway or on a company card, so rejecting the expense report would not hurt you financially.

This was announced as a "temporary" cost-saving measure, but it's been
well over a year now, the company is making record profits, and
there's no sign of a change.

You know what this sounds like to me? One of two things. Both not what you might think:

1. Back Door Layoffs: This could be a back door layoff method. Meaning, while your company might not be able to formally lay off staff, they can create scenarios where people doing their jobs will simply “fail” and then be let go for failure to perform. Or force you to do work in an environment that drives you so nuts, you leave.




2. Field-Testing New Policy: Yes, they had to engage in cost cutting before. But often a company sees cost cutting measures as a way to “field test” new “efficiencies” in their organization. Either consciously or not. So when the books are balanced again, higher ups meet, they see cost savings and then decide, “Let’s just make it policy!”

Not much you can do to stop this. So I would just document the experience as much as possible.

If you are not his superior then it is not your place to intervene in the matter. The person that the manager answers to makes that determination and acts accordingly. If the manager is aware of the policy and has agreed to abide by it then it is the manager who will have to pay his own expenses above and beyond what the company allows.