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BUSINESS TRAVEL POLICY

Policy Process FAQ(s) Form(s) History

Objective

This policy ensures that business travel undertaken by employees is consistent with the business objectives of HCL Technologies Ltd. It takes into account
the needs of employees and the business, as well as our commitment to being an environmentally focused and sustainable organization.
This policy is also applicable to all employees active on the rolls of C2SIS.

Scope

The Business Travel Policy covers all aspects of international business travel (definition: outside your home country) and domestic travel (definition: within
your home country), except travel within or originating out of countries such as Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Germany  and
Norway where there is a separate policy.

Policy Details

Travel Plans (TP): Employees will be classified into different Travel Plans: TP1 to TP3 as per the table below:

Travel
Employee Band
Plan

TP1 E6/E7/E8*/E9**

TP2 EM/E3/E4/E5

TP3 EC/E0/E1/E2

 
Travel in which all the segments are within the home country of the employee has been defined as Domestic Travel. Travel, where at least one segment of
travel is outside the home country of the employee is defined as International Travel. Exceptions to this are: travel between and within US, Canada and
Mexico; UK - Continental Europe; Singapore – Malaysia which would be treated as domestic travel.
Ticketing
HCL Travel Desk (Travel Desk) should be the used to meet all ticketing needs. It is recommended that the following guidelines be adhered to for employees
undertaking business travel:

This policy is meant to cover only Business travel. If the employee combines business travel with personal/holiday travel, then the employee is
expected to segregate all bills (including lodging, boarding, conveyance, etc) and claim only the official expenses.
The travel requisition and approval process (as per Annexure A)  must be completed in advance:  14 calendar days and  7 calendar days for
international and domestic travel respectively. If the employee is unable to adhere to the above due to an unavoidable circumstance, he / she would
be required to get an exception approval.
The Travel Desk will have the flexibility to book tickets within +/- 8 hours and +/- 2 hours for international and domestic travel respectively, subject to
meeting the requirements of the latest arrival time for meetings, etc. at your destination.
Employees will travel by the most efficient and economical fare. The Central Travel Desk will organize the most cost-effective ticket, including the
optimal route and there will be no choice with regard to selection of airlines. All tickets will be booked only with the employee’s base location as the
start point.
All domestic travel within India that takes less than 8 hours will have to be by train for employees who fall under the TP2 and TP3 plans.
*For all international travels with a duration of 8 hours and above, E8 band employees will be eligible to travel in Premium Economy.

**For all international travels with a duration of 8 hours and above, E9 band employees will be eligible to travel in Business class.

 
Lodging

It is advised that all lodging needs be routed through the Lodging Desk. The Company will book and make lodging arrangements for all employees
through tie ups with vendors/properties. The employee is expected to settle all bills for their stay and claim reimbursement upon completion of their
travel. Employee can avail an advance for their travel and settlement of these bills.
The Lodging Desk will try to book accommodation for employees within the defined limits as per Annexure (B), (C) and (D). In cases where
employees wish to stay in a desired hotel whose rentals are more than the prescribed limits, exception Approval will be sought as per Annexure (A).
 Employees are encouraged to use HCL preferred hotel chains. However, if employees would like to use client preferred hotel chains where the cost is
lower than HCL preferred hotels, they will need to obtain explicit approval from the client prior to requesting the same with the lodging desk. If no
duration is mentioned in the approval, the approval will be construed to be only a one time approval for immediate use only. 
Service apartments / guest houses will be the preferred mode of stay.
Internet services and breakfast will be included wherever possible.
Lodging limits for all Travel Plans should be interpreted as upper cap on room tariff per night. This implies that rooms can be offered at lesser value
than lodging limit as HCL has partnered with good quality hotel chains globally at attractive corporate prices.
 
Allowances: Boarding, Miscellaneous and Conveyance (BMC)
Daily Allowances Model: For employees travelling for less than thirty (30) days
Monthly Allowance Model: For employees travelling for, or in excess of thirty (30) days
 
Daily Allowance
The daily allowances provide flexibility to employees to manage their expenses across the expense heads of Boarding, Miscellaneous and Conveyance.

Employees have the option to claim reimbursements as “with bills”, “without bills” or through “own arrangements”.
Travels made for the purpose of attending Company sponsored events / conferences shall not be eligible for “ BMC without bills” . Thus, for such
travels employees can only claim only under “ BMC with bills” or “own arrangement”
Own arrangement include all expenses such as Lodging, Boarding, Conveyance and Miscellaneous expenses. For Lodging expenses claim, employee
must have overnight stay in Geo ,else employee shall be able to claim only the BMC with bills or without bills option.
For TP1 and TP2, the expense heads of Boarding and Miscellaneous are combined; and for TP3 all three expense heads of Boarding, Miscellaneous
and Conveyance are combined.
For TP1 and TP2, in cases of claim “with bills”, if the upper cap for conveyance has been exceeded then the employee would have to seek his/her
Reporting Manager’s approval at the time of settlement of allowances.
Entitlement of 100% allowances would be provided for days where the employee has spent more than 12 hours (midnight to midnight) at the host
location. Entitlement of 50% allowances would be provided for days where the employee has spent less than 12 hours (midnight to midnight) at the
host location. However, for the same day return trip (total travel less than 12 hours), entitlement of 100% allowances will be applicable, irrespective
of the number of hours spent at the host location. 
All the expenses incurred on laundry, house-keeping and other necessary jobs required for the stay can be claimed under boarding category by
producing the bills for the same.
Entitlement amounts are in local currencies of the designated 100 countries in Annexure B and C.
No Exceptions would be allowed to Own arrangement and BMC without Bills option.
 
Monthly Allowance

For travel exceeding thirty (30) days, employees will have two entitlement options to choose from:
o   With lodging support from the centralized Lodging Desk
o   Without lodging support from the centralized Lodging Desk

For international and domestic travel outside India, if the expected duration of travel is more than one month, the monthly allowance would apply
from Day 1 of reaching the destination city/host country.
The Employee must choose only one of the 2 options mentioned above while raising the TAS.
If the employee travels for less than a thirty (30) day duration, and subsequently extends his/her stay for more than thirty (30) days, due to official
reasons, then the monthly allowance will become applicable from the day of the extension.
In cases where the employee has stayed in a particular location for more than thirty (30) days but has had to travel to another location for less than
two (2) days because of official / personal reasons, the monthly allowances will be applicable.
The monthly allowance entitlement will be on calendar month basis i.e. irrespective of number of days in the month. For Example: Entitlement for the
month of February (28/29 days) will be same as that of the month of March (31 days).
Travels to South Africa exceeding 30 days ,the Lodging limits(per night)  shall not be guided as per this policy, please connect with the Local Admin
team in South Africa for details on the same.
 
Other Allowances
Internet charges
For overseas travel a maximum allowance of USD 12 per day will be approved for cases where internet services are not complimentary with the lodging
facilities (employees to submit confirmation from central lodging desk to claim the same). These expenses must be supported by bills from the
hotel/internet café for reimbursement.
 
Provision for tips, porterage and other non-bill expenses
When an employee selects the "with bills" option for any travel outside India, the policy would have a provision to claim USD 5 per day within the BMC limit.
This provision aims to cover for expenses like porterage, tips and other incidentals where bills are not available/obtained by the employee. For travel
to/within India, the amount towards other appropriate charges will be INR 50 per day from within the BMC limit.
 
Group travel: lodging, boarding and miscellaneous
To handle group travel requirements undertaken for a bid, proposal preparation, presentation, or customer workshops, etc., the Lodging Desk will try to
organize accommodation for all the group members in one property. This may involve upgrades of travel plan for some members in the group and would
require only an approval from the cost center head of that group travel. Employees assigned to customer projects will not be eligible for this arrangement.
Several other allowances such as airport transfers, transit at airports, communication, rail transit allowance, etc are defined in the policy.
 
Approval Mechanism
There are two different approval processes.
The first one is the normal approval system, wherein all travel requests will be approved by the defined approvers.
An exception approval matrix is defined for cases where any deviation from the mandated policy guidelines is sought by an employee As per
Annexure – A
Obtain authorization for travel expenses from the budget-holder before a commitment to spend is made. All travel expenses can be incurred only against
approved budgets, and in case the approved budgets have been exhausted or are insufficient to cover a travel requirement, additional budgets would need
to be sought before any travel can be allowed;
 
Country zone categorization
Based on the cost of living indices and our spend patterns, the countries which are frequented by employees have been categorized into seven zones: A to
G, with each zone having similar entitlements for various daily allowances under heads such as Boarding, Conveyance and Miscellaneous. The seven
country zone categories are:
 

A Russia, Denmark, France, Italy, Monaco, Nigeria, Switzerland, Cameroon- Douala, UK, Japan – Tokyo and Osaka

B Angola, Lebanon, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, Zambia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Republic Of Ireland , Macau

Canada, Romania, Turkey, USA ,Greece, Croatia, Brazil- Rio De Janerio and Sao Paulo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Poland,
C Belgium, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Venezuela-Caracas, Latvia,  Austria, Australia, Japan – cities other than Tokyo and Osaka, Malta,
Luxembourg

Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Argentina, Brazil-Porto Alegre, Chile, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Ghana, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait,
D Malawi, Oman, Qatar, South Korea, Tanzania, Vietnam, Estonia, Bahrain, Bulgaria-Sofia, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Honduras, Brunei,
Botswana, Togo, Czech Republic, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Portugal, Thailand , Senegal, Lima, Mozambique, Guatemala, Khazakhstan

Brazil - Cities other than Rio De Janerio, Port Alegre and Sao Paulo, Malaysia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Colombia, Mali, Mauritius, Taiwan, Serbia,
E
Bangladesh, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Armenia

F Algeria, Fiji Islands, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Venezuela- Cities other than Caracas, Bhutan, Nepal, Trinidad And Tobago, Rwanda

G India

 
The allowances for each of the country zone categories and the countries within each zone have been defined in detail in Annexure B (Country Zone A to F)
and Annexure C (Country Zone G: India).
 
Airport transfers
The charges for airport transfers can be claimed on actuals upon producing supporting bills.
 
Transit at airport
Employees on international travel who spend long durations of time at the airport because of transits or delays in flights will be entitled to a transit
allowance for the time spent at the airport. This allowance can be claimed on actual up to a maximum of USD 25 per transit, after producing the relevant
bills.
For the equivalent of the host country currency amount (for USD 25 per day) the calculation would be based on the average exchange rate for the
employee’s itinerary days in the host country.
 
Car rentals
HCLT has several corporate tie-ups with car-rental companies and employees availing car rental services must use cars from these designated companies.
The details of all such car-rental arrangements are available with the Geo Administration teams. Car rentals and all expenses on car hire including
expenses on flat tires should not exceed the local conveyance limits.
All travels using "Own Car" will be governed by the local conveyance and mileage policy.
Travel for offical purposes to HCL Lucknow office using "Own car" is allowed and is governed by the local conveyance and mileage policy
 
Baggage/Excess baggage Allowance
In cases where free baggage is not allowed by airline, then employee can claim for 1 piece check-in baggage and in cases where any excess baggage is
charged by the airline, such expenses may be claimed on actual subject to approvals by Reporting Manager(s), for carrying official goods only.
 
Foreign exchange/travel advances

The denomination of currency against which a travel advance will be issued is mentioned in Annexure B.
 o   For travel less than a month, the allowance for the expected duration of stay will be given as travel advance together with a maximum buffer
of USD 500 or its equivalent.
o   For travel greater than a month, the advance amount to the maximum of one month’s eligibility will be issued

Employees are requested to use the company provided Travel/Forex card wherever applicable for all official expenses while on travel and all unused
Forex to be returned to company as foreign currency only through the same vendor
 
Communication
Employees will also be reimbursed for expenses on account of official phone calls, faxes, photocopying, based on the approval of the L4 Head (RM in case
L4 head or above is travelling). Employees are requested to get local connections for the purpose of calling while on international travel. No
reimbursements will be made for international roaming connections both for voice and data and employees are advised to make arrangements
accordingly.
 
Visa charges
Expenses towards any visa charges as applicable can be claimed on actual based on the approval of the respective RM and ISG representative.
 
Hardship allowance
The hardship allowance has been introduced for some countries, to take care of the challenging living conditions which may be found there. This
allowance is paid over and above the current allowances and bills are not required to avail the claims. The details of the allowance limits are mentioned in
Annexure B.
 
Examples of inappropriate charges
The following categories of expense will normally not be reimbursed:
Alcoholic drinks
In-room movies or PC games
Personal phone calls
The cost of professional journals and magazines
Replacement of an article of clothing, briefcase, etc., lost or damaged while on business travel
Purchase of an article of clothing in connection with assignment to a new location
Usage of fitness centers etc
 The aforementioned examples are for illustrative purposes and cover only some of the inappropriate expenses that cannot be claimed. Common sense
and good judgment are the best ground rules for comprehending this category.
Note: Exception approval matrix defined is applicable only for defined clauses and not for inclusion of clauses into the policy(please also refer process
section of this policy )
 
 
Annexures are available in the forms section of the policy
Annexure A : Approval Matrix
Annexure B : Allowance entitlement Limits for Countries  (except India)
Annexure C: Lodging Limits _Global _ City Wise
Annexure D : Travel Advance request Form
Annexure E : Allowance entitlement Limits for India
 

Disclaimer – The company reserves the right to alter, append or withdraw this policy either in part or in full based on management’s discretion.

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