Corporate travel policies not addressing use of sharing economy services

An International SOS survey revealed that while sharing economy services are becoming more commonplace in corporate travel, 75 per cent of organisations lack policies that address their travellers’ use of such services.

According to the survey, which polled business travellers and travel managers, 40 per cent of respondents used services like Uber and Airbnb when travelling abroad for business and almost half of respondents anticipated their use of shared transport services would grow.

The study further found that 40 per cent of travellers did not know if their organisation considered such services to be safe.

Tim Daniel, executive vice president at International SOS, said: “While there are many benefits to using these types of services, it’s important that organisations realise that using sharing economy services for business-related travel creates new risks and challenges that need to be managed and mitigated.”

Meanwhile, more than half of the respondents indicated they didn’t know whether their organisation had considered the legality of sharing services in certain countries.

Steve Bell, partner Herbert Smith Freehills, said: “Employers sending workers overseas should understand the laws in their destination country, the relative risk profile of sharing economy services compared with traditional services, and above all be guided by their duty of care to their workers.”

Adding that sharing economy services may be more appropriate in some locations than others, Rob Walker of International SOS and Control Risks cautioned against a “a one-size-fits-all policy”, which he said is “unlikely to meet duty of care obligations to travellers”.

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