Managing corporate travel risks

Tracy Reinhold at Everbridge explains why companies urgently need a travel risk management programme

 

An element of caution now accompanies many business trips. It’s not about the dangers of Covid-19 any longer, but the pandemic did change how executives plan their travels, what they do when they are overseas and any risks they may face.

 

Unfortunately, it seems that while they can build in more ‘downtime’, they don’t believe their organisations are concerned enough about their safety when they are travelling on its behalf. 

 

A year-long study was carried out by Everbridge in 2023 with 200 global C-Suite executives. 79% said that they thought their employers had not put in place adequate measures to safeguard travellers. Disappointingly, 81% believe their organisation needs to improve the way its travel risk management programme is evaluated and reviewed. 

 

The results of the study uncomfortably butt up against what is expected of organisations as defined by the Travel Risk Management Standard ISO 31030. In fact, only 24% of respondents could confirm that their firms had a solid program in place.   

 

A world of risk

The main risks posed to business travellers now, depending on their destination, include severe weather events and natural disasters, which are happening frequently because of changes in the climate. But in addition, the conflict in Ukraine, and the escalation of tension in the Middle East, has resulted in uncertainty and danger.

 

At the same time, many countries are struggling with the cost of living crisis and the impact of inflation, which is also prompting demonstrations of civil unrest.  

 

In last year’s Global Risks Report, the World Economic Forum commented: “The world is facing a set of risks that feel both wholly new and eerily familiar.” While this should create a sense of urgency amongst companies whose employees travel, instead compliance with the policies, processes and procedures that could guard against travel risk is deficient. One of the keys to addressing this is better communication. 

 

 Many organisations do try to comply with the ISO 31030 guidelines, however, in the Everbridge survey only 19% of the respondents felt that policies and procedures had been effectively communicated and understood. The risk, in this situation, is that business travellers will act outside established policies and put themselves, and their firms, in danger. 

 

Communicate across silos

It’s not always easy to make sure all stakeholders are engaged with policies and procedures, or to compose, review and update those policies properly. But it’s even harder if employees are working in silos. Just over a third (36%) of respondents to the study felt that their Travel Risk Management policies were aligned with other organisational policies. This issue can be addressed if travel managers, HR managers and those responsible for insurance policies, work together. 

 

A company we are now working with experienced ten different occasions over three months where employees became ill while on business trips to the same overseas destination. The cause was contaminated water. Each one resulted in an insurance claim, but instead of using the claims data to identify the problem and communicate the risk, the company kept dispatching its employees to the same place. 

 

By working across departments, implementing better use of data and improving communications companies can transform their approach to travel risk and build greater resilience into their systems.  ISO 31030 should be used as a barometer because it removes the guesswork when it comes to policies, processes and procedures, however organisations still have a duty of care to ensure they are thinking ahead on behalf of their employees.  

 

Technology frameworks

One approach is using a dedicated platform or a technology-based framework that can embed travel risk management across the company. This delivers a full suite of tools including e-learning and videos through to implementing triggers that can authorise an agreed set of procedures when employees are in danger. 

 

Being digital, it automatically makes companies compliant with the seven key elements of the ISO 31030 standard: understanding risk context; managing travel risk effectively; travel risk assessment and treatment, incident response; specialist support; communication and consultation; and program monitoring and review.  

 

The technology platform is fed by multiple intelligence sources so it can deliver a 360-degree view of the risks that business travellers face. It can provide, for example, intelligence on political, economic, commercial and security risks, and evaluate likely hazards in a specific location or country. It also gives organisations and their employees pre-trip health and safety advice.

 

While travelling, if an employee is faced with danger, the technology will empower operators and teams with the appropriate information to make better decisions and coordinate with responders, interact with employees in real-time and deploy teams to provide on the ground support and return the employee to safety. 

 

The importance of communication

The most fundamental aspect of managing travel risk is communication. This is what lies at the centre of the technological support, allowing travel risk policies to work in tandem with wider organisational governance, and bring clarity to the organisation’s risk profile.

 

The risks for business travellers are unlikely to diminish soon, which means it is more important than ever to put in place compliant travel risk management policies as soon as possible.  

 

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Tracy Reinhold is Chief Security Officer at Everbridge

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com