We know your team are unique. Who else regularly needs to get a pole vaulter’s pole into the cargo hold or find multiple hotel rooms for a crew at a sold out music festival? And what happens when it all goes wrong? Corporate Traveller Stage, Screen and Sports supports our clients every step of the way, ensuring that the safety and comfort of your team is at the forefront of every decision. It’s called duty of care.
What is duty of care?
Put simply, it’s your legal and ethical obligation to keep your employees safe. This responsibility is in place at all times, but it’s even more important when your team is on the road. As they travel, your employees are exposed to new risks beyond those they would experience in a standard workplace. That’s everything from losing their passport or getting sick to finding themselves stuck in the middle of a natural disaster. They need to know that you are looking after them wherever they are in the world and, if something goes wrong, you have a plan in place.
6 simple steps for better travel risk management
- Create a corporate travel policy, keep it up to date and communicate it to your employees. This ensures everyone knows what to do in an emergency and the expectations around their responsibilities while travelling.
- Make sure you have relevant travel insurance. Did you know up to 50 percent of business travellers are uninsured or underinsured? Insurance companies will be essential when you need financial and logistical support on the ground.
- Give your travellers the right tools, tech and support. That could be an app with a 24-hour chat, a travel management platform that keeps them up to date and a dedicated travel expert to assist.
- Utilise travel risk management services to stay up-to-date with any incidents or crises around the world, plus you can call on their support when needed.
- Consolidate all your bookings through one channel so it’s easy to make changes when a flight or transfer is unexpectedly cancelled. Only book reputable suppliers that guarantee they will deliver and can meet your high standards.
Put your travellers at the heart of your policy – ask them what they need and how you can make their business travel more enjoyable. Safe, happy travellers make for more successful business.
Why you need a travel management company
Forward planning, strong industry relationships and experience in the extraordinary are what will make a difference to your duty of care. When problems arise, you need an expert on your team who can address them quickly and keep the trip on track.
Working with actors and musicians, we know they are often travelling to a destination in peak season or for a special event when accommodation will be scarce. An experienced travel management company can leverage relationships with hotels to secure a block of rooms at the best rate. When a sporting team is getting close to the finals, your travel experts should have anticipated their accommodation needs before they’ve even reached the next round. Working with a travel management company gives you access to preferred suppliers who will be able to help if there’s a disruption, giving your group priority in a competitive market.
A travel risk management policy should also address the unique nature of your travellers. Celebrities and VIPs may need to travel under fake names, operators and staff might have to sign NDAs, or you’ll have to arrange extraordinary amounts of excess baggage for a crew, production company or team. A travel management company can make that a seamless process, leaving you to focus on what you do best.
It’s important to consider the health and wellbeing of your employees while they’re travelling. That could mean choosing business class seats for oversized athletes or ensuring that flights always arrive the day before a big performance. You can organise wellness extras, like in-room massage or their preferred brand of bike available at the hotel.
As groups get larger, so does the potential for disruption. One cancelled flight suddenly means you need to find new seats for 100 people – and then you have to think about the transfers, hotel rooms, and what everyone is going to eat during the delay. If this is all happening on the other side of the world (and in a different time zone) it can feel like an insurmountable problem.
Working with Us
These problems are just another day at the office for an experienced travel management company. At Corporate Traveller Stage, Screen and Sports, we work with actors, musicians and athletes every day. We can work with you to create a duty of care policy that’s tailored specifically to group travel and to the unique needs of your travellers. We’ll incorporate all the potential risks and specific requirements that need to form your corporate travel policy, providing you with the highest level of security and confidence.
When your team are on the road, our easy to use technology and travel experts will be on hand round the clock to provide assistance. You’ll have peace of mind knowing where your staff are, what’s happening in the area and any events that may impact their travel schedule. So, is it time to upgrade your duty of care plan?