Whether a local commute or further afield, when your employees are travelling for work you must take reasonable steps to protect their health, safety, and wellbeing. 

Here’s what you need to know about duty of care for business travel—and how Uber for Business helps you meet those obligations. To give you and your people peace of mind. 

Writing for HR Magazine, solicitor Andrew Halpin points out that duty of care is a critical but nebulous concept:

“Duty of care is a legal term and there is no specific piece of legislation which defines it. Instead, the courts use several different tests to establish whether a duty of care is owed by one party to another. 

Employers are under a common law duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety, and well-being of employees in all circumstances and should not expose them to unnecessary risks. The duty of care extends to physical and mental health.”

In other words, duty of care refers to your obligation as an employer to take reasonable steps to safeguard your people’s mental and physical health, safety, and well-being.

In some situations, your duty of care responsibility is obvious. For instance, you have rigorous health and safety protocols to help ensure your physical workplace is safe. 

If an employee were to slip on a wet floor in the office that wasn’t marked, there’s a liability risk there. (A risk that can be costly, too. According to Legal Expert, compensation for workplace injuries can range up to £160,000 in the UK.)

Your duty of care also extends beyond the physical office. Whether your employees are commuting, travelling to the airport, or riding to an event or meeting, if they’re on the move for work, then you have a duty of care obligation towards them. 

Travel risk management should be an important consideration as global business travel recovers and many employees start to return to offices. That’s true whether you have a formal business travel programme or not. If your people are travelling for work purposes, you must take reasonable steps to protect their health, safety, and well-being. 

As well as helping protect your organisation from risk, taking appropriate steps to care for your employees can increase employee engagement, retention, and productivity. 

Uber for Business has established robust safety and security measures to help protect your people, as well as specific features to help support your duty of care obligations.

When your employees request a ride with Uber, we’re committed to helping protect them—before, during, and after their trip. 

1 – Vehicle requirements vary by region in accordance with applicable local laws.

As well as the built-in safety features across the Uber app, Uber for Business offers features specifically designed to help business users meet duty of care requirements. 

More than 170,000 organisations globally trust Uber for Business to help keep their business moving—seamlessly and with safety as a top priority. Learn more about Uber for Business.