According to research from travel, expense, and invoice management experts, SAP Concur, nearly 60 per cent of business travellers have changed their travel plans because they didn’t feel safe. In addition, more than 77 per cent of female travellers say they have experienced harassment or mistreatment while travelling. The research also found that nearly 40 per cent of female travellers have been ignored by service workers and almost a third have been catcalled during a business trip.[3]
Matthew Goss, managing director, ANZ, SAP Concur, said, “The concerning statistics around travellers’ safety, particularly women’s safety, need to be highlighted and addressed.
“Employers must share some of the responsibility to protect the safety of business travellers of any gender. Employers can help ensure the safety and confidence of their employees while travelling by implementing training, technology and other resources.”
In the past, organisations had complete control over corporate travel, as travel bookings and management were traditionally the purview of travel managers and travel providers. This included having access to travellers’ itineraries and the channels they booked, helping organisations manage risk, improve satisfaction, ensure employee safety, and deliver on other critical business objectives such as maintaining partner relationships and negotiating vendor prices.
However, with endless self-booking options for travellers and the constant change of industry travel, the rise of the sharing economy means it’s harder for organisations to stay in contact with, and support, their travelling employees when they’re on the road.
SAP Concur commissioned a survey of 7,850 business travellers from 19 global markets, including more than 400 from Australia. The results revealed that the most important factors when travelling for business are very similar for employees and employers alike. The number one concern is personal safety (31 per cent for individuals; 28 per cent for employers), followed by ensuring the goals of the trip are met (28 per cent for individuals; 27 per cent for employers).[4]
Matthew Goss said, “It’s encouraging to see that employers and employees have the same priorities when it comes to business travel, and that those priorities centre around safety and effectiveness rather than on spending the least amount of money possible. This means business trips are likely to lead to better outcomes for the company and the individual.”
The results of the survey further showed that almost three-quarters of Australian business travellers believed their company was behind in adopting the latest technologies to make business travel easier such as corporate travel systems, and 50 per cent wanted to receive training from their employers on how to stay safe while travelling.[5]
Corporate travel systems let organisations regain control and maintain their duty of care. Corporate travel systems provide increased visibility into travel details such as employee location with hotel and flight information. Some corporate travel systems also offer tools such as instant messaging so managers can communicate with employees just as easily as if they were in the office.
Additionally, increased digitalisation means that there is an abundance of information and applications that organisations should encourage employees to leverage while travelling. These can help travellers understand things like the safety levels of hotel locations and provide resources to identify developing dangers.
Matthew Goss said, “Organisations must implement strategies to help employees cope with the stress of business travel and further acknowledge that women are exposed to additional risks while travelling, including harassment and mistreatment. Now that International Women's Day for 2020 is over, it is important that businesses continue embracing this year's theme of ‘an equal world is an enabled world’. For organisations to successfully achieve equality for business travellers of both sexes, more needs to be done to ensure the safety of women.”
[1] https://www.travelpulse.com/news/business-travel/gbta-forecasts-global-business-travel-spend-to-reach-16-trillion-by-2020.html
[2] https://www.concur.com/en-us/resource-center/whitepapers/business-traveler-report-2019
[3] https://www.concur.com/en-us/resource-center/whitepapers/business-traveler-report-2019
[4] https://www.concur.com/en-us/resource-center/whitepapers/business-traveler-report-2019
[5] https://www.concur.com/en-us/resource-center/whitepapers/business-traveler-report-2019
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