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Female Business Travellers and Personal Safety

03 November 2015 ,  —

London


EDUCATION KEY TO MITIGATING RISKS TO THE FEMALE BUSINESS TRAVELLER
Women Security eLearning 600
Women’s Security eLearning Now Available in the Travel Risk eLearning Suite 

  • The number of women that travel abroad for business is growing year on year.1  
  • Almost 30% of the destinations women travel to are rated as having “Extreme”, “High”, or “Medium” travel risk.2 
  • Women travelling to destinations rated as having “Extreme” or “High” travel risk increased 24%.1
  • Female travellers have different risk profiles and considerations to those of male travellers. 

International SOS and Control Risks launched the latest module in its travel preparedness suite for business travellers, risk managers and expatriates. Women’s Security eLearning provides practical tips and actionable advice for the female traveller. 

Fely Bowen, Regional Security Manager for International SOS and Control Risks, explained:

“Female travellers have different risk profiles and considerations to those of male travellers. We have found that while women have continued to rise through the ranks and are travelling more and further than ever before for their careers, some organisations have been slow to implement policies and programmes to keep up with the unique needs of their changing workforce.”  

An analysis of travel itineraries from International SOS’ TravelTracker shows a 13% year on year increase of women travelling abroad for business. In addition, women travellers are increasingly travelling to destinations that are rated as having “High” or “Extreme” travel risks.   

Bowen continues:

“It’s an organisation’s duty of care to reduce risks to their employees. Pre-travel advice and personal security training should be provided to all employees, regardless of gender, as part of an organisation’s travel risk mitigation programme. Unfortunately, the majority of organisations still do not offer their employees training on how to mitigate risks while travelling.”

The recently released benchmark study, “Policy in Practice 2015: Business Travelers” by the Forum for Expatriate Management (FEM) reported that over half of organisations surveyed do not provide any personal security training to business travellers.3

International SOS and Control Risks provide a suite of Travel Risk eLearning modules to help prepare the employee pre-travels. The Women’s Security eLearning provides information about the most common threats faced by women travellers, and strategies to mitigate those risks. 

For more information and recommendations for the female traveller, and the full Travel Risk eLearning suite of training products, visit International SOS eLearning.
Notes to Editors

  1. International SOS reviewed travel data gathered from itineraries of travellers between the years 2012–2014. The data was provided by International SOS TravelTracker. A trip abroad is defined as the country of arrival differing from the home country of the traveller.
  2. International SOS and Control Risks assign a travel risk rating to countries based on the threat posed to travellers and expatriates by political violence (including terrorism, insurgency, politically motivated unrest and war), social unrest (including sectarian, communal and ethnic violence) as well as violent and petty crime. Risk ratings range from Extreme, High, Medium, Low, to Insignificant.
  3. Policy in Practice 2015: Business Travelers” by the Forum for Expatriate Management (FEM) is available for download here.