Preparing for Gen Z and Gen Alpha: How Younger Generations Will Change Business Travel and Expense Management

I’ve worked in the business travel and expense (T&E) industry for more than 40 years. In that time, there has been one constant I, and all T&E managers, have had to come to terms with: change.

Each decade has brought new expectations, challenges, opportunities, and technologies, shaped by a new generation entering the workforce. And each generation has challenged pre-existing T&E policies, over time bringing about necessary change.

Some of us may question whether such changes are truly necessary. Why fix something that isn’t broken,right? But in my past and current roles, I have been asked to review and modernize many companies’ T&E policies. Often, this involves making a noted shift away from a draconian approach defined by endless rules and regulations— sometimes even in contradiction with themselves.

Policies like these can only cause employee frustration, friction, and a felly of mistrust. The bottom line is that every company must adapt to survive and thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Our fast-approaching future will be vastly different than the world of T&E management that we know today, and much of this will be driven by changing employee demographics and expectations.