3 Ways to Cover Your Employees on Business Trips

International travel can create a number of wrinkles for even the most prepared of businesses. While learning from issues from previous trips is essential, deploying best-practice actions early can optimise your team’s time spent abroad can pay out dividends in future sessions.

So, here is our list of three essential ways to cover your employees for international travel.

Starting with-

1. Map out transport

International travel can create a number of wrinkles for even the most prepared of businesses. While learning from issues from previous trips is essential, deploying best-practice actions early can optimise your team’s time spent abroad can pay out dividends in future sessions. So, here is our list of three essential ways to cover your employees for international travel. Starting with-

1. Map out transport

Budget time to time to plan routes for your team and validate that they know how to get to a location successfully. Travel mapping sites such as Google Maps and the AA Travel Planner use route planners that can help your team avoid congestion or planned roadworks in other countries. It is also important to confirm the type of rental transport insurance you require and the add-on items they need to acquire. For example: while a phone with maps software may help you navigate, adding sat-nav guarantees that you get where you need to be without worrying about 4G reception or battery life.

2. Have accurate insurance

Arguably the most important element on this list – taking the time to understand the requirements for international health insurance from a reputable company like Now Health is essential when it comes to travel outside of the country. While there are many strands and sub-strata, insurance broadly falls into four key categories:

Interruption Insurance:

To allow for reimbursement for your travel in case of an incident that causes your team to cancel their trip. This might include injury and illness, disaster or bereavement.

Medical and Evacuation Insurance:

To cover accidents or emergencies incurred while travelling. This should also cover the cost of transporting the afflicted to an area where they can receive care.

Baggage Insurance:

To reimburse lost or damaged items – something that can be essential for mission-critical equipment or the loss of personal and company property.

Life Insurance:

For death while travelling. These policies are segmented into a range of criteria and should always be addressed directly with your provider. Any team manager should always ensure that the required insurance has been fully researched, validated, and correctly booked insurance before booking any travel as the consequences can be dire if the correct insurance is applied. When making inquiries, take steps to confirm that your business understands what is inside and outside the remit of your policy and that changes due to political events like Brexit or US travel bans are factored in when booking travel in advance.

3. Calculate Risk

All international travel involves an element of risk and this should be factored in to your approach to conducting your work with safety and confidence. This can be gauged through risk assessment sites that allow you to research the area your team are travelling to and take steps to address potential problems that arise. This can be as simple as ensuring that your employees stay in a safe area, being respectful of local customs and dress, and being aware of common crimes or health risks. If this continues to be a concern, you can validate your findings by looking at official government advice or by contacting your local embassy and factoring your findings into your business insurance.

Adam Hansen
 

Adam is a part time journalist, entrepreneur, investor and father.