The top three risks facing business travelers

For people who travel frequently for business, most all will agree that it is less glamorous than it appears. Business travelers often will say some travel is fun, but at a certain point, it's exhausting and overwhelming. Delayed flights, accommodation mix-ups, new surroundings, and sometimes language and cultural nuances to adapt to are some of the typical "low impact" issues that can arise. Then, add to that all of those "high impact" issues, like car accidents, local unrest, and natural disasters and the list of potential threats gets large and long quickly.

The safety and security of employees, including and maybe especially those travelling on short-term business trips, should be a top priority. In a recent white paper, "How to Keep Relocating Employees Safe," we provide some insights into how mobility programs can make sure to support the safety and security of mobile employees. One of those ideas was to provide programming that includes guidance, tips and resources to the employee before they depart. Travel safety programs can help to make employees aware and ready for scams and issues that can arise.

This article points out, "The most common threats facing business travellers" are maybe not the most dangerous, but those that are most frequent. 

The top three traveler risks are:

1. Petty (non-violent) crime
2. Road traffic accidents
3. Food poisoning

"If your employees are travelling on behalf of your company, your duty of care is an obligation to ensure their safety and well-being in any and every destination and situation: training travelers to anticipate and mitigate the risks they may face - whether in Angola or Algeria, Prague or Paris, India or Indonesia - helps fulfill part of that obligation."

Increase the potential ROI on your business traveler costs by making sure that employees are well prepared for these common challenges!

VUCA is an acronym used to describe or reflect on the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. The term VUCA was adopted by strategic business leaders to describe the chaotic, turbulent and rapidly changing business environments that have become the “new normal.”  This new normal is the world that business travelers now find themselves traversing within.

Looking for more ideas on reducing business travel risks, try this: 27 safety tips to reduce business travel risks.