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You rely on your employees to keep your business running. If they drive during business hours, you may be relying on them to keep your business running, literally. That can make you nervous. Relying on others can make you nervous enough, but nothing is more nerve wracking than having employees on the road. You don’t want your employees getting injured, and you don’t want them ruining business cars. Whether behind the wheel of their own car or behind the wheel of a company vehicle, there are things you can do to help keep your employees safe.
Encourage Employees To Get Insured
Your number one job is to make sure your employees are insured. That can be a more difficult to do than it sounds because there many different scenarios when it comes to driving for business.
A few you might have to face include:
- Employees who drive their own car can still be covered by a corporate policy while driving during work hours.
- Everyone who drives a company car should be included on the policy.
- Know the minimum car insurance requirements when renting a car in another state.
Run Background Checks
Up to 95 percent of employers conduct some type of background checks when hiring new employees. That sometimes also includes online credit checks. They are a great way to learn a little bit more about your employees’ pasts, but they can be especially effective if your employees will be driving.
Background checks can reveal dangerous driving behavior that you should know before you hand over the keys to the company car. It doesn’t mean you can’t hire that person if they have caused trouble in the past. It just means you may not want to allow them to drive during business hours.
If you have employees who drive regularly, you may also want to consider drug and alcohol tests to ensure no one is driving under the influence, for both your and their safety.
Establish A Clear Driving Policy
You shouldn’t ever assume your employees know how to behave behind the wheel. As they get comfortable driving day after day, they are likely to allow bad habits to infiltrate their time in the car. That’s why creating a driving guide is so important. There aren’t any rules you have to follow when creating this guide. You can include anything in the guide that reflects your expectations and your company’s mission.
For example, you may want to mention cell phone use in the policy. Expectations for non-businesses related stops should be included too, as well as how and where to pay for gas. Make sure employees know what’s in the driving policy handbook, and refresh their memory with meetings and email reminders when you notice your employees are getting lax with the rules.
Track Driver Activity
You want to trust your employees, but you also want to keep them accountable. That’s especially the case if you’re maintaining a fleet of vehicles that your employees are driving on a regular basis.
If you have company vehicles, you have every right to track driver activity. That might include clocking in and out when using the vehicle so you know exactly how long they’ve been gone, but it may also mean using a GPS tracker. That way, you know exactly where every vehicle has been. You may also want to consider installing disable and unlock features in the vehicle. It will ensure no one gets locked out, but it can also keep your vehicles from being stolen.
Schedule Routine Inspections
Furthermore, most business owners aim to protect employees by offering corporate travel safety tips. You should spend a lot of time focusing on the safety and behavior of your employees behind the wheel. However, you also need to think about vehicle functionality. No amount of safe driving can prevent an accident if the car isn’t properly maintained. That’s why it’s important to schedule routine inspections.
Address issues as soon they are discovered to keep your employees safe. It also means doing regular maintenance on your cars outside of those other things that can go wrong. That includes doing things like:
- Checking fluids, like transmission fluid and antifreeze
- Replacing timing and serpentine belts on schedule
- Changing the oil on schedule
- Checking and replacing batteries
- Replacing bad windshield wipers
- Replacing filters on schedule
- Rotating tires and balancing the alignment
Your employees deserve to be safe behind the wheel, and you deserve peace of mind. With the tips on this list, you’ll get both!
