Leaving on a jet plane

Welcome to another Discuss HR.

For new members, Discuss HR is a weekly article written by fellow group members to do exactly that, discuss HR!  The world of HR is extremely diverse and we reflect that with our topics, but we also try to be a little different from the norm.  From our recent survey it appears we are achieving this but we also have some very good suggestions on how to improve.

Today we welcome back Sheena McLullich whose articles always reflect her own experience and today is no different.  Sheena explains her frustrations with the (un)glamorous world of business travel! (Ed Scrivener)

Leaving on a jet plane

If you’re about to jet off for your summer holidays and are contemplating check-in queues, delays, cancellations, security checks, crowded airports and so on, spare a thought for those of us for whom travel is an on-going occupational challenge. 

How Sheena travelled...

I’ve often had to travel as part of my job responsibilities and any perception that this is a glamorous way of life is soon dispelled.  Although I’ve been to lots of fascinating destinations, if your purpose for being there is for work, sightseeing is a rare luxury and you tend to see no more than the interior of the local office, your hotel room and the airport.  However I generally enjoy being a business traveller, although I’ve had my fair share of problems to contend with.

Back in the ‘old days’ (pre 9/11 and before airport security became of paramount importance), it used to be possible to saunter up to the departure gate two minutes before the flight was due to leave – and still be allowed to board.  I know – because I was a master at this act of nonchalance and it was a stunt that I performed on a regular basis.  I worked in London during the week, flying south on a Sunday evening and returning to my home in Aberdeen on the last flight from Heathrow every Friday night.  I did this journey so regularly that I got to know the ground staff and I was expert in fast-tracking security and getting though the airport in record time.  It only went wrong once when I was late leaving the office, the train was held in a tunnel for ages and I finally made it to the gate with less than 30 seconds to go.  I would probably have got away with it, but for the fact that there was a woman in front of me (who had presumably been on the same train) remonstrating with the ground crew who retaliated by refusing to let her through – and then promptly did the same to me!  My hotel room for that night cost me nearly £300 – it was a mistake that I never made again!

...or too often the reality!

Worse was to come when a cost-cutting initiative resulted in my weekly commute being re-assigned to a low-cost airline.  One foggy Friday night, after numerous delays to our flight taking off from a different ‘London’ airport, the pilot announced that he was unable to land in Aberdeen and that the flight would be diverted to Edinburgh – some 100 miles south of my intended destination.  On landing, we were told that the replacement bus had yet to leave Aberdeen (a two-hour drive away) which meant that I was at least four hours from home.  There were no hire cars available and I finally reached home at 4:00 am on Saturday morning.  I was incensed to discover later that the scheduled flight from Heathrow to Aberdeen had landed as normal at 9:00 pm the previous evening.  Shortly after that episode, I relocated to London …

I’ve endured all the hassles associated with lost and damaged luggage.  On a flight to Aberdeen to sit a final University exam, one of my two suitcases didn’t get to join me on the plane. Needless to say, that was the one which contained all my revision notes.  Luckily the airline found it languishing at Heathrow and sent it on a later flight and then, by taxi to my hotel.  Impeccable service, although I have since determined that anything essential (including a change of clothes) always travels with me as hand luggage. 

Well at least the room came with a view!

By far my biggest disaster came on a trans-Atlantic flight to the USA.  It was a routine journey to visit our New York office and one which I undertook several times a year, usually without incident.  On this occasion however, I collapsed, almost without warning, with crippling abdominal pains.  Luckily, my memory of subsequent events is somewhat hazy, although I do recall being treated by a doctor who (even more luckily) was on the same flight and of being stretchered off the aircraft into the arms of medics from the New York Fire Department.   I woke up the next morning in a hospital in Queens, attached to a drip and without any clear idea of what had happened – or even how I’d got through Immigration!   It was all explained to me later by a lovely American nurse who also presented me with an invoice amounting to several thousand US dollars for the treatment I’d received. 

So what’s the moral of these stories for HR practitioners?  Well, apart from the obvious factors of ensuring that the company has appropriate travel and medical insurance polices in force for its business travellers (all my previous employers have been excellent in that respect – it’s just as well!)  HR should also recognise that business travel sometimes requires a resilience and sense of humour that is not so necessary in other facets of corporate life. 

A friend of mine recently left a role which involved frequent, global travel to all corners of the world.  He had worked for the company concerned for many years and had accumulated many thousands of air-miles.  His leaving present?  A pair of airline tickets for a round-the-world trip.  You have to laugh ….!

I have a feeling that some of you reading this will also have ‘traveller’s tales’ to tell.  I look forward to hearing them!

About the author

Sheena has worked at a senior level in HR for the past 14 years, including 6 years as an HR Director, following a successful career transition from training & development. Working mainly for small/medium organisations in a variety of sectors, she has acquired a strong reputation for effecting change and for "getting things done". She is now working as a freelance HR Consultant.

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 21st July and will be written by Training Consultant Jill Hart-Sanderson.