For that we like to look behind the scenes and ask employees directly, right where things happen.
Because of customer requests and ongoing projects it was unavoidable for us to make business trips during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sarah found out how that affected employees and how they experienced travelling during a global pandemic.
She approached colleagues Matthias and Fabien from system integration, who had recently been on business trips and were willing to share their impressions with us.
Matthias and Fabien gave us an honest and open insight into the processes and the challenges they experienced on business trips during the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview they tell us why they almost ended up in a real argument and why envy sometimes arose among family and friends.
Sarah: Where did, or do, your business trips go during the coronavirus pandemic?
Matthias: In system integration our business trips have mainly taken place within Germany. We have travelled to Frankfurt, Cologne, Nordholz or Faßberg, for example.
Fabien: That is mainly because of the current order situation, though. There may be a trip to Australia in the middle of the year, but that is still unclear at the moment.
Matthias: Recently we have mostly made the trips within Germany by car and less often by train or plane, which we otherwise like to use. Other departments in the company have also travelled outside Germany; colleagues have flown to Finland or Norway, for example. But as far as I know all trips took place within Europe.
Sarah: Did you find it understandable, or do you now, that the business trips had to go ahead despite the pandemic?
Fabien: In terms of the projects the trips were unavoidable, so yes, I can understand it.
Matthias: From a business point of view it was necessary for the company. The economy carried on despite Covid. I can understand that some employees did not want to travel, but ultimately the customer needs the product and it has to work, Covid or not. The companies we visited on our trips also made sure safety measures were observed. In October 2020, for example, we were at a customer who placed great emphasis on masks and social distancing. There was also only a minimum number of staff on site at the customers. At times there were only two of us in a huge hall. I had no concerns at all about catching Covid there.
Fabien: The other side of it is that if we had not made the trips, the customers’ simulators would have come to a standstill. So we can be glad it worked out this way and that we were basically not affected by short-time work.
Sarah: How did friends and family react to you travelling for work during this time?
Matthias: Some companies were shut down completely and all employees sent home. Friends or acquaintances affected by that of course also experienced personal restrictions and did not get out of their flats any more. From them you either get funny looks when you say you go into the office and travel for work, or they envy you for it. Of course it also depends on the industry, whether staff can do everything from home or, as with us, not. Within a family it is also strange when one part has to work isolated from home all the time and the other has contact with colleagues and customers.
Sarah: How did you experience the trips? How did you feel about them?
Fabien: It was a little unusual, of course. But I had no concerns or bad feelings during the trips. It was interesting to be on almost empty motorways and to see customer halls where you were practically alone.
Matthias: I did not have a bad feeling either, but then I am not an overly cautious person. I also have no people at risk that I know of in my immediate circle. There were simply drawbacks you experienced on business trips during Covid. In the accommodation there was no breakfast, for example, and you had to keep checking how many people were allowed in one car or which shops were open. The constantly changing official rules in the different federal states created a sense of uncertainty and made careful research necessary.
Fabien: When you cannot eat out anywhere and get no breakfast at the hotel, that is unpleasant, but it was nothing you could not handle. You just got something for yourself and your colleagues from the bakery or the supermarket. Certainly nobody starved.
Sarah: What did the company do to prepare you for the trips or to support you on them?
Matthias: The company took care of protective equipment such as masks and disinfectant. You could also check the current state of the Covid guidelines on the intranet at any time, where the situation was prepared for us. The project managers organized coordination with the customers, and the head of operations and the department heads were always reachable, including at weekends, so that a suspected Covid case could be reported in time, for example.
Fabien: The office put together care packages with those items and handed them out to employees.
Sarah: What obstacles were there in practice, for example with hotels or authorities, and what were your experiences?
Matthias: Fortunately I never experienced something not working at all. Of course you have to organize yourself differently when DIY stores are closed and you cannot quickly buy a missing tool. You have to look into that, but then you can handle it well.
Fabien: There were often uncertainties because of the official restrictions, because they kept changing and differed from state to state.
Matthias: At times people at home were envious when they got pictures from us of dinner with a glass of red wine in a restaurant while all the pubs and restaurants in Bavaria were closed. But on the whole the obstacles on the trips were relatively manageable for us. There was always someone reachable at the customers, and internally you could always reach the head of operations or the contacts of what we called the Covid task force.
Sarah: What do you miss most compared with business trips before the pandemic?
Matthias: I would like to travel to customers on project work outside Germany again. Otherwise the mask requirement and the lack of catering options on site are the most annoying things.
Fabien: While waiting at the airport you cannot have a beer because nothing is open. That did annoy me a little.
Matthias: On the whole, though, I did not find anything terribly disruptive.
Sarah: Are there things you would do differently on a business trip today compared with the start of the pandemic?
Matthias: You simply know better today how everything works and what to watch out for. You have to check certain rules in the individual federal states beforehand and think through alternatives, for example for closed shops. On one trip we almost ended up in a real argument because someone wanted to drink their coffee at the counter of a petrol station rather than take it away. Today you take the whole situation more calmly.
Sarah: Thank you for your time and your honest answers, Fabien and Matthias. You have given us interesting insights into business travel during the coronavirus pandemic and some of the challenges that came with it. We hope there will soon be business trips more to your liking again.
