What if an employee's safety concern leads them to refuse a business trip? This isn't a hypothetical problem, but a real challenge facing companies today. A recent GBTA study found that 46% of those who travel for work lack a corporate travel safety plan. This gap in preparedness is a significant risk, especially considering that 90% of business travellers would consider declining a trip for certain reasons, with safety or social concerns (40%) topping the list.
As a travel manager, your role is to close this gap by upholding your duty of care, so your team can travel with confidence. This article will explore what that entails, outlining the fundamental pillars of a strong travel risk management programme and showing you how to leverage smart solutions to meet your obligations and provide your people with the protection they deserve.
In the context of corporate travel, your commitment to employee safety and wellbeing is known as travel management duty of care. When those employees are on the road for business, this commitment takes on a new level of complexity.
Duty of care is the legal and ethical obligation of an employer to take all reasonable steps to protect their employees from foreseeable harm, which includes anticipating and mitigating risks related to health and safety during business trips.
From a simple flight delay to a medical emergency abroad or a geopolitical event, the employer is responsible for having a plan in place to support their travelling staff. Failure to do so can have serious consequences, including legal action and reputational damage.
Neglecting travel risk management is a gamble no business can afford to take. A well-defined strategy protects your business from multiple angles:
A strong duty of care programme is built on foresight, communication, and clear protocols.
Before a trip even begins, a thorough risk assessment is essential. This involves evaluating potential threats related to the destination, including:
By understanding these risks, you can brief employees, adjust itineraries, and ensure they have the necessary resources and information to travel comfortably.
When an employee is on the road, having real-time visibility allows you to keep track of your team's whereabouts and communicate with them effectively, ensuring they're informed and reachable at all times. This is crucial for sending emergency notifications, conducting check-ins, and providing ongoing support throughout their trip.
While you can't predict every event, you can prepare for them. To craft a clear, well-rehearsed emergency response plan, be sure to include:
Every incident, no matter how small, is a learning opportunity. A post-trip review allows you to analyse what went right and what went wrong. This data is invaluable for refining policies, updating risk assessments, and making your duty of care programme even stronger for the next trip.
Even with the best intentions, companies face significant hurdles in managing travel risk effectively.
When employees book travel through multiple channels (different airlines, hotels, or booking sites), a company's visibility into who is where and when is severely limited, creating dangerous blind spots. Without a centralised view, you might not know if an employee is in a city affected by a security event or natural disaster, making it difficult to respond quickly in an emergency.
Housing is a significant part of business travel, especially for extended stays. If employees book accommodations that are not vetted for security and quality, they are exposed to unnecessary risks, from fire safety non-compliance to lack of sanitation. This is a common gap in many duty of care programmes.
There's often a misconception that robust safety measures are prohibitively expensive. This can lead to companies opting for the cheapest, not the safest, options. The challenge is finding solutions that are both cost-effective and compliant, ensuring safety isn't sacrificed for the bottom line.
Modern technology is a game-changer for travel risk management, simplifying the complex task of managing traveller safety and security on a global scale.
With a single, centralised dashboard that provides a real-time view of all your travelling employees, you can receive real-time risk alerts for specific locations, monitor the current locations of all your travellers, and communicate directly with employees in a crisis zone.
Technology can automate policy enforcement, ensuring that bookings are always compliant. This can include automated filters for preferred vendors, housing safety ratings, and limitations on travel to high-risk areas.
Predictive analytics can use historical data and current events to forecast potential risks. This allows companies to make proactive decisions, such as rerouting a trip, advising against travel to a specific area, or providing extra security briefings before a trip is booked.
At AltoVita, we understand the unique challenges of managing housing for corporate travellers and offer solutions that prioritise safety, compliance, and employee wellbeing — all while meeting your duty of care standards.
Our platform offers a global network of professionally managed, quality-verified accommodations. This ensures that every stay meets rigorous safety and security standards, eliminating the guesswork and risk associated with unvetted housing options. By only offering pre-approved options, we help you reduce risks from the ground up.
Our powerful AltoInsights dashboard provides centralised reporting and data analytics, giving you unparalleled visibility into travel spend and traveller locations. This is critical for duty of care compliance and meeting ESG goals. It also features an escalation dashboard for real-time incident management. In addition to this, we have integrated with International SOS, providing employees with 24/7 access to medical and security experts. Equipped with real-time location tracking, the International SOS Tracker ensures your team is always within reach for enhanced safety and security.
By providing high-quality, serviced accommodations, AltoVita helps minimise the stress of business travel. This focus on wellbeing contributes directly to your duty of care obligations by ensuring employees are in the best possible state to handle their work and any unforeseen circumstances.
See how other leading organisations have optimised their travel risk management strategies.
Discover how companies across various industries have partnered with AltoVita to reduce travel risk and ensure duty of care compliance through smarter housing management.