DOMESTIC TRAVEL POLICY

Transcription

1 HARMAN International (India) Pvt. Ltd. Pages: 6 Approved By: Sr. Director HR Revision Date: V2.5 July 01, 2017 Subject: DOMESTIC TRAVEL POLICY These rules are supplementary to the HARMAN International Global Travel Policy. Purpose: For the purpose of these rules a business visit shall be treated as Domestic Business Travel if the travel is on Company s business to a place outside the city where the employee is stationed and if the place is situated more than 75 kms from the said city, whether or not the business requires overnight stay in such place. A day shall be reckoned from mid night to mid night and fraction of a day shall be considered half a day. Few hours before and after the day while on travel shall be excluded. Travel on business which does not satisfy the above criteria will be considered local conveyance and administered accordingly. Domestic Travel shall be deemed to begin from the office or the residence of the employee and terminate either at such office or residence as the case may be. Applicability: All full time employees of HARMAN India Company Sponsored Corporate Card: The company sponsors employees in obtaining an American Express corporate card. These cards are to be used for all company business and travel expenses, and should be used only for this purpose. 1. Card Use: It is required that all possible business and travel expenses be charged to the corporate card. Use of these cards provides the company with data for critical trend information on travel expenses, which is used to negotiate lower cost preferred provider contracts. Because of this, the employee is expected to minimize the use of cash for reimbursable expenses, and asked to refrain from using the company issued card for personal expenses. 2. Liability: The individual cardholder is personally responsible for full payment of all expenses and charges detailed on the monthly statement, which will be billed directly to their home or business address. When using electronic expense reporting software, the company will make payments to the corporate card provider on behalf of the employee for all approved business expenses. The employee is responsible for any corporate card fees and delinquency charges. FINANCE AND DELINQUENCY CHARGES ARE NOT REIMBURSABLE FOR ANY REASON. Page 1 of 6

2 The company is not responsible in any way to the issuer of the corporate card for any non-payment or misuse by the employee. The expense of obtaining personal credit cards, annual charges related to that card, monthly interest and finance charges are not reimbursable. Employees should consult the corporate card agreement for important information concerning the reporting and replacement of lost or stolen corporate cards, the handling of billing inquiries and payment issues and procurement of cash advances using the corporate card. Terms and Conditions: i. An employee must get his / her travel pre-approved by the reporting manager on SoundTrax. Please indicate the purpose, duration of travel and estimated expense of the trip in your request ii. Sanctioning Authority: Domestic Travel shall require prior sanction of the Reporting Manager Pre-trip approval greater than 7 days in advance would require Direct Supervisors approval. Pre-trip approval lesser than 7 days in advance would require both Direct Supervisors and Country Manager s approval. All approvals should go through SoundTrax. Where prior sanction is not possible due to urgency of travel, approval of travel on is allowed. However, it is the responsibility of employee to record approval taken on SoundTrax. iii. Mode/ class of Travel: Employees are permitted to travel by the following mode and class of Travel applicable to their respective category or to any lower category. Grade Mode of travel Class of travel 16 & Above Air/ Train Economy Class/ I AC 15 & 14 Air/ Train Economy Class/ I AC 13 & 12 Air/ Train Economy Class/ II AC 11, 10, 9, 8 Air/ Train** Economy Class/ II AC ** If distance is less than 350 kms, train journey is recommended Travel Arrangements: Reservation Procedures: It is required that all air, lodging and car rental reservations, including en route changes, be booked through the Company's designated offline or interactive corporate travel program - American Express- Global Business Travel and Interactive: Sound Travels Online Reservation Tool. Amex-GBT is familiar with company policy and will assist employees in making travel arrangements in compliance with the travel policy and using the company's preferred providers. The use of other agencies is not permitted and will not be reimbursed. Page 2 of 6

3 The approved agency is required to guarantee the lowest fares possible. If employees have specific information that would indicate otherwise, they are asked to contact the HARMAN Director of Corporate Travel. Air travel and hotel reservations or changes in itinerary must be directed to the approved HARMAN travel service provider (Amex-GBT). Contact your local travel coordinator/planner for agency contact and/or information regarding the interactive reservation tool. All reservations for domestic trips or easy "point to point (Point to Point Examples: Bangalore to Pune roundtrip; Bangalore to Delhi roundtrip) air travel must be made through the HARMAN Interactive Booking Tool (Sound Travels). This will help to simplify travel arrangements and ensure consistent and complete management information. Each traveler or designated travel arranger will be responsible for coordinating his/her travel arrangements, obtaining confirmation numbers and ensuring proper payment is made. Transportation at Destination: Employees are expected to use the most economical facilities appropriate under the circumstances, and are therefore encouraged to use, in order of desirability, 1) taxis (including Uber) 2) rental cars The Admin team should be notified at least 12 hours in advance of the requirement to book cabs at prenegotiated rates with tied up agencies. You need to send the duly filled in Cab Request Form to the Admin SPOC (details mentioned below). Admin Contact: Cab Request Form: The cab booking request form is available on the Intranet under the forms section. Travel from airport to place of stay and return can be claimed on actuals by producing bills for the expenses incurred. i. Personal Car: Employees may utilize personal cars for business travel when other transportation is unavailable or uneconomical. The use of personal cars for business will be reimbursed at the current mileage allowance. This mileage allowance covers all auto cost (e.g. fuel, repairs, insurance, etc.) other than parking and tolls. The total cost for use of a personal car on a business trip is limited to the economy airfare for the same destination(s). Employees travelling/commuting from Home to office and vice versa are required to arrange for their own transportation. Mileage must be calculated from the employee's base (office) location of where the trip originates. Page 3 of 6

4 ii. Parking and Tolls: Employees will be reimbursed for parking expenses incurred in connection with business travel, provided that the parking expenses are reasonable and supported by an original receipt. Employees must use self-parking facilities whenever possible; valet parking services should not be used. iii. Insurance Coverage: Any increase in your personal premium due to maintaining adequate insurance limits, due to a change in use classification, or resulting from accidents during the use of a personal automobile for Company business is not reimbursable. The Company does not provide physical damage (comprehensive and collision) insurance; any physical damage to a personal automobile used for Company business or premium for obtaining such coverage is not reimbursable. HARMAN International is not liable for and will not reimburse employees for damage to, theft or loss of personal vehicles while used in connection with company business. Lodging: Hotel Selection: Hotel reservations should be made through SoundTravel. The Company has negotiated preferred rates with certain hotels. Employees are to utilize these hotels. In destinations where HARMAN negotiated rates are not available, traveler is required to select a moderately priced hotel within the guidelines mentioned below. However, it is advisable to choose the lowest available option. GG Metro Non-Metro 14 & Below INR 7500 INR & Above INR INR a) Room Type A single room with a private bath in a moderately priced business class hotel or motel is the corporate standard. "Business class" rooms, either on a separate floor or with business office equipment, will not be reimbursed. Personal Meals/Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Employees across all grades will be reimbursed for the actual cost of meals incurred in the course of approved company business up to a maximum of INR 3500 per day. For employees at Global Grade 14 and above the limit is as per actual. Page 4 of 6

5 i. Business Meals With Others: Business meals are considered to be all those meals taken with clients, prospects or business associates during which a business discussion takes place. The Company will reimburse employees for the reasonable costs of business meals when they are "directly related to" or "associated with" the active conduct of business. Expenses deemed lavish or extravagant will not be reimbursed. When having a meal with other HARMAN employees, for the purpose of internal controls the highest-ranking employee present should pay the bill. The original cash register receipt must support expenses for business meals. Tear tab receipts should be avoided. ii. iii. Tax Requirements: To be in compliance with current tax regulations, the following information must be included on employee expense reports as support for all business meal and entertainment expenses: 1) Name, title and company of all attendees 2) Name and location of the establishment where the event took place 3) Amount and date of expense 4) Specific business topic discussed 5) In the case of Entertainment expenses, the specific time the business discussion took place (i.e., before, during or after the event). Alcohol: As a general rule, alcoholic beverages purchased by an employee are not reimbursable. Further, it is against company policy to reimburse employees for drinks in lieu of meals Note: All trips need to be planned at least 15 days prior to travel and require Manager s approval. Short notice travels (less than 7 days notice) needs to have Functional Director s approval Metro cities include Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Pune. If an employee is traveling with a higher grade employee, he/she is entitled to stay in the higher category accommodation Entertainment Expenses: - Employees will need Function Head s prior approval for any future entertainment expenses if the estimated expenses are greater than INR For all entertainment expenses, employees have to share the list of people present in the meeting and objective of the business meeting/ lunch/ dinner. Tips should never be paid in cash, and must always be part of the bill/receipt. Avoid paying tips when gratuity / tips are already included as part of the bill. Tips of any other nature (e.g.: Tips to taxi drivers, bell boys etc.) will not be reimbursed. Bills for laundry can be claimed only if the total days of travel exceeds 5 working days An expense pertaining to consumption of alcohol due to customer meetings only needs to be approved by Grade 15 & above from the leadership team. Consumption of liquor for self-use is not permitted. Loss of Bills/ Receipt: Any loss of bills/ receipts cannot be claimed for in case employees misplace or loose bills/ receipts for expenses made. Compensatory Off for travelling on weekends will not be permitted when they are a part of the travel plan. Page 5 of 6

6 Travel Settlement: The employee shall submit a travel related expense statement in SoundTrax for approval from the approving authority. And upon approval shall submit the hard copy of the bills/receipts/ supporting materials to the Finance department within 7 working days of completing travel along with refund of any unspent travel advance received from the Company. Miscellaneous: Intervening holidays, combining holidays, combining personal travel/ travel by family in conjunction with business travel requires prior approval. Exceptions: Exception/ Deviation: In case of any exception/ deviation in the domestic travel policy, the approval from the Function Head duly ratified by Country Manager will be mandatory For all travel, details please access the HARMAN travel website ( you can reach out to the Travel Management Specialist for details on login access. Page 6 of 6