Corporate travel safety 2024

When your employees are on the road for a business trip, you’re responsible for their safety and well-being. It’s the socially responsible thing to do. This is why duty of care is one of the most crucial pieces of the corporate travel puzzle.

Given the increase in business travel, paired with the consequences of the pandemic, duty of care is pulling more weight among global companies. A thorough duty of care policy gives travel managers greater visibility into their employees’ location, well-being, and offers employees a stress-free business trip for optimum productivity.

If you’re searching for a duty of care provider, this article breaks down every resource you need for your quest. Let’s get started.

What does duty of care mean?

Duty of care is a part of an employer’s legal and moral obligations to safeguard all employees’ physical and mental well-being when they travel on the company’s behalf.

Think of your duty of care policy as an extension of a travel risk management program, where you identify and assess possible threats to the safety and health of an employee and set preparatory measures to protect your team.

However, it’s crucial to note that a duty of care policy is concerned primarily with the legal and moral obligations to protect employees while risk management puts this obligation into action.

Services offered by all duty of care companies

Planning for employee safety can be challenging. You can miss out on crucial details without expert guidance. This is where duty of care companies can come to your aid. This type of company can effectively manage risk assessment and travel readiness to help fulfill your company’s duty towards employees.

Let’s look at the services covered by companies offering duty of care solutions:

Pre-booking

Conducting a thorough risk assessment: first, duty of care companies will identify the risks involved in a trip. These include health risks and hazards, natural disasters, personal injury, pickpocketing, road safety, threats of diseases and infections, and more.

Knowing your travelers: next, the company will gather enough information about your employees. This will include their contact details, health records, and any health issues that can potentially affect them during the trip.

Providing in-depth information: based on the previous two analyses, you will get in-depth information about the destination—including emergency contact numbers, travel itineraries, location reports, and other alerts.

During Travel

Constant support: The business travel management team will be present round-the-clock to help your employees in case of an emergency.

Tracking software: Duty of care companies use their tracking apps or rely on a third party integration to track traveling employees at all times.

Post-travel

Insightful reporting: Duty of care companies will conduct a survey to gather feedback from your employees so you can easily detect any loopholes in your travel security procedures and optimize your travel processes for the future.

Top features to look for in a duty of care company

Now you know the essential services that a duty of care company can provide. Still, choosing the best one among countless options is downright confusing. Check out these features to consider while picking your duty of care solution.

Covers pre-booking, during travel, and post-travel services

Offers 24/7 support to travelers over calls and messages

Provides a thorough report on the location and its ongoing situation

Conveys regular updates about the location to travelers

Uses a tracking software to track the travelers at all times

Employs powerful tools to gain real-time insights into traveler activities and the location

An ideal duty of care solution should give you a complete view of any itinerary to detect and dissolve any threats before they become full-fledged risks. It’s important as a breach of duty of care could land your employees, and your business, in an extremely tough situation.

5 Best-fit duty of care companies for business travel

A well-designed duty of care program allows you to protect your traveling employees and win their trust for future travel. With the right duty of care solution, you can minimize the hassle of planning the right itinerary.

Let’s look at five of the top companies that offer the solutions you’ll need.

1. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is a feature-packed travel management software that enables organizations and travel managers to fulfill their duty of care goals.

Backed by a 7-star customer support team, TravelPerk offers a massive inventory and complete flexibility for travel bookings. On top of its best-in-class functionality, the platform also empowers companies to protect their traveling employees with a strong duty of care policy.

TravelPerk’s main USPs:

Full-scale solution: TravelPerk lets you create, modify, and manage your itineraries from start to finish, from a single platform. Employees can get real-time alerts about bookings before the trip, while travel managers can track employee movement 24/7 during the trip.

Powerful integration: TravelPerk’s integrated partnership with International SOS and Northcott Global Solutions makes its duty of care solutions even more impactful. This partnership includes access to 5000+ medical experts, 24/7 chat and direct call support, educational courses, and planning assistance.

360-degree view: Since travel managers can track employee movements at all times, companies can deliver real-time help in emergencies and safeguard their employees’ well-being.

On-demand trip information: Travelperk delivers travel requirements and alerts on things that may affect your upcoming or ongoing trips. Travel managers also get access to maps to monitor who's traveling where. This is also available on TravelPerk’s API, for businesses that want to create custom solutions.

Flexibility: Get the ability to cancel for any reason and get 80% of your money back. Get access to a 24/7 support team to help you do this.

TravelPerk’s duty of care solution enables you to look after your traveling employees with round-the-clock support, regular employee tracking, and end-to-end services.

PRICING: free plan, Premium at €15/trip, Pro at €25

Book, organize and control your business travel, all in one place.

2. Northcott Global Solutions

Northcott Global Solutions (NGS) is among the leading duty of care companies and a global service provider for corporate travel management, remote logistics, and emergency response. NGS delivers fast and effective duty of care solutions to tackle any crisis and take care of employees’ interests.

Mains USPs according to NGS:

Contingency planning: strategizing tailored solutions for any expected and unexpected emergencies during a trip.

Continuous tracking: non-stop tracking of employee movement using GPRS/GSM/GPS/satellite integrated platforms.

Quick emergency response: swift and cost-effective emergency response—including in-country assistance, evacuation, and relocation—within 24 hours anywhere in the world.

eLearning course: informs employees about possible solutions through its accredited eLearning course on travel protection.

NGS is a trusted name in the travel risk management industry with over 40 years of experience. The company can strengthen your duty of care policy, especially for international business travelers.

PRICING: You’ll have to get in touch with their team for pricing plans. It’s worth noting Northcott Global Solutions integrates with TravelPerk.

3. Safeture

Safeture is a smart tool for employee safety management, equipped with features to identify and eliminate risks in business travel. The product is available as a web portal and a mobile app to offer convenient access to administrators and employees.

Mains USPs according to Safeture:

Security overview: brings you a Risk Map to pinpoint potential threats for a trip and select a region to communicate with all employees within that region.

Risk intelligence: collects and analyzes data to deliver alerts about high-risks areas, risk level, and category in any location.

Manage travel data: integrate any travel management company’s platform with Safeture to centrally view and store travel data.

Reliable communication: communicate with your employees regardless of their internet connectivity.

With data management and eLearning facilities, Safeture is a complete solution to deliver on your duty of care initiatives.

PRICING: You’ll have to get in touch for tailored pricing plans. Safeture also integrates with TravelPerk.

4. Riskline

Riskline is a travel risk intelligence solution empowering companies to make risk-informed business decisions and meet their legal responsibility. The tool assesses risks using its proprietary technology across countries and regions to provide accurate alerts and proactive solutions.

Mains USPs according to Riskline:

Safety reports: updated and in-depth safety reports from the street level for over 260 cities worldwide.

Pre-trip advisories: extensive reports, advising human resources about potential risks in their destination.

Expert consultations: connect with qualified risk management professionals to plan and prepare for business trips.

Travel check widget: keep all risk-related information handy in your phone with Riskline’s TravelCheck widget.

Riskline is an advanced travel risk management and intelligence tool to implement your travel policies and duty of care obligations.

PRICING: Is unavailable publically, you’ll need to get in touch to find out more. Riskline integrates with TravelPerk.

5. International SOS

International SOS is an emergency solution provider with over 100,000 accredited providers and 6000+ medical professionals. The company delivers tailored services to cater to the specific travel risk management program and duty of care needs for every organization.

Mains USPs according to International SOS:

Sustainable solutions: meet sustainability commitments through careful strategies as per the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.

Layered threat monitoring: real-time updates on employees present anywhere near an emergency or crisis and 24/7 on-ground care providers.

Global infrastructure: truly global support with its human resources spread across the world in the form of a Global Assistance Network.

Effective communication: interact with any employees in distress or danger via International SOS’ Tracker.

International SOS is a community-driven service provider with multiple features packed in a mobile app and browser-based platform to manage risks seamlessly.

PRICING: Varied pricing depending on travel locations and selected plan. International SOS integrates with TravelPerk.

Effectively plan your duty of care program

Duty of care is more than a nice-to-have for global organizations. Employers have to develop an integrated risk assessment and management strategy to fulfill their duty of care responsibilities and protect employee well-being at all times.

Choosing a duty of care software or service provider can simplify the strategizing and implementation process. With a tool like TravelPerk, you have all the duty of care means to make informed decisions, reduce administrative work, and minimize risk for employee travel. Get in touch today to learn more about the solutions.

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