Why Vaccine Maker Pfizer Is Curbing Work Travel This Year
Photo Credit: Pfizer will ask employees what they want to accomplish by meeting in person, or traveling, that they cannot virtually. Unsplash / Mat Napo
Skift Take
Even those companies that expanded during the crisis are rethinking their travel programs, reinforcing the resilience of virtual meetings for 2022 and beyond.
After helping to save the planet from Covid-19, Pfizer has a somewhat different mission now: cutting back on the number of business trips.
The U.S. drug and vaccine manufacturer follows in the footsteps of another pharmaceutical company, UCB, which wants employees to think harder about their reasons for travel.
Pfizer is now rebuilding its travel program, and will begin by asking staff more questions when they book their next trip.
“We looked at our behaviors and the purpose of our trips before the pandemic,” said Tina Quattlebaum, Pfizer's director of global travel operations. “Now we want to redefine that, starting from the place of: what will you accomplish by meeting in person, or traveling, that you can’t accomplish virtually? That definitely is a shift for us.”
Aspects that were previously measured included whether the
