How to guard against global employee travel dangers

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.

With business travels picking up again, 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; whether assigned to a Third World city or an offshore drilling rig, 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.