HR staff continue to make keeping travel budgets to a minimum a priority in the workplace, it has been claimed.

Norman Gage, director of business travel at Advantage, said there has always been awareness among UK businesses that if their travel budgets total £150,000 or less there will only be a certain amount of trips they can take, which may cause for prioritisation.

"If they can reduce the cost of a journey then they can do an extra journey. This economic climate is a big fog screen for companies who knew and worked towards their travel budgets previously," he added.

Mr Gage continued that during the recession it was important that smaller firms watched every penny.

However, research from Barclaycard Commercial recently found that 40 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises’ employees claim that they do not follow a business travel policy.

For companies with 150 employees, this can equate to over spend of £2,607 a month, or £31,284 a year.

Related News:

• Learning not Leaning
• Royal Navy faces workforce planning ‘conundrum’
• Princes Trust launches skills scheme
• Need for skilled staff set to grow
• L&D budgets cut in half of companies, finds CIPD
• Are high salaries enough for the best talent?
• Maxxim Consulting highlights five challenges for HR directors in 2010
• How to recruit during recession
• Graduate recruitment may be a long-term investment
• e-Learning and in-house training on the increase – a new survey finds