Cutting costs is more important than ever, and one way for companies to do so is to reduce travel expeniture. Business class may once have been the only way to travel for corporate flyers – but these days, you’re more likely to find yourself wedged into a budget airline seat. According to a survey, though, staff are taking it on the chin, with 46% saying they’ve been inspired into cutting their own travel costs by their managers, who are apparently leading the way by downgrading flights, taking the train andeven publishing their travel expenses so employees can see what they’ve been up to. Then again, that leaves more than half who haven’t adopted this admirable policy, and are still operating on the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ approach.

According to a survey by American Express, although 78% of staff say they’ve cut down on their travel costs, that doesn’t necessarily mean businesses have cut down on travel. More than half of the 500 executives who took part in the survey say they’re still travelling as much as they were before the recession – while 4% are travelling more than they previously were.

Instead, staff are opting for public transport, with 46% saying they use tubes or busses instead of taxis, and 42% removing business and first-class travel for flights under a certain number of hours. 18% also say they are now using ‘high-speed rail’ instead of flying. Although here in the UK we might have to wait another decade or two before we can take advantage of any high speed rail...

Granted, it’s probably no great surprise that travel budgets have been trimmed. But it does raise an important point. Apparently, businesses have managed to save ‘up to’ £50,000 a year with this new-found frugality – but if bosses are leading by example, it’s much easier to motivate staff to make changes to their own travel habits.