Working Life May 22, 2008, 5:00PM EST

The Waning Days of the Road Warrior

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The new technologies, says Procter & Gamble's (PG) chief information officer, Filippo Passerini, "empower collaboration, so you really can be there without leaving here. They are saving money and enabling us to collaborate and innovate faster, smarter, and more sustainably than ever before."

This year accounting firm Grant Thornton's travel and meetings director, Cheryl Geib, canceled three company offsites, involving 100 executives each, to cut costs. Geib is replacing them with online, virtual meetings. Executives are thrilled. "We won't ever go back," says Geib.

Consulting firm BDO Seidman is pushing employees to meet virtually by using WebEx technology, which lets co-workers across the globe scrawl on whiteboards and share documents. The company is saving $1 million a year. "It's not just about travel reduction, it's also about increasing communication," says the firm's training and development director, MaryEm Musser. Workplace researchers agree, reporting that huddling with people more frequently in short bursts of time is more productive than flying off to long, drawn-out confabs.

How times have changed. Back in the day—say, eight years ago—road warriors measured status by how many frequent-flier miles they accrued, their admission to VIP lounges, and all the cool people they met at conferences. "When you say you were able to have a meeting in London and then go home and have dinner with your children," says Nortel's Dipper, "that's what people are jealous of now."

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British Business Deplanes

A report released on May 16 by Britain's World Wildlife Fund—Traveling Light: Why the UK's Biggest Companies are Seeking Alternatives to Flying—found that 89% of 350 large companies surveyed said they intended to reduce employee travel within the decade. Three-quarters also want more government investment in high-speed rail; they predict their road warriors will be spending more and more time on trains.

Fewer Miles for Short Trips

United Airlines' (UAUA) frequent fliers have always received a minimum of 500 miles, no matter how short a trip they took. Not anymore, writes travel blogger Rick Seaney at FareCompare.com. "Starting July 1, if you fly, say, LaGuardia to Dulles, you WON'T get 500 frequent-flier miles; you will ONLY get the actual number of miles the trip took—about 230 miles. Just one more way the airlines are cutting back in the face of those off-the-chart jet fuel prices."

Conlin is the editor of the Working Life Dept. at BusinessWeek .