Re-thinking Travel Policy
Is your employee protection good enough? Seven ideas to de-risk travel
In an increasingly uncertain global environment the need to protect travelling employees is more important than ever. Is your travel policy still fit for purpose?
Risk. It’s a small word, yet a powerful one; a word which is an all too frequent factor these days for organizations whose personnel are required to travel internationally on behalf of the company. Sadly, the world can often appear to be a more risky place in the 21st century than ever before, with potential dangers and difficulties liable to arise absolutely anywhere on the planet, not just the ‘usual suspect’ territories that are politically sensitive or prone to natural disaster occurrences.
Despite the almost instantaneous transmission of news that is today’s communications norm, many companies have not adequately re-aligned their duty of care strategy to fully incorporate the risk of personnel inadvertently caught up in an evolving crisis situation.
How does your policy stack up?
• Does your Company have an existing Crisis Policy or Travel Policy in place?
• Does the Company know all travelling employees' whereabouts at any given time? Can these travellers be tracked at all times, even out-of-hours?
• How do you determine whether a traveller is specifically at risk? Does the company assume the traveller knows about the risk situation? How do you let him/her know?
• Should the traveller be remote/out of contact when the crisis arises do they know what the Company’s policy requires them to do or whom to contact if at risk?
• Does every traveller keep the travel management company’s contact details, including separate out-of-hours emergency service numbers in their smartphone address book?
• Will the traveller know who to contact internally should they need approval to book replacement travel arrangements in an emergency situation? What if the internal approver is asleep? Who else can they contact – is there a Plan B?
• Should your Company issue a generic approval code to travellers in order to speed approval in a developing crisis? Should some relaxation of policy rules be allowed in an emergency situation?
Consideration of these issues will not eradicate the risk to your business travellers, but have the potential to substantially mitigate the effects should your personnel find themselves unwittingly in the middle of an evolving crisis whilst undertaking Company business.
See more about Traveller Security with our Round the World Response.
For a more in-depth conversation concerning your specific needs, contact:
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