UK companies whose business travellers have been caught up in major events, such as terrorist incidents and natural disasters, are not taking duty of care seriously, a new survey has found.
The study of 1,050 UK business travellers, carried out by Concur, showed that a large proportion of them had been close to a major event, as shown below.
However, the response of their employers has been far from satisfactory, despite the existence of duty of care legislation requiring them to look after their employees.
The survey revealed that travellers are not happy with the situation. Some 37% of those contacted by their companies said the contact they received was either unnecessary or only mildly helpful. There was a general lack of confidence in their company's ability to do anything — only 42% felt they would be able to assist.
Chris Baker, MD of UK Enterprise at Concur says: "It's unfortunate but major events, from environmental through to acts of terrorism, have become a fact of life for all travellers. If you're travelling for business though, your company has a legal responsibility to provide suitable care. What these results demonstrate is that UK organisations are not taking this seriously and are skirting on the edge of the law. Even where companies do have the right processes in place, employees are still nervous about the assistance they receive. Data, insights and due process are clearly lacking."
The study also found that only 36% of travellers knew who they should contact in the event of an incident.
The issue for UK companies is that the laws concerning what they must do to protect their employees are only ever likely to be tested in court after an incident in which an employee is injured or killed. The number of prosecutions under the Corporate Manslaughter Act is also small and none of them so far relate to employees on business trips. There may be some complacency as a result.
However, beyond the legislation there is the matter of employee satisfaction, a far more powerful driver for change in UK plc in a world where unemployment is at a low and we are entering an environment in which skill shortages are likely to become more acute.