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The only policy my company would share with a non-employee would be a relocation policy if that was part of the package being offered.
Wait a minute. If you are hiring an outside sales person, do you really think anyone in their right mind would accept a position with your company without knowing how travel and other business related expenses were handled? There's no way in hell that I'd take that type of position without knowing very specificially who was responsible for what, how reimbursements work, if I'd be on an expense account, per diem, or something else, whether I'd be issued a company credit card, cell phone, etc.
And anyone who would accept such a position without all those details being out in the open is someone who obviously lacks common sense, and therefore someone I'd never hire in a bazillion years.
If fact, I'd be really questioning the competency of any candidate who didn't have questions about how travel expenses were handled.
My bad. We don't have any sales people in my office so I wasn't thinking about that. But we absolutely hire people who travel a lot. And they don't get the travel policy.
Wait a minute. If you are hiring an outside sales person, do you really think anyone in their right mind would accept a position with your company without knowing how travel and other business related expenses were handled? .
I was taking from his or her response that she was taking it literally, that some companies doesn't provide it's internal policies because they see it as proprietary information.
Still, obviously, you verbally ask about internal policies and a potential employee should verbally answer what they are, and even have them document them into a hiring contract or seperate document if needed.
My bad. We don't have any sales people in my office so I wasn't thinking about that. But we absolutely hire people who travel a lot. And they don't get the travel policy.
I'd never ever ever accept a job that required frequent travel without having a full understanding of who is paying for what and how. That's just crazy. I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would accept a job they know involves travel without knowing for a fact how it was all being paid for. In my opinion, disclosing travel policies is no different than disclosing health insurance or vacation.
Maybe not for the person who travels to a conference once every three years for a few days, but for anyone who is expected to travel regularly, they are a plain fool if they don't get full disclosure of travel policies, including what is reimbursable, how the travel costs are paid for, and even the level of hotels you can stay in.
I once interviewed for a job that required a lot of travel. I was told that they don't allow you to stay in any hotel that has a pool because they are "too fancy." I ended the interview right then and there. Now I don't stay in a Ritz Carlton on a regular basis, but I'm also not willing to stay at a Motel 6--ever. Not being able to stay at a place like a Fairfield, Hampton, Courtyard, etc. would be an absolute deal breaker for me, and I wouldn't want to find out that was their policy after I had accepted teh position.
Can someone ask about the policy? Sure. Although I haven't seen that myself. My guess is that since we are a very large company people assume we have a normal travel policy. Which we do and no one is expected to pay their own way. I traveled a lot when I first started and I didn't ask about it.
If that makes me a fool and crazy I can live with that. I get called worse at home.
To be honest, I never thought about asking about a travel policy during an interview, mainly because most of my jobs haven't been in the road warrior category. I have found the knowledge of interviewers to be quite lacking in some of those types of categories though...sometimes it is difficult enough to learn about the salary range, much less the benefits, and policies a company has. I would expect if a company did deviate from typical travel reimbursement policies that they would be upfront with whomever they were interviewing. I think that would be the ethical and honest thing to do. JMHO.
When I interview people for jobs that will require travel, I always state out travel policies right upfront and answer any questions to be sure there is no confusion. The last thing I want is to go through the hassle of bringing someone onboard and then having them leave almost immediately because they don't like our travel policy. I'm just not so sure why anyone would consider information like that top secret or proprietary.
I would expect if a company did deviate from typical travel reimbursement policies that they would be upfront with whomever they were interviewing.
The problem is that there really isn't a "typical." I've worked for a number of companies that required heavy travel.
Some of them have you pay it all upfront on your card and then reimburse (and the length of time for that varies from a day to a couple of months).
Others book airfare and hotel rooms using corporate accounts and you only need to cover meals and incidentals on your dime and then get reimbursed.
Others give a company credit card and you pay for everything on that and put in for any cash reimbursement.
Others give you a flat per diem and you live as large or frugal as you want, if you go over it's on you, if you have money leftover you pocket it.
And there are a dozen other varities of this.
On top of all that, some will only allow subcompact car rental while others automatically reserve a full size. Some require (as I stated earlier) you stay at real bottom of the barrel budget hotels while others allow for typical business class hotels and yet others are fine with higher end places. Some give you a daily meal allowance while others tell you to use your judgement. Some require roommates while others are fine with each employee having their own room. (Another deal breaker for me, unless it's a place like a Marriott Residence Inn where each person has their own bedroom and private bath, and you just share a common area.) Some will allow you to upgrade to business class if the flight is overseas while others put you in the center seat of the middle row on a wide body where you need to climb over two people in either direction to get to the bathroom on a 20 hour flight to save $25 on your ticket. The list goes on.
Potential employees who will be required to travel should always get the companies travel policy upfront. If the company isn't willing to give it, I'd run like hell, because you'll very possibly be rudely surprised to find out that you're driving a Yugo from Rent-A-Wreck, sleeping in a bedbug and roach infested Dew Drop Inn, eating a steady diet off the McDonalds Dollar Menu, and taking Greyhound.
When I interview people for jobs that will require travel, I always state out travel policies right upfront and answer any questions to be sure there is no confusion. The last thing I want is to go through the hassle of bringing someone onboard and then having them leave almost immediately because they don't like our travel policy. I'm just not so sure why anyone would consider information like that top secret or proprietary.
At a couple of my former companies, my travel put me into the "road warrior" category. Discussion of travel policy was always a part of the interview process, both when I interviewed for those positions, and later when I was the one interviewing candidates for similar positions.
If I decided to interview for such a position in the future, I would need to know a few things about the travel policy before I would accept it, such as how much input I have into selecting flights and hotels, can I fly business class on overseas flights, are business class hotels a reasonable assumption, do I get to keep my miles and points, etc.
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