Which countries are the safest for mobile employees?

The term "duty of care" is frequently used in conversations around employee business travel and global mobility. And as international mobility continues to grow, duty of care is a hot subject again. It's a topic that we have touched on numerous times in the past too.

How at risk are your globally mobile employees? Maybe more than you know!

If there was an emergency, what would happen to your expat?

Duty of care - is assessing risk and protecting employees more than just CYA?

We know that as organizations extend their operations globally, their risk profiles similarly expand. Particularly when heading into emerging markets, employees and other stakeholders are exposed to a greater number and variety of risks. According to International SOS:

They go on to explain that the employment relationship, in general, includes an obligation of Duty of Care of employers for the health, safety, and security of their employees. This obligation extends to employees and to their dependents who are abroad as international business travelers or as short- or long-term assignees. 

It's critical then to maintain awareness of what is happening around the world and to monitor locations, events, and happenings for the risks that your employees around the world may be exposed to or encountering. It's important for your program to apply some diligence to monitoring VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. And as we recently noted, tapping into VUCA 2.0, which is a slight paradigm shift that changes the lens of looking around the world with vision, understanding, clarity and agility, might support the goal of improving the care your mobility program provides to mobile employees.

But, this article from Go Visa Free looks at the rankings of the "Safest Countries in the World in 2023". These will be places where you might have a sigh of relief when you hear your organization is sending expats to them. The rankings look at political stability, crime rates, economic prosperity, social harmony, effective governance, places that are more prepared for natural disasters, places that have responsive and effective law enforcement and where there is a greater sense of community. 

So which locations fall into their top ten?

1. Iceland
2. New Zealand
3. Ireland
4. Denmark
5. Austria
6. Portugal
7. Slovenia
8. The Czech Republic
9. Singapore
10. Japan

For a bigger list of the safest (and not safest) countries, head out to their article where you can also wrap your head around the question on whether the world is getting safer or more dangerous! 

Let us know how you would answer the question: "Is the Future Safer or More Perilous?"