Air Ticket Policy (Saudi Arabia) - we are providing annual ticket for our employees

Currently we are providing annual ticket for our employees, in this case sometimes even employees are not happy with the options we provide and even the admin department representatives are tied up with this work. So we decided to provide as cash. Please suggest your views.

Dear Abdullah Kasim,
Yes, instead of making travel arrangements, you may pay allowance to the employees to visit their homes. However, instead of paying cash, it is better to route the allowance through monthly pay. If the allowances get reflected in the payslip, calculation of income tax becomes easy.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Hi,
It will be better if the policy is removed and the employees are made to understand that the amount is included in their salaries. You may circulate a memo internally to that affect before implementation to take the views. Paying by cash is not going to solve the issue and it might even escalate the issue, so better avoid such practices. Check the effect on the taxes in your region and make necessary adjustments before coming out with a proper plan.
Thanks and Regards

Thanks a ton guys, but this benefits is for our Saudi Arabia Project.

My dad worked in a petroleum company in the middle east. His company had defined fares basis kms. for a visit to their home country. The company would reimburse it to the employee whichever is a lower amount. So the employees are also careful while booking the tickets so as to not go overboard in spending.
Senior executives had option of business/ first class and senior most members had reimbursement at actuals.
Incase the employee chooses not to travel a particular year s/he gets the defined fare as per the kms for his/ her home country.