Business travellers are feeling more confident about their employers' duty of care obligations than they were a year ago.
This is one of the findings from SAP Concur's research with 7,500 travellers from Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Sweden, UK, Netherlands and Denmark, which says 64% believe their companies take duty of care seriously, compared to 42% of 1,050 travellers in 2017.
Despite feeling more confident less than half (47%) in the latest survey think their company would be able to help them at any time and in any crisis, while 25% think their company can only help in a minor crisis. Worryingly a fifth think their employer cannot provide professional support, rising to 33% in Finland and 27% in Germany.
That is despite 93% saying they find duty of care information helpful on some level (25% mildly helpful, 38% helpful, 30% very helpful), an improvement to the 37% that found information unhelpful or unnecessary in 2017. Travellers in Germany, France and Italy were more likely to find communication and messages useful, which could reflect a stronger strategy or more responsive travellers. Those in the Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, were more critical.
While communication has progressed, Darryl McGarvey, director of channel development at SAP Concur thinks buyer strategies and RFPs need to adapt further. "Buyers need to step back and think 'what would happen if this took place?' and whether their travellers would know what to do. In policies…some do not allow several directors on a plane at once but what about cars?" he said.
BTiQ Analysis in October and December related to stories in China dissected how risk management is changing and explained the further steps that travel managers may need to take not just for traveller safety but the business.
As McGarvey added "Companies are not fully aware of the reputation, individual and financial risks or even the potential tax implications".