The key to avoiding dodgy situations on business travel

We’ve heard some of the horror stories of business travel going wrong, but rarely do we hear the strategies to avoid these situations.

When travelling on business, a wide range of issues can occur that not only derail the entire objective of the trip but also jeopardise the safety of the employee. Issues such as arrests, injuries, theft, or worse can put employees and businesses in unfamiliar territory, but there are strategies that can be implemented to deal with such a crisis or avoid it altogether.

Rodger Cook, general manager of global security services at World Travel Protection, explained how planning and strong communication are imperative to retaining safe insurance for employees when they embark on their business travels.

It begins with organisations fully understanding the duty of care for their staff, which refers to taking reasonable measures and ensuring one’s actions or inactions do not cause foreseeable harm to another person or, in this case, their employees.

Mr Cook explained the risk factors that organisations must become familiar with while having an understanding of duty of care.

“The business travel piece for us, it’s really focusing on the businesses themselves, and we look at the three key risk factors, which is the individual travel risk profile, the risk profile of the destination they’re travelling to, and then the activity they’re conducting,” said Mr Cook.

“If we can meet and look at those risk factors, we’ll definitely help them mitigate and meet any risks to cover their duty of care requirements.”

As we speak on the risk factor of business travel, it needs to be made clear that these horror stories aren’t as common as people think. Stoking the fears of people embarking on business travel is a pointless expression, as Mr Cook stated.

“You need to be realistic. If you go in there, try and show them that the whole world is going to collapse in on you if you don’t do this, then that’s just disingenuous,” he said.

Instead of being frightened by the worst-case scenarios, deploying simple strategies that heavily rely on in-depth planning can help negate such fears. However, organisations must put the onus on themselves to have that in-depth planning that ensures the safety of their employees.

“It’s always planning, and it’s understanding what assets you’ve got available to you to mitigate or to deal with a situation,” said Mr Cook.

“It’s understanding what assets you’ve got available to you to get you out of a situation. But knowing where your employees are, knowing where they need to be, and having your employees educated on what they need to do should they get into trouble.”

For this to work for employees and businesses, strong lines of communication must intertwine with in-depth planning.

“You need to have that communication, but you need to do that planning before you go, understanding the risk profile of the traveller before they leave, along with the traveller understanding the risks associated with the destination they’re going to, should any risks or anything change,” concluded Mr Cook.

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Rodger Cook, click below:

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.