CWT, the business-to-business for employess travel management platform, and its Energy, Resources, and Marine (ERM) division, found through independent research that only 52% of C-suite and senior executives say their organizations have traveler health and safety programs in place. While only 32% say their organizations measure and report on the effect of traveler wellbeing, according to CWT ERM’s annual report, 2020 Vision: A Close Look at the Well-Being of Traveling Employees, published on 21 November.
This year’s ERM report is the first to focus primarily on the well-being of traveling employees and includes an independent global survey of nearly 400 C-suite executives and senior leaders in the oil and gas industry.
“The energy, resources and marine industries have long been leaders in understanding and addressing health and safety for their traveling workforce, not least because of the complexities ERM travelers uniquely face en route to, and when they arrive at, their often-remote destinations,” said Raphaël Pasdeloup, senior vice president and global head of CWT ERM.
“We’re going beyond just getting employees to their worksites safe and on time. We want to make sure they are rested when they get to work, too,” he added. “As such, we want to encourage organizational cultures that support the well-being of traveling employees while they’re on the job and after they’ve returned to their normal routines through monitoring and measured assessments. As our report shows, more work needs to be done in this area.”
The "Always-on" Work Culture and Effect on Decision-Making
As work-related travel continues to rise and traveling employees are becoming more connected than ever before, the notion of always being on, regardless of the time zone, and the lack of privacy and downtime is making travel more stressful today than in the past, the report finds. And, in ERM, this could pose an immediate safety risk, where fatigue-induced decision-making, while on a rig or inside a mine, could put a worker in harm’s way.
Organizations’ Top Priorities When it Comes to Traveler Wellbeing
Safety and risk mitigation emerged on top of an organization’s highest priorities when it comes to the health and safety of traveling employees, with concerns over productivity, health, and wellbeing coming close behind, according to the report.
In addition to adopting new technologies to manage issues such as fatigue, jet lag, exercise, and nutrition, the report also offers recommendations on building an organizational culture that supports employee wellbeing, including getting buy-in from leaders making travel-related decisions and defining targeted interventions to support wellness while traveling.
About the Survey
The independent survey was conducted through the oilandgaspeople.com, a jobs and news source for the oil and gas industry with over 3 million members. The survey took place in September 2019 with 388 respondents that are C-suite and senior executives in leadership roles in the oil and gas industry globally. About 26% of respondents were from North America; 22% from Europe; 19% from Africa; and 33% from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East.