The world economy is becoming even more global and with that, exposure to risks posed to employees traveling abroad continues to grow; thus it becomes ever more apparent that any company should take a more 3-dimensional approach to risk. This means that as your employees travel abroad in order to bring in more business, Senior Management must also consider how they [employees] are protected.
This has become more and more apparent with the ever increasing attacks by al Qaeda-backed groups that have begun to use kidnappings as the common tactic to take the fight outside of the of war torn areas like Mali. This point was illustrated tragically in last week’s Wall Street Journal article discussing the kidnapping of foreign hostages in Nigeria. In order to develop a coordinated plan it is important for any company to complete a thorough risk review of any developing country in which they are looking to do business. This must include looking at the Political, Operational and Human Capital risks involved for any business opportunity outside the United States.
Human Capital Risk is one area that is often overlooked when performing a risk review of a country. The most important way a company can provide a safe environment is to have local security intelligence that can prevent disaster from happening to any of their employees. Additionally, companies can use the suite of services offered through Travel Accident and Specialty Risk policies to help offset some of the cost associated with hiring third party security firms and provide employees with access to a suite of services in any country. Of course, insurance is not the only way to mitigate risk to employees who are traveling abroad. The ALS Group also believes in working with Senior Management to develop a Crisis Management Team that will be able to make decisions that not only address risks to the business, but also, address any potential risk that may threaten an employee who is traveling abroad. This reassurance often encourages business development because employees that feel safe abroad, especially in developing countries, perform better.
If you would like to discuss how to mitigate Human Capital or other risks while traveling and operating business abroad, please feel free to contact Joe O’Rourke at [email protected].
