Did you know that taking action quickly during a travel disruption plays a critical role in how effectively you can support your travelers? In today’s travel landscape, being prepared for the unexpected is paramount to making sure their safety and well-being are top priority.

Travel managers need a plan in place to locate their traveling employees 24/7. Part of this plan ties directly into a business travel term known as duty of care.

What is duty of care?

Duty of care is a fiduciary responsibility held by companies that requires them to live up to a certain standard of care. Among other things, this includes looking after the health, safety, and well-being of employees while they travel for work. In principle, duty of care is straightforward – in practice, exact laws and responsibilities vary across the world.

Since duty of care is a complex concept for every organization, the first step to building a program is to engage legal expertise to help understand your business’s requirements for taking care of travelers. From here, you can start to identify gaps in your program and identify partners who can help you develop a seamless plan of action.

This may seem like an overwhelming responsibility to carry on your shoulders. However, these concerns can be alleviated by working with a travel management company that can help you fulfill this obligation – which wouldn’t be met with an unmanaged travel program.

According to Business Travel News Travel Experience Index report, business travelers ranked duty of care consistently as one of the top five most important factors when traveling for business. Being prepared and supported in the event of risks such as severe weather, political unrest, and personal safety was high on the list. Duty of care jumped even higher for travelers taking 11 or more trips annually, as well as for younger business travelers.

 To support organizations in their effort to look after their employees and fulfill their duty of care needs, American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) offers a complimentary crisis management tool for travel managers that can locate and communicate with employees and travelers during a disruption. This tool is called Expert Care™.

Peeling back four dynamic layers on a tool that supports your travelers

1. Best-in-class personalized traveler care

When using Expert Care, you’ll proactively receive traveler location reports that provide updates for greater efficiency – this is where the crucial 24/7 proactive servicing comes in, that is so important to your duty of care obligations. You’ll also have the dynamic flexibility to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly reports as needed so you know which travelers will be in specific locations with a quick perusal of the report. With visibility into which travelers may be facing a disruption, you’re also able to go above and beyond for VIP and/or C-suite travelers who may require additional assistance.

2. Real-time alerts that support Expert Care

Use of the Amex GBT mobile app is crucial when using Expert Care. In tandem with this solution, the Amex GBT mobile app makes it easier to provide one-on-one, two-way communication directly to impacted travelers by checking in on their needs during a disruption. This also includes the ability message all travelers at one time. From here, you can decide how to best support your travelers based on direct communication of their needs.

3. Full-spectrum, duty of care support in a central location

When your travelers and travel arrangers book their flights, hotels, rail travel, and car rentals via your online booking tool (OBT), critical travel information sits in one location and can easily be linked to Expert Care. When booking through your OBT, you also allow for tighter expense reporting across all categories while providing clarity on where your travelers are at any given time so you can quickly pinpoint and assist them if needed which further supports duty of care.

4. As a travel manager, sleep better at night.

With Expert Care in place, you’ll have taken a meaningful step towards supporting your duty of care obligation and will be better prepared to protect your travelers in real-time while on the road. In addition, you’ll reduce risk associated with travel booking leakage, which can also affect traveler safety. And with complete travel and expense data reporting sets all in one place, you can rest easy and sleep well.

It’s important to note that beyond these offerings, two additional tiers of Expert Care are available. One option provides integrated travel alerts from a leading risk management provider. In this instance, risks are identified based on a traveler’s location, providing next-level care beyond the already substantial support mentioned above.

To find out how we can tailor a program to fulfill your duty of care needs with Expert Care, please contact us.