7 Tips for Your Duty of Care Program
Duty of care refers to the legal responsibility organizations have to protect employees while they are traveling for business purposes. This responsibility also applies to employees who are working remotely or who are handling professional responsibilities on behalf of your organization from some other location.
The Basics of Duty of Care
Duty of care involves doing everything possible to ensure the safety, well-being and comfort of your employees while they are on business trips. It also involves mitigating risks whenever possible. When you consider that approximately 1.3 million business trips are taken every day in the U.S., it’s easy to see why it is so important for employers to take the necessary steps to keep employees safe.
Why You Should Take Duty of Care Seriously
As an employer, you have an obligation to your employees, contractors and remote workers. It is your duty to care for employees anytime they travel for business purposes. If you fail to do your duty of care and your employee becomes injured as a result, he or she can sue you for negligence.
Besides the possible legal ramifications of neglecting your responsibilities to take care of your employees, there are also other ramifications of failing to take your duties seriously. If employees get the sense you do not care about their safety while they are traveling, they are more likely to suffer from poor morale. This, in turn, can lead to a higher turnover rate and make it more difficult for you to hold onto top-performing employees. For these reasons, it’s important to take your duty of care very seriously.
Top Risks Business Travelers Experience
Business travelers face a variety of risks that vary based on the location they’re traveling from and to. Here are some potential risks your employees may face during their upcoming travels:
- Natural disasters (such as hurricanes, hailstorms, earthquakes and tornadoes)
- Political risks (including social upheaval, terrorist attacks and extreme political conflicts)
- Accidents (such as road traffic accidents and air collisions)
- Health risks (such as travel-related sicknesses, food poisoning and the common flu)
- Cultural risks (such as language barriers, unfamiliar customs and inability to communicate when there is an emergency)
- Harassment and theft (such as pickpocketing, kidnapping, sexual harassment and assault)
It is important to carefully assess potential risks your employees may face and come up with ways to mitigate those risks. Creating a comprehensive duty of care program is a huge step in the right direction.
Tips for Your Duty of Care Program
If you’re wondering how to fulfill your duty to care for your employees while they’re away on business trips, the first step is to draft an official program outlining your duties of care. Here are seven tips for things to consider when creating such a program.
1. Assess the Risk
You can’t effectively protect your employees from risk until you know what risks they are likely to face during their travels. Rocketrip has released a new widget that helps companies assess risk in a particular area before sending employees there.
The widget includes details about COVID testing requirements, natural disasters, breaking news, etc. Employers are welcome to use this tool as part of their duty of care program to assess the risk in a particular area and make travel adjustments as necessary to keep employees safe.
2. Understand Your Traveler
The more you understand about your traveler, the easier it will be to protect him or her from risky conditions. For example, if your traveler suffers from a known health condition, you may wish to book a hotel close to a hospital. If your traveler needs special care for his or her mental health while traveling, you can take steps to ensure that care needs are met during business trips.
3. Have a Plan B
Even the most well-designed duty of care travel plans can quickly be thwarted by unforeseeable events. Always have a plan B and even a plan C for employee travel arrangements. Make your employee aware of the location of the nearest evacuation point or embassy in cases of emergency.
4. Educate Employees About Travel Policies
Many employees have no idea what’s included in their employer’s travel policy. Before sending employees anywhere for business purposes, make sure they all have copies of your travel policies and are well-versed in what those policies say.
5. Set Up Travel Alerts and Obtain Contact Information
Set up travel alerts to inform you if anything goes wrong with your employee’s travel plans. You should also obtain the contact information for each traveling employee’s next of kin as well as any business partners or clients they plan to meet during their trip. If you are unable to contact your employee and are concerned for any reason, you can reach out to any contacts they were supposed to meet with to determine whether something has happened.
6. Keep an Eye on Your Travelers
Consider having your traveling employees download a traveler tracking application so you can see where they are at any given time. Such trackers allow you to see where employees are going in real time and communicate with them if something goes wrong.
7. Provide Post-Trip Health Checkups
As part of your duty of care responsibilities, you may want to provide a post-trip health checkup for employees. This is especially important for employees who have traveled to third-world countries or areas with known viral outbreaks. This step will not only protect your employee and give them access to the health care they need, but it will also protect the rest of your staff from potential exposure as well.
Book With a Travel Provider That Takes Duty of Care Seriously
When you care about your employees, you take steps to ensure their safety when they’re traveling on behalf of your business. If you want to make your duty of care responsibilities easier, book your travels with a company that’s committed to safety. Rocketrip has a three-pronged initiative that includes safety as one of its key pillars. We also control travel costs to deliver 20% average savings to organizations on their corporate travel costs. Contact us to find out how to boost employee safety and save more on your travels today.
