By: Lise Levesque, Senior Crisis Program Manager
As any travel manager can tell you: “the best laid plans.” In other words, even the most carefully made corporate travel plans can–and do–go wrong.
In a best-case scenario, plans change for simple logistical reasons like the weather or shifting business needs. In more serious situations, travelers may experience health or security issues that disrupt trips or require emergency support.
In any case, travel-related incidents are costly. Rebooking flights or extending hotel stays can quickly increase expenses. More serious incidents involving medical care or legal support can escalate costs into the tens of thousands of dollars or more.
As corporate travel volumes bounce back post-pandemic and grow beyond past precedents, many travel managers are holding the lessons of the pandemic top of mind. As all of us in the business travel space have learned, the question isn’t whether an incident will happen while your employees are traveling–the question is only “when.”
We’ve started to see that business travel and security managers taking a proactive approach to travel risk management programs are starting to see a return that goes far beyond duty of care. With the right tools and tactics, these business leaders are achieving significant cost savings, from lowered insurance premiums to avoided incident expenses.
Taking duty of care seriously reduces employee attrition
First and foremost, companies and their corporate travel and security programs have an ethical duty to safeguard their travelers from harm. Fortunately, it appears most firms are taking this obligation to heart: in one survey, 76% of travelers said they think their employer treats traveler health, safety, and security as a priority and 68% say their organization has a travel risk management policy.
When employees see and experience the measures being taken to protect their personal well-being, that translates to the kind of trust that boosts morale, retention, and your business reputation. In other words, an investment in your travel risk management program is an investment in your top-performing talent and avoids costly employee turnover.
Mitigating disruption improves business continuity
Choosing not to plan for common travel disruptions can feel like a savings in the moment, but it often leads to far greater operational headaches and costs down the road.
Take, for example, the case of a firm who Advito helped unlock the benefits of pre-departure destination information for their travelers. With access to information regarding things as simple as local laws, the safest forms of transit, and best practices for navigating the locale, travelers were better prepared and less likely to encounter avoidable business travel disruptions that could cost the company untold amounts in lost business.
The best prepared companies cost insurance companies the least
If you’ve ever been rewarded a “safe driver” discount by your car insurance provider, then you understand this concept already.
Now imagine the potential corporate travel cost savings when that same principle is applied across a multinational firm of 50,000 employees or more, where you’re managing some 25,000 trips per year. If even 80% of traveling employes are taking simple measures like:
- Downloading your traveler safety app(s) of choice
- Booking through approved channels so a record of their itineraries and costs are always transparent and accessible
- Downloading destination information prior to traveling.
You could be mitigating travel-related risk to the tune of millions of dollars, all while cultivating a cared for, more mindful workforce of business travelers who know better how to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.
Build a world-class travel risk management program
The first step to creating a travel risk management program that saves money and protects lives is to assess your current state of preparedness. At Advito, we’ve developed a comprehensive Travel Security Program Assessment, which examines eleven key areas of an effective program and provides recommendations to bring your organization into compliance with the ISO 31030 guidance for travel risk management. To speak with the experts about your business travel risk management goals, reach out to our team today.
Want to dig deeper into the topics we covered here? Download your free report: Travel Risk Management that Pays Off: Risk, Resilience and ROI.