The latest Kenexa WorkTrendsTM study queried participants on their work-related travel habits, job satisfaction, engagement and satisfaction with their current company. The purpose of this study was to determine if employees whose travel requires them to spend at least one night away from home, are more or less engaged in their work and if they are more or less likely to leave their organization than are stationary workers.

Respondents were categorized into four groups: No Travel, Light Travel (10%-30% of the time), Heavy Travel (40%-60% of the time) and Road Warrior (70%-100% of the time).

When asked about job engagement, the survey responses revealed a disparity between the four main groups. Those in the No Travel and Road Warrior groups felt less engaged with their jobs and organizations than did those who classified themselves in the Light Travel and Heavy Travel categories.

Despite having the highest engagement and satisfaction ratings, members of the Heavy Travel group are also the most likely to consider leaving their organization within the next 12 months. Employees across the board reported more satisfaction with their individual jobs than with their organizations.

Senior and middle managers travel the most—67% of respondents indicated they travel to some extent, with 55% grouped in the light travel category. Men travel more frequently than women do and younger workers travel more than older workers.

Although the majority of their travel is in the Light Travel category, employees who work in China and India travel more than people in the rest of the world. Japan and Mexico also rank highly; in Mexico, the highest percentage is in the Light Travel category (43%). The same is true for Japan (32% in the light travel category), although Japan has the largest percentage in the Road Warrior category (11%).

The survey also examined workers’ attitudes about work/life balance and stress levels. Surprisingly, employees who do not travel for work feel they have much less work/life balance than Light Travelers, but as expected, significantly more work/life balance than Road Warriors. The Light Travel and Heavy Travel classifications reported feeling less stress than the other workers did.

“The results of this survey illuminate interesting relationships between business travel and employee engagement. Organizations should be cautioned, however, that there is a breaking point—employees who spend the grand majority of their time on the road are more stressed and lack work/life balance. The needs of the employee should be considered before signing them up to go on the road, but the good news is, once they’ve signed up, they seem to enjoy the autonomy that work travel offers,” said Jack W. Wiley, Ph.D., executive director, Kenexa Research Institute.

Database Overview
The WorkTrends database is a comprehensive normative database of employee opinions on topics including leadership, employee engagement and customer orientation. In 2008, 10,000 United States workers and 1,000 workers in each of the following countries/regions took the survey online: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and 500 workers in Russia.

Study Details
The WorkTrends survey asked participants “On average, what percentage of the year do you spend on work travel that requires overnight stays?”

The survey also measured workers’ engagement, job satisfaction and satisfaction with their current company. The travel item allowed respondents to choose a “percentage of time.”

• No travel
• Light travel (10-30%)
• Heavy travel (40-60%)
• Road warrior (70-100%)

Opinion items were rated using a 5-point Likert scale. The percent favorable is the percentage of people who chose either of the two most positive answers (typically “strongly agree” or “agree”).

Study Questions
This research sought to answer the following questions:

• Are employees who travel more or less engaged?
• Are employees more or less likely to leave their organization?
• What are possible reasons for these differences?

Survey Results
Employee Engagement
There are differences among the travel groups. Those in the No Travel and Road Warriors groups are significantly less engaged than those who are in the Light Travel and Heavy Travel groups.

Job and Company Satisfaction
Those in the No Travel group are significantly less satisfied with both their job and company than are those in the Light and Heavy Travel groups. Road Warriors are significantly less satisfied than Light Travelers.

Retention
Despite the higher scores in engagement and satisfaction, almost 10% more individuals in the Heavy Travelers category are seriously considering leaving their organization in the next 12 months than those who don’t travel.

Work/Life Balance
There is an assumption that employees who travel might be more stressed or have a difficult time balancing their professional and personal lives. The data show that those who don’t travel feel more stress, but overall the differences are relatively small (see Figure 4).

Employees who don’t travel for work feel like they have significantly less work/life balance than Light Travelers, but significantly more balance than Road Warriors. There is no difference with the Heavy Travelers group.

• Employees in the No Travel group are less likely to state the ‘stress at work is reasonable’ than Light or Heavy Travelers—in other words, Light and Heavy Traveler groups are reporting that they feel less stress.

Other Related Results
Communication is significantly different (except for Light and Heavy Travelers groups and has the same differences as ‘Work Process.’

• Those in No Travel are lower than all other groups, or less satisfied with communication.
• Heavy Traveler group is higher than all others; meaning they are more satisfied with communication.
• Road Warriors are more satisfied than the No Travel group, but less than the Heavy Travel group.

Who Travels?
Senior and middle managers travel the most—67% of respondents in this category indicated that they travel to some extent.

Although 50% of the travel is in the Light Travel category, employees who work in China and India travel more than people in the rest of the world. Japan and Mexico also rank highly; in Mexico, the highest percentage (43%) is in the Light Travel category. The same is true for Japan (31.5% in the light travel category), although Japan has the largest percentage in the Road Warrior category (10%).