I would sum Duty of Care into two words ― Preparedness – Plan
Develop a Preparedness Plan for securing the safety of all you cross border travelers and overseas workforce. The preparedness plan is for having the employee understand the protocol when some unforeseen circumstances occur. A road accident, theft, health issues , incident relating to unawareness of the cultural norms or may be lack of legal knowledge of the jurisdictional laws, whether it’s employment related, Tax laws or chewing gum in Singapore.
Globalization is the trend of the day; it is the progression by which the world is becoming closer and is created enormous increase in trade and cultural exchange. Many national companies have grown into major multinational corporations with their presence in many countries. Though globalization helping to create more prosperity around the world, the issue remains the world is not as safe as it used to be, so be proactive with the approach of Preparing the workforce.
It is the time for Corporations to think of developing a Duty of Care culture. Having a robust preparedness plan in effect for the global employee is a must now more than ever. Cross border travelers often find themselves into unfamiliar environments or situations, which can be risky or threatening and they are not prepared to handle these situations as they would in their own familiar zones. It is the legal and moral obligation of the employer to protect their employees from unfamiliar yet often foreseeable risks and threats. If the companies adapt a duty of care culture into their organizations the counter effect is a duty of loyalty environment.
In US many global businesses still need to understand and absorb a full spectrum of managing employee travel risk, especially now with the disturbing events happening around the world.
A tragedy can explain the importance of a Preparedness Plan across an organization. HR and global mobility professionals are responsible for assuring that the organization is equipped and prepared with a country specific security and safety strategy. That will implicate in any kind or category of natural disasters, geo political issues, health issues/virus breakout, or any other emergencies.
There is a long way for the global companies to develop and implement Duty of Care and Duty of Loyalty culture.