The Oddities of the Frequent Flying Business Traveler

It's funny how some perks of a job can simultaneously be seen as a "curse" or a "blessing" depending on the situation.  When one does not have the perk and watch others get it, jealousy lead to office politics, further leading to conflicts that erupt in ways that send some people resigning from the company.  But once one gets one's hands on that supposedly highly desirable perk, one somehow finds out that the perk is, well, not so desirable, especially when the perk catches one completely mentally unprepared.  One begins to wonder why the perk was so fought over in the first place.

The idea of going on international business trips is a perk that follows exactly this pattern.  Back in Rakuten, the author had large degree of resentment toward the Japanese bosses' tendency to let Japanese new grads go on business trips while keeping the internationals firmly at HQ, leading to suspecting thoughts of ethnic discrimination.  It was, in retrospect, part of all those reasons that led to the author's resignation from the company.  Exaggerated as it seems, the idea of allowing newbies in the company to go abroad on company expense was seen as a sign of the firm's trust of the employee and intent to train him/her for greater things.  

While there is no denying that business trips are indeed a sign of trust in the employee's capabilities, the idea that they are somehow a definite illustration of the employee being seen as more fundamental than some others to the company is beginning to wear thin, after the author has now spent close to two-thirds of his first week-and-a-half of the new job outside of his home base in Malaysia.  Only after being so densely on the road for a purpose other than traveling for pleasure does one start to really understand the implications and consequences of frequent business travel.

For one thing, the idea that business travel allows one to work and go on holiday at the same time is very much false in reality.  The idea of going on a holiday involves much mental preparations.  To say the least, one has to pick the desired destination and get in the mood for going there, often by researching the possible choices and offers beforehand.  Business travel is the exact opposite.  There is no choice of destination, and the notice to travel arrives, at least here in the Rocket world, only a day or two.  The traveler still has yet to grasp the harsh reality of being in a totally strange place before the flight lands at the destination airport.

But more importantly, there is a difference in how one approaches being in a foreign country as a tourist or as a business traveler.  The former seeks to maximize his/her curiosity, absorbing all that's different about the locale and going the extra distance to squeeze out every last bit of cultural experience out of the trip.  The latter, in contrast, tend to ignore all the uniqueness of the locale, being too absorbed in the primary purpose of the trip itself to actually care about what is going on around him in this strange land.  After all, if the mission attached to the business trip is not accomplished, what's the point to getting to know the locale?

As a result, the idea of pleasure travel on the side of business trip becomes very much a misnomer.  Yes, there will be downtime, like this weekend the author will be spending in Vietnam, but honestly, because the very reason for the trip is to achieve a work-related goal, whether he goes sightseeing or participate in other non-work related activities, the worries about work will always be in the back of the mind.  Combined with the very fact that there are many places that the author rather be right now than Ho Chi Minh City (again, for the third time in three years), the business trip honestly should not be envied by any passive observer.

Indeed, when it comes down to work, there is no better place to do it than at the home base.  To focus requires concentration, and concentration is difficult to come by when the inconvenience of being in a new place with language barrier constantly serves as a distraction.  Adjusting to the new place takes away some of the energy that would be devoted to work at the familiar home field, where comfort of daily routines makes elements at work to be 100% of the changes that have to be dealt with.  Given the choice of performing at maximum capacity, one really should not choose to be on frequent business trips.

Of course this is not to say that the author is hesitant about going on future, even frequent and unpredictable business trips.  Coping with all the downsides mentioned above should exactly be the benefits of going on these trips.  Learning to deal with fast-paced changes, with new environments and tasks on a daily basis would make an employee more capable over time.  At the end, it is a matter of expectation.  Going on business trips should not be regarded as some sort of employee benefit.  It is not at all glamorous, but instead a grueling way of training the employee to really become someone the company can trust and depend upon.