Domino’s leverages the power of BCD Travel platforms to keep travelers safe, and its ability to manage through the unrest in Hong Kong has proved the strategy’s value. The global pizza company now has a single view of essential employee information, making it easier to find and help its people when a crisis happens—whether they’re traveling for business or commuting to the office.
The seed for this idea was planted in August 2018, in the hours after an attacker stabbed people in an Amsterdam train station. Domino’s knew the whereabouts of its travelers in the area. But it didn’t have a simple way to know if employees living in Amsterdam were safe.
“We needed layered duty of care to make sure we didn’t miss anybody,” said Domino’s Travel & Events Manager Becky Kalucki, who leads the global program from the company’s U.S. headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[/vc_column_text]
Layered duty of care covers travelers and local employees
Kalucki worked with her internal stakeholders in security and human resources, as well as external partners, including travel management company BCD Travel, to come up with a solution. The framework:
- Use a single intelligence and analytics platform, BCD’s DecisionSource®, as the home base for complete employee data, including office addresses, emergency contacts, travel bookings and more.
- Rely on crisis management experts from BCD and International SOS, Domino’s duty of care provider and a partner in BCD’s SolutionSource® marketplace, to monitor and advise on travel incidents worldwide.
- Tap reporting capabilities in DecisionSource to identify travelers and employees who could be affected by an emergency.
- Leverage BCD’s Traveler Care solution to combine DecisionSource intelligence with the traveler communications capabilities in BCD’s TripSource® traveler platform. Alerts advise potentially affected employees of danger and prompt them to check in with a one-click “I’m Safe” button.
Today, the protests and disruptions in Hong Kong are proving the value of Kalucki’s plan. During major rail disruptions, both local employees and travelers in Hong Kong receive alerts advising them to work from home or stay in their hotels—and to avoid trains if they have to go out. The result: Employees stay informed, safe and productive. Some who’ve received “I’m Safe” alerts have sent Kalucki and her team thank-you notes for taking such good care of them.
Strategy boosts compliance: In-policy bookings rise 21 percentage points
The strategy not only improves duty of care, but also traveler compliance because of increased rigor around bookings. Travelers respond positively to messages that explain how following policy increases their safety. “We tell them, ‘It’s great to know you’re in Hong Kong because of your flight reservation, but it’s even better if we know where you’re staying so we can help you in an emergency,’” Kalucki said.
She estimates 90% of Domino’s corporate trips now are booked through proper, in-policy channels. That’s an increase of 21 percentage points since the layered duty of care plan rolled out in December 2018.
“Having all of our traveler and on-the-ground employee information in one single platform is key,” Kalucki said. “DecisionSource has made that very easy.” She shared more than 1,100 itineraries with her human resources and security stakeholders in 2019 alone. Two years ago, fewer than a dozen traveler itineraries were shared among departments.
Partnerships keep travelers moving safely
The protests in Hong Kong continue, as do the related travel risks, and Kalucki relies on her partners to help. When the Hong Kong airport shut down last summer, BCD arranged to fly Domino’s travelers out of airports in mainland China instead. Kalucki gets daily travel security updates from International SOS and BCD’s Global Crisis Management team. She always knows about dangers and disruptions, and she passes crucial information on to employees.
Kalucki said the steady flow of information discourages traveler complacency, which she believes is just as dangerous for seasoned expats and road warriors as inexperience is for business trip newbies. “The updates keep security at the forefront of our minds, and that helps keep our people safe.”
Her plan for 2020 is to increase traveler education about safety. She would like to do even more with data—enhancing traveler profiles, making sure more office information is input into DecisionSource and more.
“Our lives are easier now—for travelers, the travel team, our stakeholders in other departments,” Kalucki said. “The executives upstairs are looking at this and are very pleased.”
