Darryl McGarvey, Director, Travel Partnerships at Business Travel Show Europe exhibitor SAP Concur.
Since the pandemic, employees are now more conscious than ever when it comes to health and safety on business trips, and they expect their organisation to take this seriously. This means that duty of care has become a crucial part of any business travel programme.
But what exactly is duty of care? Put simply, duty of care is an organisation’s legal obligation to protect employees from harm. For instance, when employees travel for work, it’s critical that businesses take all reasonable measures to ensure that people remain safe on the road.
Why does Duty of Care matter?
First and foremost, keeping employees out of harm’s way is the right thing to do. When organisations are able to create a safe environment, it helps foster employee trust, loyalty, and retention.
Beyond this, duty of care can have benefits for the business as well. Predicting risk, taking preventative measures, and responding quickly to crises helps maintain business continuity, which is a critical corporate goal. Business travel is extremely important to many businesses of all different sizes, so ensuring it is happening safely is vital to its success.
It’s also a legal requirement that’s recognised and enforced around the world. Failure to provide duty of care can land a company in legal trouble. It is therefore imperative that businesses take this seriously, especially when it comes to employees travelling for business.
Making Duty of Care a success
Duty of care in business travel can be difficult to manage in this day and age. The rise of employees booking outside of the corporate travel system through websites they use in their personal lives creates issues. It makes it harder to capture complete reservation data, know where business travellers are, stay connected, and get employees home or help quickly should an emergency arise.
The point is, understanding and planning for unforeseen risks is a big part of duty of care. This goes for everything from forgotten medication, lost passport, cancelled flights to severe weather to political unrest in a foreign country. One example is the latest rail strikes we are experiencing across the country, which have the potential to make an employee’s trip extremely difficult.
There is of course a risk attached to anything in life and it is impossible to completely eliminate travel-related risks. However, it is possible to minimise risk by preparing for the unexpected and putting as many protections in place as possible. A big part of this comes from having the tools, partners, and data necessary to provide good duty of care.
One example of a tool that can help navigate this difficult situation and help keep employees aware of travel disruption is TripLink. It provides you with the travel plan and information you need to support employees on the road. This means if there is any adjustment or other emergency, it is possible find the employee, reach them, and if necessary, retrieve them.
Safer business travel
It’s no surprise that the pandemic influenced business travel and traveller confidence. Now that business travel has returned, employee safety has become a greater focus for organisations, and duty of care considerations are more important than ever before.
With this in mind, it’s essential for businesses to manage duty of care responsibilities efficiently. Using outsourced tools and putting pre-trip solutions in place will ensure that employees can not only travel safely, but also have the confidence to do so.
SAP Concur is exhibiting at Business Travel Show Europe from 28-29 June 2023 at ExCeL London. Passes are free for EAs, PAs and office administrators.
