Corporate organizations are constantly under pressure, especially after COVID-19, to fulfill their duty of care obligations during corporate travel trips. They are taking all measures to ensure the safety and well-being of their employees throughout the journey. The global political situation is quite tense, hence a comprehensive travel risk management policy is much needed. It helps an organization adapt to the regularly changing conditions and ensures employee safety with relevant travel risk management (TRM) solutions.
TRM involves the assessment of the probable impact of unexpected events while seamlessly communicating with traveling employees about emerging situations and existing risks. Additionally, there is a growing need to educate employees about security precautions and emergency response protocols. Hence, travel risk management becomes an indispensable part of the corporate travel management.
Travel risk meaning
In general, travel is prone to unforeseen situations. These situations can result in conditions that may hamper the trip which is known as travel risks. Some of the most common travel risks include pandemic, accidents, flight cancelations and more.
What is business travel risk management?
Travel risk management is rapidly gaining significance across organizations because of the rise in terror attacks, natural calamities, and health safety risks during the pandemic. Corporate travel risk management is a multi-faceted, proactive, and persistent approach to securing the workforce from travel risks.
Strategies of corporate travel risk management during business travel cover three critical aspects:
- Prevention: Real-time travel alerts help prevent travel risks, like natural calamities.
- Monitoring: Security monitoring is necessary to assess business travel destinations for risks.
- Responding: TRM involves responding swiftly to the needs of business travelers. These may include organizing healthcare support and providing contact persons at different locations.
Travel risk management solutions enable organizations to prepare for untoward incidents and also help organizations enhance their potential to respond to an emergency. Effective TRM strategies make employees feel secure because of an employer’s support during business trips.
Why do companies need corporate travel risk management plan?
Business travel is an integral part of any organization preventing the traveling employee from the following risks:
1. Epidemics: Travelers can face several hurdles during epidemic outbreaks
2. Natural Catastrophes: Earthquakes, storms, floods, and tsunamis can impact the safety of business travelers
3. Accidents: Road accidents may cause injuries leading to hospitalization in foreign locations
4. Health Problems: Business travelers face risks of acute or chronic illnesses during business trips
5. Travel Regulatory Issues: Visa and other travel regulatory issues can cause hardships to business travelers
6. Wars: It is a severe risk to employees traveling to countries at war
7. Terrorist Activities: Terrorism is a significant threat to the safety of business travelers
8. Social Unrest: Strikes and riots can hamper the safety of business travelers
9. Political Instability: Closure of airports and airspace in response to political upheaval
A travel risk management plan helps companies protect employees from multiple travel risks. It involves proactive policies to prepare for threats that are beyond our control. It also helps companies prepare for unexpected events by establishing robust communication channels to support employees in faraway places. Companies can use TRM by rerouting or postponing travel to prevent possible risks to particular locations.
Must Read: How To Enhance Business Continuity With Travel Risk Assessment
Benefits of a robust TRM program
A robust and comprehensive travel risk management program focuses on protecting the most vital asset of any organization, the employees. Hence, here are some of the primary benefits of having a sound TRM program:
- The employees can get valuable tips and guidance before traveling to a particular destination.
- The TRM staff is well-equipped to handle unexpected events.
- Touring employees gain seamless access to real-time alerts that help in handling emergencies.
- Travel risk management providers enable business travelers to enjoy stress-free business trips.
- They offer comprehensive risk management support before and during the travel.
- Companies can make their employees feel confident that their employer is supporting and looking after their well-being, even when they are away from the office.
- A robust TRM program helps companies fulfill their duty of care obligations by ensuring the safety of their traveling employees.
Educating employees is a vital part of TRM
Communicating the vital aspects of security strategies to employees and educating them about the steps during an unforeseen event is crucial for successfully implementing travel risk management policies. They must be aware of the likely health and travel risks and trained to use different security protocols and mechanisms. This will improve their preparedness in dealing with unexpected situations while traveling to unfamiliar locations.
Pre-travel meetings are essential to explain travel and staying arrangements apart from country-specific information like government prohibitions and other cultural aspects. Companies must adopt a proactive approach by involving employees in pre-travel instructions to benefit from travel risk management.
Knowledge is vital, and training employees about risk management facilities before proceeding on a business trip is essential. There is no one-size-fits-all travel risk management solution. The involvement of employees in preparing a TRM plan is necessary for a custom risk management strategy.
How does a travel risk management company provide support?
A TRM company helps organizations adopt a comprehensive approach to the travel safety of employees. They educate employees and make them feel confident that they can mitigate and tackle travel-related risks with access to helpful safety resources. TRM company offers the following measures to counter travel risks:
1. Health protection
Creating health safety guides with valuable tips on preventing water-borne diseases or food poisoning. The guidelines may include suggestions to avoid street food and to drink only packaged water to stay away from infections. Employees can also receive health safety alerts specific to their travel destinations.
2. Natural calamities
Travel safety management companies seamlessly monitor global weather and share information about the probability of tornadoes, thunderstorms, and other natural disasters. These help employees avoid travel to the location and consider alternative plans.
3. Real-time travel alerts
Government travel advisories and travel alerts are crucial with ever-changing political and health scenarios. Information about rerouting or rescheduling flights is necessary for employees. Travel safety management solutions providers collect and share information about ongoing and emerging situations to keep the employees updated.
Professional TRM services can help organizations draft custom strategies to manage travel-related risks for their employees. These providers take care of planning and implementation and facilitate automation of several processes to help your employees plan, travel, stay, and return safely from business trips. Further, they use advanced online platforms like Paxes to use best duty of care and device travel policies.
TRM is necessary for the efficient management of business trips and helping the employees conduct safe travel. Corporates should maintain a comprehensive course of action during an emergency on business trip. This will not only help them preserve a sound duty of care but also increase trust of an employee on the organization.
Travel Risk Management FAQs
Why is travel risk management important?
Travel risk management is important as it assesses the risks one can face during a tour. The risks can go from missing a flight to falling sick or getting stuck at a place. TRM helps the employees to be prepared for such circumstances.
Why is educating employees about TRM necessary?
The employees should be well aware of the steps to be taken in a situation of health and travel risks. They should also be well informed about the countries/cities
What are the benefits of the TRM program?
It helps to have a successful and stress-free business tour. The staff of the TRM team is efficiently equipped to handle risky situations. It also helps in maintaining the safety and security of employees.
What does a TRM plan includes?
A TRM plan covers the situations like epidemics, natural catastrophes, health problems, accidents, terrorist activities, social unrest, wars, and travel regulatory issues.
How do you manage risk in the travel industry?
1. Conduct a thorough risk assessment.
2. Develop a comprehensive risk management plan.
3. Implement safety measures and protocols.
4. Train employees on risk management and emergency procedures.
5. Stay up-to-date on travel advisories and warnings.
6. Maintain communication with travelers and provide resources for them to stay safe.
What are some travel risk examples?
Health risks, security threats, natural disasters, transportation delays, and cultural differences.
What are top travel risk management companies?
International SOS, Global Rescue, WorldAware, On Call International, and Drum Cussac are top travel risk management companies.
