Developing a Baseline for Duty of Care Practices


Developing a Baseline for Duty of Care Practices


How can employers ascertain whether they are assuming their Duty of Care obligations and where they stand compared to other companies? Such an evaluation starts by conducting an audit of the current practices to see whether they are at or above baseline, or fail to meet their Duty of Care responsibilities. However, as mentioned above, the attention to Duty of Care for globally mobile employees is still in its infancy for most companies, a baseline has not yet been identified and no reliable benchmarking instruments are available. For that purpose, a checklist of 100 Duty of Care practices was developed corresponding to the various stages of the Integrated Duty of Care Risk Management Model. The different items related to Duty of Care practices were then grouped into 15 indicators and rolled up into eight steps which correspond to the stages of the Integrated Duty of Care Risk Management Model. The final roll-up produced an overall preliminary Duty of Care score for a particular company (see Figure 3).


In the Global Benchmarking Study, a third response option in the checklist was introduced and labeled, “not sure,” in addition to the “yes/no” option, because there are so many activities that a company must undertake with regard to Duty of Care throughout


the organization that a single respondent from one functional area may not always be aware of activities being undertaken in another area of the company. A description of the development and validation of the Duty of Care practices checklist is presented in Appendix 1.


The Duty of Care practices checklist in this Benchmarking Study is used in two ways: First, to set a baseline for the Duty of Care activities of global companies and see how they are assuming their responsibilities in each step of the integrated Duty of Care Risk Management Model as well as to identify in which zone (red, blue or green) of the Duty of Care Continuum they are likely to be operating; and second, the Duty of Care practices checklist allows a company to benchmark its Duty of Care and travel risk management practices with other companies, industries and regions around the world. The checklist can also be used as an audit tool for strategic (e.g., developing a Duty of Care strategy) and tactical (e.g., implementing a travel risk management plan) purposes. With such an audit, organizations can benchmark their existing (or non-existing) Duty of Care practices, identify gaps and develop improvement plans to close those gaps. To complete the audit, the organization must answer all the questions in the checklist. The action plan involves closing these gaps by examining the cause of the problem, obstacles-to- actions, alternative solutions to the problem and identifying who is responsible for addressing the solution with a timeline for implementation1


. Figure 3 I Assess Company-


Specific Employee Risk [5 Practices]


Assessment (5)


Company locations (2) Risks & threats (1) Reliable sources (2)


II


Plan Strategically [24 Practices] Strategy (5)


Travel risk management (1) Duty of Care structure (2) Duty of Care culture (2)


Planning (8)


Emergency response plan (2) Crisis management plan (3) Business continuity plan (1) Reputational risk plan (1) Scenario planning (1)


Insurance (7)


Travel risk (1) Evacuation (1) Health (3) Kidnapping & ransom (1) Business continuity (1)


Alerts (4)


Security (2) Medical (2)


III


Develop Policies and Procedures


[12 Practices] Policies (7)


Risk assessment (3) Travel registry (1) Risk information (4) Medical prevention (3)


Procedures (5)


Travel clearance (2) Travel booking (1) Travel behaviors (1) Travel risk documentation (1)


Duty of Care Practices IV


V


Manage Global Mobility


[11 Practices] Global Mobility (11)


Risk assessment (3) Travel registry (1) Risk information (4) Medical prevention (4)


Communicate, Educate and Train


[11 Practices] Communication (5)


Policies & procedures (1) Means & protocols (4)


Education & Training (6)


Risk awareness (3) Emergency preparedness (2) Compliance training (1)


VI VII


Track and Inform Advise and Assist [10 Practices] Tracking (10)


[9 Practices] Advice (2)


Global event monitoring (2) Information sources (4) Employee tracking (3) Ongoing information (1)


Employee advice (2) Assistance (7)


Medical assistance (4) Support capabilities (3)


VIII


Control and Analyze [18 Practices] Control (11)


Updates (2) Compliance (5) Management controls (4)


Analysis (7)


After action review (1) Data (3) Audit (3)


1


For organizations interested in assessing their Duty of Care and travel management activities using the Employer Duty of Care Checklist, visit the following website: http://microsol.on-rev.com/duty_of_care_checklist/


11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48