Who’s responsible for your safety when you’re on a business trip?

Business as usual has been flipped on its head in 2020. What was for many companies second nature—sending employees across country and continent to meet with clients and colleagues, sign new business and share knowledge—has become a more measured and complex exercise. Business trips are being classified as essential or non-essential, travel budgets have been re-evaluated, and duty of care is front and centre. While duty of care has always been a priority, a company’s actions to manage traveller risk more often occurred behind the scenes. That has changed over the course of this year with employees taking a more active role in their personal health and wellbeing and calling for greater policy transparency and reassurance of their safety. Even before COVID-19, travel risks were growing increasingly difficult to predict. All it takes is a lost passport, misunderstanding with local authorities or unforeseen natural disaster to derail a perfectly planned business trip. Add a pandemic and ever-shifting travel restrictions and it becomes evident why some businesses are grappling with their heightened duty of care obligations. It’s important that as small businesses resume their business travel programmes in 2021, they thoroughly reassess the processes, suppliers, tools and resources they have in place to help employees travel safely and seamlessly. However, while much of this responsibility naturally falls on the company, the traveller also carries responsibility and must act in accordance with the duty of care policy. Oz Desai, GM Corporate Traveller, sheds some light on where the line lies between an…

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