Business travel isn’t just important to countless corporate personnel who travel as part of their corporate duty, it is also an important contributor to Canada’s national economy that generates $12 billion in expenditures annually. This special report – produced in co-operation with the National Business Travel Association – addresses issues critical to the business travel industry and the people and corporate interests it serves.
MITIGATING CORPORATE TRAVEL RISK
Given the media-fuelled perception of travel as a potentially risky adventure, it is little wonder that companies around the world enforce measures to protect employees who are travelling for work.
In reality, there is no more risk involved with travel than there is in crossing Yonge St. in Toronto, says the manager of a corporate travel program in Ontario.
“You may be a stranger in a strange land, but in most of the world there will be little or no risk if you are prepared and know what you are getting into,” says Michel Chamberland, the manager of corporate travel at Vale Inco in Toronto.
Nonetheless, company policies to protect their “road warriors” are continuing to grow in terms of coverage complexity and comprehensiveness.
They are doing so in partnership with corporate travel vendors, who give their corporate clients the tools with which to maintain some protective vigilance over their staff, and to provide them with solutions in case workers travelling on business encounter any problems while away.
In the realm of corporate travel, potential problems can run the gamut from a worker getting seriously ill or injured while travelling to or at the business destination – with the attendant concerns for acquiring the proper medical attention or even transportation home – to being stranded by severe weather conditions.
Other risks include the possibility of being immobilized by some political or civil strife in a foreign land, which shuts down services like airports and public transportation; or even being kidnapped and held ransom by profit-motivated criminals or terrorists.
“The initial challenge is in determining the actual level and types of risk for a given business destination,” says Mr. Chamberland. For this, he turns to a dozen global sources that provide accurate, up-todate information on any events that might impact the safety of travellers. He gets about 10 bulletins a day citing, for instance, a recent rail strike in Hungary, and even advisories against travel to Canada during recent cold snaps in parts of the country! “If I have never experienced a Canadian winter and I’m travelling to Canada, a minus-30 temperature could be hazardous to my health,” he said. Travel advisories vary in accuracy, and he likes to use Australian-based sources for news on Asia; British sources for info on Europe; and Canadian sources for the Americas and Africa.
Early and thorough preparations are the essence of the outlook for both corporate buyers of travel and for other corporate travel vendors. For instance, oil producer EnCana Corporation of Calgary says managing risk, including employee travel, is a fundamental part of the business.
“All trips and destinations, by their nature, have some inherent safety or security risks, which really vary depending on the city, the country and the region,” said Sue Swenson, the team lead for travel and aviation at EnCana Corp. “EnCana has implemented a tracking system to ensure we know, at all times, where our employees are. They are also informed on who to call, what to do and what not to do in case of an emergency.”
“Be prepared” are also the watchwords at the core of risk mitigation policies at BCD Travel, whose Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto. “Ensuring that our clients are properly prepared with the most current data, and with access to our support systems, is absolutely the overriding priority for us,” says Onita Dey-Frankian, a director of sales for BCD Travel in Canada.
BCD Travel provides its clients with tools and services aimed at measuring and mitigating potential risks. BCD Travel’s security management tools, for instance, can help corporations quickly assess the impact of a crisis event on its travellers, helping the company determine the next plan of action. This might, for example, prompt the company to carry out its “business continuity plan.”
“New Orleans was a reality check for these types of contingency plans,” said Ms. Dey-Frankian, referring to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “There was no electricity, so there were no ATMs, no cell phone charging, and many other services that we take for granted in a developed country.
This proves that, as the world changes, so too will the level of attention that corporations need to devote to thinking about the security of their corporate travellers.”
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