Upholding Duty of Care in Corporate Travel: Managing Risk and Protecting Employees

Businesses must protect their employees' well-being both in and out of the office. To do this, they create duty of care policies that address physical and emotional health, risk mitigation, and response actions. In offices, this includes managing fire safety, health emergencies, bullying, and stress, with specific procedures like fire evacuation plans.

However, duty of care extends beyond the bounds of the office. When employees travel for work, it is paramount that the employer's commitment to their safety is maintained. This can be challenging, as external risks can be more complex and unpredictable. From geopolitical instability to health crises, transport disruptions, and unfamiliar environments, ensuring the safety of travelling staff requires a more dynamic, proactive approach.

At Club Travel Corporate, we understand these challenges and have years of experience in tackling them head-on. Read on or get in touch to discover how we help organisations like yours uphold their duty of care - keeping employees safe on the move and keeping you informed every step of the way.

The Growing Importance of Duty of Care in Business Travel

As duty of care, traveller security, and risk management continue to grow in importance for employers, so too does the expectation among employees to feel safe and supported while travelling for work. Today’s business travellers want reassurance that if something goes wrong, their company will act swiftly and effectively to assist them. However, with the unpredictable nature of travel, ensuring complete preparedness can be a daunting task for any organisation. From minor inconveniences to serious emergencies, a wide range of risks must be considered, including:

• Travel disruptions, including missing a flight or flights being cancelled
• Extreme weather events or natural disasters
• Civil unrest
• Falling ill or sustaining an injury while on a work trip

Unfortunately, not all risks can be avoided. To minimise their impact, proactive planning is crucial. This begins with foreseeing potential risks and having clear response protocols in place to ensure smoother handling of incidents and greater confidence while travelling for staff. The introduction of a robust duty of care framework can be beneficial for all stakeholders involved too. It helps to shield the company from potential legal and reputational risks, while also reinforcing their commitment to their staff’s well-being. However, developing such a framework can be time-consuming, requiring careful consideration of a wide range of scenarios and contingencies.

That’s where Club Travel comes in. We work alongside your business to simplify the process, offering expert guidance and support every step of the way.

24/7 Comprehensive Travel Assistance

We understand that travel disruptions can happen anytime. That's why we offer round-the-clock support from our in-house experts, ensuring travellers receive immediate and consistent help, no matter where they are. Our strong partnerships with key suppliers allow us to quickly resolve issues, reducing stress and keeping business travel on track.

Enhancing Duty of Care with Intelligent Travel Monitoring 

To support our clients in meeting their duty of care obligations, Club Travel developed TravelWatch - a proprietary risk management and traveller tracking system built with safety at its core. Leveraging dynamic map data and an intuitive interface, TravelWatch allows you to monitor the real-time location of your business travellers with ease. The platform generates comprehensive reports that highlight potential risks and ensure your team is prepared to respond effectively. These reports are securely accessible online and available in multiple formats, including bar charts, graphs, and interactive maps. By placing traveller safety and visibility at the forefront of every journey, TravelWatch empowers your organisation to make informed decisions and act quickly when it matters most.

To discover how TravelWatch can elevate your travel risk management strategy, request a demo with our team today.

Tracking, Reporting, and Managing Travel Risks 

As previously outlined, Club Travel can generate a suite of standard security and risk management reports which can be easily accessed and analysed. These tools offer greater visibility and control over corporate travel by helping you to track who is travelling, where they are, and when.

• The Who’s Where? report enables managers to quickly and easily identify which staff members are travelling and where they are through a series of interactive maps, providing them with the ability to keep track of business operations from a top-level view quickly.
• The Traveller Listing report works in tandem with the Who’s Where report to provide an alternative way of searching for travelling staff members. Filters can be applied to search by destination, date, traveller name, city, region, flight number, airlines, hotel chain and airport.
• The Passengers on a Flight and Guests in a Hotel reports allow managers to quickly identify which employees are on specific flights or staying at particular hotels. These tools are invaluable for corporate risk management, as they help to streamline communication and support when it matters most.

Together, these reporting tools are part of a broader commitment to helping businesses uphold their duty of care obligations, empowering them to travel smarter, safer, and with confidence.

In Conclusion

We understand how difficult it can be to enforce the level of duty of care expected of businesses when employees are out of the office, travelling for work. That’s why we aim to simplify the process of travel risk management through tailored solutions that provide greater visibility, faster response, and better control – all while saving you time and reducing costs.

Get in touch with our team today to learn how we can support your duty of care strategy and keep your travellers safe, wherever business takes them.