When extended business trips turn into short-term assignments, HR needs to know. A proactive approach to tracking serves the interests of HR, line managers and employees, as Colleen Holbrook of Runzheimer International explains.

A recent global survey of short-terms assignments reports that one of the most significant problems in managing short-term assignments is tracking. Difficulties can come from tracking not only costs but assignment details as well.

The problem arises because many short-term assignments start as business trips that no one sees the need to track. Also, those sent on short-term assignments often complete their assignments before those who need to know about them realise employees have gone and returned.

However, the biggest problem is that short-term assignments are often handled informally within individual company departments and not through a central department such as human resources.

Educate managers and employees

The first step in taking control of the situation is education. Managers and employees alike need to understand the implications of their travel activities and the importance of an organised approach.

For instance, employees going about their regular duties may not realise how many days they are spending in a location over the course of 12 months, or even be aware that limitations exist, until they are questioned at the border. For that matter, neither will management if no one has been tracking or made aware of restrictions.

As electronic systems become more sophisticated, it is more likely that immigration and tax authorities will catch up with business travelers who overstay their welcome; all the more reason to begin tracking your employees’ mobility.

Create a tracking plan and policy

The second step is to create a tracking plan because complying with regulations, knowing how to handle emergency issues abroad and measuring return on investment (ROI) translate into cost and time savings.

Along with a plan, build a policy that addresses short-term assignment needs and gives a centralised department responsibility for implementing it. The human resources department, often the first department called when assignment troubles appear, is the logical fit.  

If it is not feasible for HR to have complete ownership of the administration, at least create a policy that requires authorisation through human resources.

This gives HR the opportunity to make managers aware of a company observed policy, educate managers and employees on their responsibilities, and provide tracking tools to capture the necessary details while the assignment is in progress — and not after the fact.

Stay proactive

The third step is to make arrangements with other company departments that can alert you to developing short-term assignments, even if managers do not keep you informed directly of employee mobility.

For example, you could work with your accounting department or travel re-imbursement department. Ask them to notify you or require your sign-off of any expense reports seeking re-imbursements for over two weeks of travel.

This way, if a short-term assignment occurs, you will know learn about it early on and be able to steer your employees and their managers to the right path. If it is simply an extended business trip, no harm is done.

Another way to find out about assignments is through travel bookings. Companies with in-house travel departments could include systematic tracking and reporting of physical mobility as part of the travel authorisation process.

Smaller companies that allow employees to book their own travel will have to rely on another method or perhaps may want to think about setting up special requirements for international travel.

Conclusion

In tracking short-term assignments, being proactive instead of reactive yields better results for all involved.

Educating managers and employees will help avoid problems while a plan and a policy can add value to the process.

Also, these measures will serve as an additional reason for individual departments to work through your systems and not around them when sending employees on assignment.

And if managers neglect to keep you informed, your own arrangements with company departments can give you that much-needed advance knowledge of an assignment.

Thus you will combat one of the first obstacles of assignment tracking — not being aware of an assignment in the first place.

August 2002

Next month: How to create a tracking tool

Colleen Hollbrook is a client service consultant with Runzheimer International.