As multinationals further their reach and small companies are increasingly global, the workforce has become more internationally mobile. While an expanded marketplace clearly has its benefits, doing business in a multitude of countries can present challenges as unique and as numerous as the cultures of the world, especially with the uncertainty associated with the pandemic.
One important area of risk to consider is the safety of employees who are travelling on behalf of the company.
Business Travellers at Risk
Whether heading to a sales call or a week-long conference; or whether assigned to a Third World city, today’s travelling employees face unprecedented and growing dangers. Threats can come not only from pickpockets but from pipe bombs, not only from a foreign “bug” but from a major global pandemic that impedes access to a home country.
Employers have a “duty of care” obligation to keep employees safe and healthy at work — including protecting them from travel risks and protecting the company from associated liabilities. Here are some facts about the evolving global travel risks and how to help prepare your employees:
Evolving Global Travel Risks
Many people think of travel risks as lost luggage, cancelled flights or property stolen out of a rental car. While those incidents are certainly upsetting and troublesome, they’re just some of the myriad hazards that business travellers face today.
- Petty theft, travel scams — and potential cybercrime — Business travellers have long been targeted by local criminals. When in a strange land, using an unfamiliar language and currency (and likely jet-lagged and in a different time zone), and focusing on business, even the savviest traveller can fall victim.
Now, with the rapid growth in the incidence and sophistication of international cybercrime, what was once the inconvenience of a stolen item can now lead to disastrous vulnerability. The security of an employee’s personal information, as well as the entire company’s network, can suffer as a result of a company laptop or device in the wrong hands.
- Illness and accidents — People get sick and accidents happen. An employee might have a heart attack or get hurt in a car accident. More people are travelling to parts of the world where infectious diseases are a serious danger, or in the current context, to countries that are experiencing high COVID-19 infection rates. The potentially devastating consequences from any medical incident can be compounded by inadequate local medical treatment facilities in some less developed locations.
- Terrorism and civil unrest — Political and social changes across the globe create real danger for business travellers. Even if not physically affected by a violent act, employees may experience negative fallout and incur expenses related to the crisis. This threat is evolving and is no longer limited to high-risk countries.
- Natural disasters — Major adverse weather and natural events (such as earthquakes, wildfires and floods) are occurring more frequently around the globe and often without enough warning to evacuate employees ahead of time.
How to Guard Against Employee Travel Dangers
The ways to mitigate travel risks are: prepare; proactively inform; provide accessibility — and carefully consider who you partner with.
- Ensure employees equip themselves with critical pre-travel information — The more that’s understood about a destination (like local area intelligence, market practices and regulations, real-time health and security risks, and potential weather events), the greater the ability to properly plan and make informed decisions.
- Remind employees to proactively stay in touch with their team and management — It’s essential for business travellers and those back in the office to stay in close contact with each other. Whether alerting the employee to simple itinerary changes or keeping risk managers and HR in the loop during a dire foreign catastrophe, a communication plan is critical.
- Provide emergency accessibility — When your employee is in trouble in a different culture and time zone, a quick and knowledgeable response is vital. Have resources in place to properly and immediately assess and address health crises, security issues, or other potentially dangerous situations.
- Partner with an insurance company that is as global as your employees are — If you’re doing business internationally, your insurance partner should be:
- A global entity that can provide locally compliant, consistent travel insurance protection all over the world.
- A company that can quickly identify and mitigate area-specific risks.
- An insurer that can customise a travel insurance policy for your specific protection needs and that offers Out-of-Country Medical benefits and other inconvenience benefits like a trip interruption, trip delay, and lost baggage.
- A true partner with the expertise and resources to help minimise your employee travel liabilities.
Chubb combines the ability to write policies in 232 countries and territories with tools like: Worldview™ and Multinational Research Tool to facilitate information gathering; an online travel assistance portal to provide up-to-the-minute information, communication, local and location alerts; and 24/7 Emergency Assistance that offers a network of third party resources around the globe.
Wherever your employees travel for you, we’ll help ensure they have the proper protection in place — and that your company has what it needs to do business around the globe.
As business travel resumes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recommend protecting your employees and your company by evaluating the risks, proceeding with caution, and planning with care. Learn more about planning a safe return to business travel.
Disclaimer - This content is brought to you by Chubb Insurance Malaysia Berhad, Registration No. 197001000564 (9827-A) (“Chubb”) as a convenience to readers and is not intended to constitute advice or recommendations upon which a reader may rely. Any references to insurance cover are general in nature only and may not suit your particular circumstances. Chubb does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs and any insurance cover referred to is subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions set out in the relevant policy wording. Please obtain and read carefully the relevant insurance policy before deciding to acquire any insurance product. A policy wording can be obtained at www.chubb.com/my, through your broker or by contacting any of the Chubb offices or Chubb agents. Chubb makes no warranty or guarantee about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of this content. It is the responsibility of the reader to evaluate the quality and accuracy of material herein.
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