Let’s imagine you’re a travel manager for a company tasked with sending a sizable crew out to a project:
- You’ve managed to tackle all the usual tasks associated with getting a project off the ground.
- You’ve come up with a plan to get your crew to the site.
- You’ve booked them suitable accommodation.
- You’ve done your best to ensure they have everything they need during their stay.
- You’ve managed to stay within your budget.
Now you’re ready to move to the next phase of the plan.
However, as we all know, even the best-laid plans often go awry, and often it seems what can go wrong, will go wrong.
Missing or Rescheduled/Canceled Flights:
One of the most frustrating situations for a workforce crew is missing a flight or encountering sudden flight rescheduling or cancellations. Such circumstances can result in significant delays, additional costs, and increased stress for your employees.
Natural Disasters and Extreme Weather:
Mother Nature's unpredictability can disrupt the best-laid plans. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, blizzards, thunderstorms, and tornadoes can create unsafe conditions for your workforce crew. Whether already on the job or en route to the work site, workers forced to wait out a storm or redirect due to unpredictable weather are going to require assistance.
Misplaced Documents:
Misplacing essential documents like passports can be a nightmare, especially when traveling for work. The stress and potential delays caused by such incidents can hinder productivity, impact employee morale, and have long-term manpower implications if workers are delayed for more than a short period of time.
Car Accidents:
With workforce crews on the move, whether it’s from the airport to the work site, or to and from their accommodations, accidents are going to happen. An unfortunate consequence of having so many people moving to and fro, car accidents occur unexpectedly, potentially resulting in injuries, damage, and legal complications.
When Calgary-based Citadel Drilling recognized a need for additional support and efficiency to help manage the complexities of workforce travel, they engaged with a trusted travel advisor to help them streamline their emergency travel management.
With rigs operating in Texas and New Mexico and regularly rotating up to 35 technicians, managing the moving pieces can be a juggling act even at the best of times. Throw in some unexpected adversity in the form of a freak winter storm in Texas, and the benefits of Duty of Care became all too apparent.
“It’s helped so much with flight cancellations, delays, changes and the communication is much better,” said Alex Meaver, Human Resources Administrator for Citadel Drilling.
“That's usually the biggest problem that we face. We can let our team know if they have to hurry and even send gate numbers to warn them beforehand so they’re not in the dark. They get off the plane, they know exactly where they have to go. They know if they're still going to make it.”
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