The global picture continues to shift both geopolitically and socioeconomically, and with it, risk management has moved from a travel-centric exercise to a broad-based enterprise-wide program that involves a team across the organization to manage risk for people, on the road and off.
As the workforce continues to disperse, companies must pivot to meet new challenges by creating flexible policies. Duty of care policies no longer apply only to travelers; the same care and benefits are now being extended to those who work remotely.
This brings on many questions for those solely focusing on travel risk management (TRM). Traditionally, the aim of travel risk managers and human resource professionals has been mitigating risk for employees on business trips. This runs the gamut from aviation safety to private ground transportation to traveler wellness concerns.
However, current workforce trends beg a different kind of question: How do you manage travel for a dispersed workforce?
Today, the evolution of travel risk management into “People Risk Management” broadens the previous scope of travel managers and becomes more than just “traveler tracking” or cost savings. “People Risk Management is the process of identifying, evaluating, and mitigating any risks that arise from or affect an organization’s workforce as well as risks to the organization,” explains Bruce McIndoe, president of McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC. “The asset the organization is protecting is the Person, and optimally this would be 24/7 every day regardless of where they are and what they are doing.”
A “whole of enterprise” approach to safety and security for all personnel (including contractors, visitors, interviewees, guests, etc.) is at the center of People Risk Management. When companies provide tools and policies that make all personnel feel safe and supported, they increase the chances of compliance as well as traveler satisfaction.
Duty of Care at Home
According to a joint report by BCD and the GBTA called The Big Idea, remote work is a standard – not a trend. Despite government and corporate mandates to return to the office, some estimates claim around 32.6 million Americans (roughly 22 percent of the workforce) are expected to be working remotely in 2025.
Consequently, changes are needed in duty of care to address new risks emerging from a dispersed workforce. The dilemma, however, arises when defining what coverages are valid for a person who is work-from-home. For example, will a company cover a remote worker if he falls and is injured in his home office between 9 AM and 5 PM? Will a company extend the same mental health benefits to a stressed-out WFH employee as it would to a stressed-out in-house employee or road warrior?
When addressing liability for remote workers, organizations typically include policy language that clarifies the scope of coverage, defines “workplace” in remote settings, and establishes responsibilities for both the employer and employee. “Just as in travel risk management, duty of care (risk to the person) is one side of the coin, while duty of loyalty (the person’s risk to the organization) is the other. Both must work together to be effective,” says Christine Connolley, senior crisis program manager, Global Crisis Management at BCD Travel.
“Every company has a clear duty when it comes to health and safety guidelines in the office,” Connolley continues. “The same guidelines and principles should be applied to working remotely, ensuring that employees have the right equipment and a designated area and workspace for doing their work. With such guidelines clearly defining conditions such as working times and workspace, it will be easier to draw the line of where a company has liability and where it doesn’t. That is a shared responsibility between company and employee to inform and enable each other to create a safe work environment.”
Unique Issues for Unique Times
The nature of remote work triggers a diverse set of issues for People Risk Management. Business insurance mandates, covering a wider range of risks across diverse jurisdictions, is one of them.
“Previously, traditional insurance policies primarily focused on office-based employees and business travel coverage for those on the road,” notes Christian Dahl, executive VP, People and Culture at BCD Travel. “However, remote work introduces new complexities. Organizations must now review their policies to address the needs of home-based employees and account for international employees and digital nomads working across borders, including ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations,” Dahl says.
“In addition, organizations should define and communicate clearly when company insurance policies apply and when an employee might need to take out personal insurance,” he says. “This all depends on the main purpose of being remote. For example, if an employee elects to work while on a personal trip that’s not required by the company, any accident will generally have to be covered by personal insurance.”
McIndoe cautions that companies will have to make policy adjustments, and add endorsements or riders to policies to ensure employees have adequate protection wherever they work. “Many business travel accident policies offer 24-hour coverage, meaning employees are protected even when not actively engaged in a business meeting or travel, which effectively provides ‘all the time’ coverage for frequent travelers.”
Cybersecurity brings its own set of challenges. “Remote employees, travelers and digital nomads tend to use public WiFi and personal devices at much greater rates than employees that work out of an office,” explains Tyler Hosford, regional security manager for International SOS. “The use of this kind of technology puts them at greater risk for phishing attacks and having their information stolen. Due to this, organizations should be training remote employees on how to keep their devices secure.”
And what about crisis coverage? We all understand the need to provide protections to business travelers who may get caught in a hurricane or earthquake abroad, but does this extend to WFH employees? For example, are they subject to coverage for electrical power outages at home caused by severe storms? Would evacuation be “the norm” for remote workers/digital nomads stuck in the middle of political conflict/unrest?
“The first step to take if you have remote employees is to create a comprehensive risk management plan that spans across all departments including HR, security, IT, legal, etc.,” advises Hosford. “When creating these plans, it’s important to always prepare for worst-case scenarios such as political unrest, natural disasters and even data breaches, as this is the key to maintaining a safe workforce, especially in the current global climate. All employees that are in-office, remote, hybrid or traveling for work, should be briefed and trained on these plans to make sure that they understand their risks, are prepared and know how to respond.”
Growing Responsibility for Travel Managers
To make all this just a little more complicated, the definition of People Risk Management has broadened even more in recent years to include the rise of bleisure travelers and digital nomads.
“For bleisure travelers, policies and risk assessments must consider the overlap between personal and professional time, such as managing liability and support in the event of an emergency during non-business-related activities,” adds Carrie Hartman, president of 3Sixty, the technology brand of global managed accommodations provider Reside. “Digital nomads who move between international locations need adaptive risk management strategies. And from a corporate housing perspective, having 100 percent vetted accommodations means solving a huge chunk of the problem.”
For BCD’s Dahl, the dynamic nature of digital nomads and the hybrid nature of bleisure travel may require an individualized approach to effectively mitigate risks and fulfill the duty of care obligations. “For example, with bleisure travel or digital nomads, the time spent abroad needs to be considered in terms of visa requirements, taxation, social security, etc.,” he says. “Additionally, continuing your work from a different time zone can also have an impact on health and wellbeing.”
As travel managers slowly widen their bandwidth to include ‘all’ personnel, many have leveraged data analytics plus technology to produce creative ways to put people first, in policies and in practice.
“When it comes to tracking, the growth of remote work is having a corresponding impact – more companies are planning simple/small meetings to gain the benefits of in-person collaboration,” adds Will Pinnell, senior vice president, HRS Americas. “To mitigate risks, organizations can encourage remote employees to use centralized automation platforms for travel planning – inclusive of air, lodging and ground transport – to account for risk and tracking concerns, regardless of destination. Intelligent, end-to-end booking and payment services across transient, meetings and long-stay segments will help organizations gain real-time visibility and enhanced control over traveler movements,” Pinnell adds.
“Through regular pulse checks, surveys at key moments and consistent data analytics, we create a holistic view on topics such as employee engagement, talent management, health and wellbeing,” Dahl says. “This provides us objective insights to analyze trends, compare different demographics and identify opportunities for improvement over time. For example, from our data we know that office workers experience higher levels of wellbeing, while remote workers feel more flexibility and are more positive about their work environment.”
All the People, All the Time
Taking care of ‘People First’ also means listening to their concerns. While in-house personnel or business travelers are highly visible, the silent needs of remote workers often go unnoticed. “Ignoring the mental health wellness of your people can result in absenteeism, impeded productivity and employee turnover,” says McIndoe. The 2023 State of Remote Work report reveals that 23 percent of remote workers struggle with loneliness, followed by issues with lack of focus and managing home-related disruptions.
“Ultimately it is important for those working in security, HR, or other support departments to position their role as a partnership to truly support all your people,” Hosford says. “The narrative needs to flip from ‘my company doesn’t want me to work from a remote location because they don’t trust me’ to ‘my company wants to make sure if something goes wrong, they are able to get me the support I need.’”
There is no doubt that travel is a business enabler. “By bridging the functional silos across the organization and focusing on all your people, you can build on an existing TRM program and technology to protect all your people all the time,” adds McIndoe. Whether through updated insurance coverages, ergonomic remote workspaces or data privacy protocols, the travel industry’s increased focus on People First can help organizations achieve their strategic objectives.
“From a risk and duty of care perspective, this paradigm shift requires a rethinking of travel risk management in a broader, more holistic context,” says Jorge Mesa, senior director, Travel Risk Management at BCD Travel. “It’s no longer just about travel risk but making sure that all personnel, whether working remotely, traveling, or digital nomads, have the tools, information and support they need to feel safe and supported. Failing to do so risks reputational damage, legal and financial exposure, and most importantly, falling short of your duty of care obligation to all your people,” Mesa cautions.
“People Risk Management is a change of perspective,” he says. “The asset that you are helping to protect is the Person, not the Trip.”
