How often do you misbehave on business trips? (Image: Natla Kolava/Flickr)
Be honest: Have you ever done something you’re not proud of while away on business — the kind of thing that you really, really regretted the morning after?
Hey, we’re not judging. And you’re not alone. A new survey of 1,000 business travelers found that 27 percent of them (33 percent of men, 24 percent of women) admitted to binge drinking while out of town on business. And 11 percent (14 percent of men, eight percent of women) said they had picked up a stranger in a bar on a business trip. (Two percent of men said they do that on every one of their trips.)
The survey was conducted by On Call International, a provider of customized travel risk management services to corporations — i.e., making sure employees stay safe when they’re traveling on business. (This is a growth industry; a legal principle called “duty of care” has been cited by courts in holding companies liable for the safety and well-being of their traveling employees.)
Perhaps it’s not surprising that eight percent of the survey respondents said they had lied to their bosses about their misadventures on the road. And four percent, the survey found, had been detained by the police.
The safety risks of binge drinking in a strange city are obvious. As for the other thing, “While it certainly appears that the allure of a one night stand without the constraints of being close to home is tempting to many business travelers, letting one’s guard down in an unfamiliar setting can easily lead to dangerous situations for an individual. This includes assault, robbery and otherwise avoidable accidents leading to serious bodily injury – not to mention reputational damage for the employer,” said Jim Hutton, Chief Security Officer at On Call International.
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