20 Mar Corporate Travel Safety: Is Your Company Doing Enough to Protect Your Business Travelers?
Following the reopening of business after the initial wave of COVID-19 gripped the world, it is imperative that your staff knows their health is a priority, especially for business travelers. When traveling with staff, you need your entire team to operate at peak performance. Today, we take a look at practical steps you can take to protect your employees, whether they are making a pitch to a significant new client, attending a conference, shooting a new production, or hosting a corporate event.
Understanding your obligations as an employer
While you cannot be accountable for every decision your staff makes, there are basic requirements and care that you should cover for every team member. Several actions are needed to ensure that your company is acting in the best interest of everybody involved and satisfying your legal duty of care.
Your company’s duty of care is slightly different from risk management. Duty of care clearly outlines the company’s policies and beliefs on the employees’ security, safety, and health while traveling on behalf of the company. Your risk management plan is how these issues are initiated and managed to adhere to your duty of care.
Build a risk management plan
One of your primary concerns should be conducting a basic risk assessment and building the risk management plan for the location where you will be working but also considering the nature of the work.
Running a business in an office setting presents different needs than if your staff is working outside.
If you’re working in international locations, some additional factors need consideration compared to domestic work sites. Anytime you are working away from your home location, it is vital to prepare for potential issues that can arise so that you will be ready to respond appropriately to emergencies.
Your risk assessment should include potential troubles that you may encounter, such as environmental issues, food or water access, illnesses, and locating available medical facilities and medications access. While your risk assessment plan cannot cover every possible problem you may face, it can serve as a general guideline for how you can help respond to illness or injury in real time.
Provide a backup communication plan
One commonly overlooked area of a risk management plan is communication. It is essential to provide your employees with several methods to communicate with fellow staff, management, and their family during travel.
Unfortunately, travel is also when many become vulnerable to malicious viruses with computers or cell phones connected to public WiFi locations.
Instead of relying solely on public WiFi, business owners can provide a portable hotspot for secure internet access to employees to work and communicate in an airspace safe from hackers. Work closely with your staff to identify best practices for communication and connectivity during travel.
Create Travel Checklists
An additional item that you should consider creating is a checklist for your employees. These checklists can ensure that employees are prepared for their travel and help guide them through navigating a crisis. Checklists can be created for various situations and can help your staff gain a clear understanding of potential issues they may face and how they should respond.
Features of these checklists can include public transportation schedules, risk management methods, and ideas of when to implement them.
Determine if Travel Insurance is Right for Your Company
It is essential to examine every available option to help improve your employees’ safety and health. One of the top accommodations a company can provide is a travel insurance policy for their employees while traveling.
Travel insurance is designed to reimburse individuals or companies for expenses incurred while traveling resulting from an emergency, meaning that travel insurance can cover emergency evacuations, ambulance trips, or broken bones but will not cover routine care.
Additionally, while travel insurance may help cover costs resulting from natural disasters,
many travelers were surprised to find out that COVID-19 and a global pandemic did not fall under the umbrella of their coverage, causing many travelers and employees to face unexpected costs.
Additionally, it can be challenging to determine what is or isn’t covered. Many policies will not cover sickness and the medications associated with common illnesses such as colds, the flu, or viral infections.
Travel Concierge Doctor
For many companies, the option to bring a concierge doctor into the realm of business travel planning has been a game changer.
A concierge doctor is a licensed medical professional who travels with your team to ensure they have 24/7 coverage. These specialists establish a medical suite within a hotel room booked at the same hotel as the rest of your staff.
That means if your team members have a headache or severe illness, they can get immediate care to help them get back on their feet quickly. Concierge physicians are available for in-person consultations during regular business hours and on-call outside of these hours.
Concierge doctors bring a variety of medications along for the trip. They can prescribe medications, run some diagnostic tests, and help your staff diagnose and treat common conditions while also acting as a lead medical provider and liaison in the case of an emergency.
One of the most critical factors that concierge doctors bring to the table is the care that employees feel has been demonstrated by the company. Their ability to focus on the job without worrying about what happens if they get sick allows your team to be more productive while in the field.
Additionally, we offer additional services, such as hydration IVs containing blends of vitamins and minerals to help boost energy, and immune function, eliminate headaches and hangovers, or help reduce stress to help your employees feel their best.
Last words
A comprehensive travel policy can put you and your employees at ease. Employers can ensure that staff have the best conditions possible for high productivity while simultaneously meeting their needs to help them feel they are considered and valued by investing in their health and wellness. We now offer on-site, 24/7 concierge doctor access to accommodate your business travel plans.
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On-Site Medical Protection For Business Travelers with Concierge MD
Our On-Site Medical Protection program provides around-the-clock healthcare for you and your team. The perfect fit for conferences, traveling, production and events, our on-call medical services are customized to meet your needs.
