CTP Travel Policy

View CTP Travel Policy (PDF)

SAMPLE TRAVEL POLICY

Phase  1.

  1. Purpose
  2. Scope
  3. General guidelines to be followed in policy
  4. The Company approved travel agency.

Phase 2.

  1. Travelling by air
  2. Guidelines
  3. Class to be chosen
  4. Customized Air Ticket
  5. Flight Insurance
  6. Cancellation of travelling
  7. Loss of airline ticket
  8. Transportation from Home to airport
  9. Road transportation
  10. Car on rent
  11. Taxi
  12. Use of personal cars
  13. Sharing of Ride
  14. Rail  transportation

Phase  3

  1. Lodging
  2. Entitlement  for International travel
  3. Classification of countries
  4. Domestic travel entitlements
  5. Per diem entitlements for international travel
  6. Classification of cities as per domestic travel
  7. Per diem entitlements for domestic travel
  8. Meal expenses
  9. Entertainment  Expenses
  10. Process for expense reporting
  11. Guidelines
  12. Expense payment
  13. Miscellaneous  expense
  14. Medical emergency
  15. Laundry charges
  16. Spouse/ guests/ personal travel combined with business
  1. Purpose: The Purpose of travel policy  is to ensure that the travel expense of the company is controlled by establishing certain standards. Employees must control business travel expense by making the sound judgment with respect to use of company funds.  Travel is an important aspect for carrying out the business, it is expected from employees that they will follow the “travel guidelines for employees “while travelling and would provide documentation in support of the same. It is also meant to reimburse the amount spent by an employee when on international or domestic travel.
  1. Scope: The policy includes all the regular employees of the company. Non-adherence with policy while on business travel for company’s business include stringent disciplinary action which may even lead to termination.
  1. General guidelines to be followed  in the policy
  2. A travel request must be approved before proceeding on any international or domestic travel.
  3. Any international or domestic travel request must be raised and followed as per the company travel policy and procedure.
  4. If there is any change in the travel ( domestic or international) due to any reason and it is more costly then the approval that has already been taken, a fresh travel request need to be raised in this case.
  5. The details on all exceptions with respect to the policy must be explained on the travel request form in case there is an exception and it needs to be approved by  HOD and director.
  6. All employees are expected to travel to the countries which are allowed as per the company’s guidelines. No exception in this regard will be entertained.
  7. Any employee who requires travelling for the business purpose must get the approval in advance by the department head/ director.
  8. An email need to be sent to the finance department along with approval mail to get the travel advance.
  9. Most economical mode of travel would be reimbursed.
  10. All the tickets for any kind of travel international or domestic must be approved by the travel help desk.
  11. Food expenses are allowed only as per the limit of entitlements.
  12. No expense will be reimbursed for alcoholic beverages or cigarette etc.
  13. In the case of business travel wherein food expenses are taken care of the client in such case only incidental expenses can be claimed.
  14. In case an employee gets ill while on business travel the expenses occurred while taking the treatment will be reimbursed on actual bill and doctor’s prescription. However, if the illness is for more than 3 days special approval needs to be taken from director / HOD.
  15. The expense report with travel request submitted to the finance department must consist of original boarding pass and travel -tickets, along with complete tour report maintained date wise. Any deviation from the tour programme shall be approved by the business head/director as applicable.
  16. In case an employee wants to combine business stay with personal vacations, it must be duly approved by the director/HOD. It should be noted that no reimbursement would happen for any personal expense.
  1. The Company  approved travel agency

All travel arrangements must be made through the travel agency which is approved by the organisation. Any arrangements if made by some other travel agency need to have approval from director/HOD. In case the travelling services are not provided by the organisation approved agency, in that case, any local agency can be contacted as per the Corporate travel policy .

  1. Travelling by Air:
  1. Employees are expected to take the lowest airfare while travelling. By considering the lowest airfare common sense need to be applied as the expense must not exceed the amount mentioned in Travel Policy. The undermentioned guidelines to be followed while travelling by air for the company’s business purpose.
  2. There should not be more than 1 stoppage in case of domestic travel and the stoppage must not exceed more than 2 times in the case of international travel.
  3. It must not increase the travelling time for more than 2 hours in case of domestic travel and more than 4 hours when it comes to international travel.
  4. It is advised to book only through the company approved travel agency as it provides savings in both domestic and international travel. Also, the benefit both for the company and employee lies with the fact that it will book a ticket with the lowest logical fare available with the air carrier.
  5. As per the Company travel policy any exception need to have approval from the director and above.
  6. Any kind of additional fee which is occurring due to any reason like seat up gradation etc. will not be reimbursed.
  1. Class to be Chosen
  2.  While on air travel, organisation employees are expected to fly in the economy class which comes under the category of economical fare. Business class is allowed only for director level and above.
  1. All policy exception must be noted on the travel request form and must be approved in advance by the director and above level.
  1. Baggage fee will be reimbursed.
  1. In case any rebooking is done, it must be reimbursed in case of emergency only.
  1. Customized  Air tickets

Following the Travel expense policy customization of the air ticket is not allowed. It can’t be upgraded or downgraded and any expense occurred in case of up gradation will not be reimbursed by the company. On similar ground downgrading of air ticket is also not allowed. However, the air carrier itself downgrades the ticket for any reason the refund must be made to the organisation. For the employees who travel often the points accrued due to frequent flying by the employee can be used for personal purpose.

  1. Flight Insurance

The business travel policy makes it clear that while purchasing the ticket from the company authorised agency, the employee is covered under the business travel accident insurance. In case an employee purchases some other insurance coverage it will not be reimbursed by the company.

  1. Cancellation of Travelling:

In case of any cancellation done to the already planned business trip, the employee must inform the travel help desk who in turn will check from the agency as soon as possible. The ticket can be refunded if it is possible; the same need to be checked by the travel agency with the air carrier.

  1. Loss of airline ticket:

If the paper air ticket has been issued but it is lost due to any unforeseen reasons in such case the travel agency must be contacted immediately so that they can check from the air carrier as well. Best practices in corporate air travel must be followed.

  1. Transportation from home to airport:

The most economical means of transportation must be chosen while commuting from home to the airport and vice versa.

  1. Road  Transportation
  2. Car on Rent: Like air travel, most effective and economical means must be chosen in case of ground transportation also. The various means of ground transportation means the use of alternative transportation before deciding on car rental.  Like travel agency, the organisation also has a tie-up with the most usable car rental company.
  3. The car on rent must be taken from the company booked vendor. In case vendor car is not available, the most economical vendor should be chosen.
  4. Any reservation to have a car on rent must be chosen from the travel agency approved by the organisation.
  5. The employee must ensure that proper and economical rate is charged at the time of rental.
  6. The Car can be rented when there are no other means of transportation available, It is either more costly or impractical.
  7. The employee is required to refill a car before returning it to the rental company.
  1.  Taxi
  2. In case of travelling to an international location as per the International travel policy for employees,  the expense for taxi must not be more than the cost of a car rental.
  3.  Use of taxi shall be done only in case no other means of transport is available. Generally, the use of a taxi is not encouraged as other services which are more economical are available. In most of the cases, public transport must be used.
  4. Use of personal cars :

The employee can use the personal cars for business travel in case it is more economical than other means of transportation. The amount spent by the employee can be reimbursed on actual. However, before the start of travel, approval needs to be taken from HOD and immediate reporting manager.

  1. Sharing of Ride

If 2 employees are travelling to the same location, they are advised to share the ride.

  1. Rail Transportation

Rail transportation can be available by the employee in case travel distance is less than 12 hours.

The rail travel fare is reimbursed as per the entitlement. However, like air class, Rail transportation must be done in the most economical way.

Level Class
4-7 Tier 3 ac
8-11 Tier 2 ac, chair car
12-14 Tier 2 ac, chair car
  1. Lodging

Using the “Corporate travel policy ” the organisation has tie-up with different hotels and the company also have its guest house facility at all major destinations within the country. In case of international travel, accommodation must be done in a hotel or company guest house wherever the guest house facility is available.

The hotel list as booked by the company is available with the travel desk.

Hotels other than those booked by the company can be considered if the company preferred hotel is not available or not existing in the city of travel. However, hotel stay as per “HR travel policy” exceeding the preferred rate can be considered only in case

The city does not have any preferred hotel as per defined hotel list.

No lower rate is available with the hotel.

Any exception in terms of hotel stay must be approved by HOD/Director before the start of travel.

In case of non-compliance with the travel policy, the extra amount paid will be bearable by the employee.

Whenever preferred hotel accommodation is not available the travel help desk will make available at the best rate available.

It is expected from the employee that they will ensure that the hotel room rate is booked and charged as per the company’s policy.

Generally, amenities are included in the company’s rate. Employees are expected to utilise amenities if included in the corporate rates.

As per the “Travel policy format “  all reservations etc. will be made by the company authorised travel agency.

  1. In case there is a change in schedule, the cancellation of the reservation made           will be done by referring to the hotel policy on cancellation.

Various  entitlement for which employee is eligible during international travel is explained as :

                                        Entitlement in Euros/ country
Level Class

Acountries

 ClassB

countries

 Class C

countries
12 – 14 225. 200. 175.
8-11 250. 175. 150.
1. 175. 150. 120.
  1. Classificationof Countries

Classification of countries is defined as:

     Classification of Countries
Group Countries
   A   Americas region,            France, Italy, North,
and West Europe		    Australia and
North Asia.
    B   Central and South
Europe, Middle East		    Africa, East Asia,
and South East Asia
  C    Excluding India
  1. Similarly,for domestic travel entitlements are explained as:
                                                     Entitlement( in Rs.) City/Town
Level A. B. C.
1. 1. 1. 1.
8- 11 1. 1. 1.
1. 1. 1. 1.
  1. Per Diem entitlement for  International traveller
* * *
         Per Diem for
employees		   .In case stay of the
employee exceeds 20
days then employee
will be eligible for
15% of entitlements		   Provided by the
company
  1. Classification of cities  as per domestic travel is explained as
Classification of Cities
Class Cities
A. Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore
B. All state capital and union

territories
C. All other cities and towns
  1. Per diem  entitlement for domestic travel
Level Per diem eligibility ( in Rs.) Accommodation
1.

16,00

 Accommodation by company
1. Own stay
1. 12, 00 Accommodation by company
1. Own Stay
1. 1. Accommodation by company
1. Own Stay
  1. Meals Expenses :
  2. The company policy states that expenditure occurred on meals ( breakfast, lunch or dinner)  will be reimbursed while the employee is on business travel. This is defined under “Company travel policy and procedure”.
  3. Every 24 hours from the scheduled departure will be counted as a day.
                         Breakfast 20%  of per diem will be payable
                 Lunch 20% of per diem will be payable
                 Dinner 20%  of per diem will be payable
  1. In case food bills are claimed for any client or on entertainment per diem allowance will be reduced.
  2. Meal expenses are reimbursable whenever the company business travel demand stays for overnight.
  3. When the business travel is for 1 day, Meal expenses are reimbursable under the following conditions:

Breakfast:If the employee is required to leave home 3 hours early than the normal time.

Dinner: If an employee cant return home within 3 hours or more after normal           working  hours.

  1. Expenses  held on entertainment :

The company by solving the “Purpose of travel policy “

However, it should be noted that only those reimbursement are allowed which is contributing towards the business purpose.

  1. Process for Expense reporting:
  2. Guidelines followed as mentioned under “Travel policy for employees”.

All expenses report must be raised through a web-based expense system.

All reports must be submitted within 15 days of return from a business trip.

If reports are delayed for more than 15 days, it will be considered late.

In case the business travel is for more than a month’s time expense report must be submitted on a weekly basis through a web-based system.

The expense report must have the following items:

Travel request form.

Actual expense bill related to the meal, transportation etc.

If possible, the employee must try to submit expense bill on miscellaneous articles also.

Any exception made to the employee must be attached to the expense report.

Expense  Payment

All the expense payment is made by the finance department.

The expense report along with the bill is submitted to the finance department who in turn validate the bills and makes the payment to employee account.

In case of international travel, employees are issued with the credit card.

The application form for issuance of credit card can be obtained from the web portal.

The credit card must be used only for the business purpose, in case it is used for the personal expense it must be indicated clearly in the expense report and payment must be made directly to the company.

Miscellaneous  Expenses

The company will reimburse calls made for business purpose while travelling. The calls made for the business purpose must be marked clearly in the expense report.

The company also encourages the employee to be in touch with the family to maintain communication. So, it will reimburse reasonable personal calls made by the employee. However, before the start of business travel, the employee must submit a declaration with contact details which he/she will be calling while travelling.

  1. Medical Emergency

In case of any medical emergency while travelling for business purpose the organisation insurance carrier will provide referral and support service. The details on the same can be obtained from the travel desk.

  1. Laundary charges

The company will reimburse necessary laundary charges if stay in the location is for business purpose and is more than 7 days.

  1. Spouse/Guest/personal travel combined with business:

Any kind of travel expenses occurring for guest or family member will not be reimbursable.

Spouse/ guests can share the accommodation till the time there is no additional cost to the company.

Revision of the policy

The company reserves the right to revise, modify any or all clauses of this policy depending upon the demand of business.

Explanation of the policy

Corporate HR department will be the sole authority to interpret the content of this policy.