Thought leader (TL) compensation can include additional costs not immediately considered when coordinating a speaker engagement, consulting service or other activity. One of these additional costs involves transporting a contracted HCP from their home to the event location. To account for the variables that come with planning business travel, many pharma companies have developed TL travel policies.
Company-wide TL travel policies help to ensure a consistent approach when handling events or other services. They typically outline the primary decision-maker when it comes to travel compensation. Decision-making responsibility primarily to legal, compliance and accounting departments. However, more than one department often has authority over travel.
A recent Cutting Edge Information poll shows that:
- Fifty-eight percent of poll participants said that TL travel compensation decisions are handled cross-functionally. But a sizeable portion of respondents answered differently—23% said that compliance was the sole decision–maker in TL travel compensation.
- Other options, such as no primary decision-maker and legal departments, were selected by fewer respondents—15% and 4%,
It’s likely that these differences stem from company size and resources available. The majority of poll respondents that handle travel decisions cross-functionally or with no primary decision maker may not have large enough legal or compliance departments to handle all TL travel decisions. On the other hand, the 27% of poll participants giving responsibility to single departments—legal and compliance—likely have more bandwidth available.
Interesting in learning more? Click here to access Cutting Edge Information’s webinar on Travel Compensation.
