Travelling has always been an important part of business. Some travel for networking purposes, whereas others do so to build brand awareness or, let’s say, to tap into a new market.
Zippia’s recent survey reveals that about 35% of businesses in the U.S. engage in travel every year. In 2023, West Virginia ranked as the top state for doing business due to low costs, followed by Missouri, Oklahoma, and Ohio. Arkansas, though smaller than the average U.S. state, earned the 15th spot.
Whether your employees are travelling to explore locations for your business or participate in a trade show, ensuring their safety throughout the trip is paramount. Here, we’ll share a few tips that will help you keep your team safe while they’re travelling for work
3 Tips to Ensure Your Employees’ Safety During Business Trips
1. Develop a Comprehensive Travel Safety Policy
A robust travel safety policy is essential to ensure the safety and well-being of your employees when they are on the road. Consider creating one before your employees set out on a corporate trip. Such a policy serves as a roadmap for employees, providing them with clear guidelines and procedures to follow before, during, and after their trips.
Start by outlining guidelines for booking transportation and accommodations. Emphasize the importance of selecting reputable providers with a strong safety record while including preferred providers. Provide clear instructions on how employees should handle emergencies, including whom they should contact, as well as the procedures for reporting incidents.
Developing a comprehensive travel safety policy will help mitigate potential risks and ensure that your employees are prepared to travel safely and confidently for work.
2. Live-Track Your Travelers
When your employees are on a corporate trip, keeping track of their whereabouts in real time is important.
Implementing a travel tracking system is one way to live-track your employees. A travel tracker system with geolocation tracking offers real-time visibility into the itineraries of your employees. These systems also send timely alerts and notifications to employers in case of emergencies. Employers can quickly locate employees and take prompt action.
If your employees are planning a road trip, consider integrating telematics into their cars. Telematics systems allow for real-time transmission of a vehicle’s location, speed, distance travelled, and gas consumption.
Besides allowing you to track employees in real-time, this information can serve as evidence in case of an accident.
Car accidents are far too common in U.S. states. Take, for example, Fayetteville. Just a couple of weeks ago, a 47-year-old woman was killed in a head-on collision on North Crossover Road in Fayetteville.
Sarah Brasswell of Elkins, who was driving a Subaru, hit the Toyota head-on. The Toyota was standing still, waiting for traffic to clear to turn left into a private driveway. The driver of the Toyota was injured as a result of the collision.
What would you do if your employees had been involved in such an accident without any fault of their own? Establishing liability in car accidents is often difficult. But integrating telematics into your vehicle will make it easy for your employees.
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A Fayetteville car accident lawyer can help your employees prove that the accident didn’t take place because of their fault but due to the other party’s. The real-time data offered by telematics can help your employees prove they weren’t speeding. Information about the application of brakes or idling time can further help them prove they were driving responsibly, whereas the other party wasn’t.
Proving the other person’s fault will help your employee recover compensation. Keith Law Group explains that Arkansas is a tort state or at-fault state. That means if an accident takes place in Fayetteville or another city in Arkansas, the at-fault party will compensate for the damages. Your employees will receive fair compensation if they prove the accident occurred due to the fault of the other party.
3. Provide Round-the-Clock Travel Support
Emergencies can happen anywhere and at any time. That is why you must provide your employees with access to 24/7 support services.
Whether it’s a lost passport, a medical emergency, or a cancelled flight, knowledgeable personnel must be there to assist your employees who are on business trips. Knowing someone is there to help them around the clock helps alleviate anxiety and navigate challenges with ease.
It’s virtually impossible for your in-house employees to offer 24/7 support to those on trips. In that case, consider partnering with travel management companies. These often have dedicated travel support teams who provide assistance to travellers over message, call, or email. Thus, your employees will be able to get out of uneasy situations quickly and efficiently.
To sum things up, ensuring your employees are safe during corporate trips isn’t just a moral obligation. It’s rather a strategic imperative that directly impacts the well-being of your team, the reputation of your organization, and the overall success of your business endeavors.
Incorporating these tips will help you ensure the safety of your team no matter where they go. Remember, investing in your employees’ safety will pay off in terms of employee loyalty, retention, and organizational resilience.
