Coronavirus - Business Travel

[flowang]

Good day,

I will apologize in advance if this post is being posted in the wrong forum...

As news of Coronavirus spreads, has your company made any decisions on banning or limiting business travel and groups/meetings?

If yes, would you be able to share/comment on extent of travel ban/restriction and organization(s) that you're getting guidance from (outside of WHO)?

 We are a Canadian-HQ'd company with a vast global footprint.

Thank you in advance,

Florence Wang

Sr Manager, Global Sourcing and Travel Management

[cdecosmo]

All international travel for US-based travelers requires approval from Corporate Security who go off of US State Department guidance. I am currently monitoring all travel booked through Asia in order to get a regional scope. We don't have direct visibility into travel booked by our team in New Zealand so the travel agency we partner with has been asked to inform us of any requests for travel through China.

Side note - We have Concur Locate implemented for our US-based employees and have plans to roll it out globally.

[BStrait]

We are looking at a temporary restriction of travel to China and I am looking for the best way to do this.  We have Concur request and Locate.  China's current risk level is set to 3, but there is a level 5 risk notice issued for travelers from the US.  

to my knowledge, there is no way to manually changet he risk level of the country in Concur and the risk notice cannot be used to route requests to the risk manager.

I believe that i am left with a hard stop audit rule on the request and a travel rule restriction in our booking tool that would restrict booking to China.  We require out TMC to hae an approved request prior to booking any travel, so this will work, but I know that there are going to be exceptions made and i would prefer to have the request flow to the risk manager to address each situation individually.

thoughts?

I am also going to post this to a new thread, but since I read this thread, i thought that I would ask someoene directly about their opinion.

[toriehigh]

This post is a month old, but it's becoming much more relevant now.  At my Washington state based company, the decision was made over the weekend to suspend all upcoming employee business travel.  They will make exceptions, but those require approval of someone at VP level or above. 

I suspect that a lot of companies are going to make this choice in the days to come.  I am very curious to see if Concur opts to cancel the Fusion conference; I know that I won't be able to attend now, and I'm guessing that more and more people will be canceling their trips to Orlando.

Thanks,

Torie Hightower  

[AshleyB]

Hi @toriehigh 

We understand that you have questions about the situation regarding Coronavirus and how SAP Concur is managing the upcoming Fusion event.

We are carefully monitoring the situation and are prepared to help keep our attendees safe and healthy. Find more information here. 

If you need further information, please reference the Center for Disease Control and Prevention travel guidance. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices

[toriehigh]

Hi Ashley,

Thanks for providing that information!  Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter to me any longer, as I've had to cancel my trip to Orlando.  My company opted to suspend all non-urgent business travel for the foreseeable future. 

I am crushed that I won't be able to attend, but I have a feeling that a lot of other companies will take this step in the coming days, especially if they are located in Washington state as we are.

Thanks,

Torie  

[expensebrain]

Well, the local authorities of the countries are so kind to do the decisions for us.

WHO is just one of various sources. Local health institutes have their own estimations, overruling WHO.

For the future, we expect trust levels to be established between combinations of countries. There will be health checks before, during and after travel, also as mandatory ones. Watchlists need to consider the country you started and your destination, but also transit places and last visited places.

Be prepared to spend more time and effort in healthcare processes, ending up in more complex routings and entry permits. Rules can change anytime.

There is no guarantee anymore that you will reach your destination, or that you will be allowed to return home. People will get stuck in transit and in destinations. Find your way to help them.

Examples?

- Switzerland is completely closed for 6 months. No one without a Swiss passport or a residence permit is allowed to enter. But you can leave without control. What if... the Austrian officer at the other side of the bridge is refusing entry, and you are not a Swiss citizen? You will not be allowed to return to Switzerland, but you are not allowed to enter Austria. Stuck on a bridge.

- Emirates Airline has launched mandatory blood tests before boarding. These will give you the right to enter the aircraft. Unfortunately, it is not clear if you will be allowed to enter your destination, as they will have their own rules.

- Austria starts opening borders, but only for Germans. People from Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic and the other direct neighbors have different restrictions. Each of these. 

So the question for the future will be: how can you guarantee safe transport and accomodation and return for your employee of Serbian nationality (non-EU), living in Austria with a German working contract, travelling to Canada? If you found the solution, you are well prepared for the times to come. And please let me know if so 🙂