work trip not what it seemed :/

[biokult]

Accepted a job of which international travel was involved, was very lucky in that I had a couple offers, which I turned down for my current position. Country is considered unsafe, however the insitute I would be based at is in a tourist-y area which is why I was comfortable agreeing.

Things have been very rushed due to lack of staff, and feel like my queries are not being answered.

My current dilemna is thus: a member of the team mentioned they would be based at a certain site, which was not the area I had expected to working in. I would then be expected to commute there via taxi, or "maybe collegues can drop you". I said no problem, assuming that if it was part of their company the area would also be fine.

Have since looked up the area and it is dodgy AF, yougov strongly recommend avoiding this and similar neighbourhoods. If you must go there you should have a local guide/security. Cabs will often refuse to pick you up from there due to high crime rate. I do not want to rely on collegues I do not for lifts in case they let me down and I am stuck.

I have agreed to the trip, although had this detail been made clear I would've said no. I feel like no precuations have been put in place, or discussed with me.

Please help me navigate this. My sister & her partner (who I live with) are being incredibly unhelpful, telling me to quit on the spot and no job is worth my life or being assualted etc etc. Obviously this is true, but I also want to maintain good working relationships and ideally not be unemployed!

Pretty pissed off tbh, anyone been in similar situations?

I used to work for a large organisation that had offices all over the world and the major marketing point was the organisation was concerned “with safety” .…of their clients assets lol but not the staff sent out to deal with them, and offering “risk managment services” but not being overly concerned about the risks their staff were forced to take.

I can think of many examples of managers being keen to rush you out for jobs but not overly giving a fig for staff safety or welfare. One colleague turned up to find very unsafe conditions (he was at risk of being electrocuted and spent time making sure the installation was safe before getting on with the job, but got bollocked by a senior manager for taking too long “time is money” and “the client is unhappy you raised the issue” (and this one was in the UK!). One employee killed in an accident at work where another was seriously injured. (All I can remember is a senior manager remarking that there were now two vacancies at a “popular” posting no “let’s learn the lessons of this accident so it doesn’t happen again”. Another employee who was killed in a developing country when his hotel balcony gave way, and the organisation at first didn’t want to pay his widowed partner any life insurance (until strike action was threatened).

I wonder if it’s the same organisation OP!

You are right to be concerned, OP. I'm not sure how Manila compares to this place but we got a car and driver when we lived there. I would not consider doing this unless they take care of you properly. You will stick out like a sore thumb and it's not like you can just blend in - and some of these cities are as scary AF in places.

If they are not willing to ensure your safety, I would terminate the contract.

For all those telling OP that she is overreacting, why don't you go to one of these high risk places? It's not like an all inclusive holiday.

It’s not a question of overreacting, it’s confidence, if safety is a concern now it’s only going to get worse, so best refuse the posting and accept any consequences.
A great many countries have safety and security warnings including the UK, some US citizens won’t travel to the UK because of terrorism warnings.

Hi OP,

In case it helps, in normal times I both work in and manage a travelling team. All company policies vary (sometimes we’re working alongside other companies with other policies, so there is no absolute ‘what’s right’, just risk based judgement calls. we go to many counties where the foreign office advises against travel. Our processes:

A trip summary is done, usually by the person doing the travelling. I wouldn’t send someone entry level anywhere on their own, so entry level staff would be sent with someone more senior who would do the trip paperwork, so ideally once someone is ready to go on their own they’ll know the process. Where this falls down is when someone with a bit of experience is recruited as they would be expected to travel in their own and take charge of trip organisation. So I’m assuming that’s the category you’re in.
The trip summary is looked at by the line manager and travel dept and will kick off certain processes, for example we subscribe to security updates that are sent through to the traveller. Accommodation is recommended by the travel department and usually booked directly unless you you have a reason for them not doing do, if you’re unhappy with what they book it’s a battle to stay where you want but they would argue that they only use ‘known’ hotels. If travelling to high risk areas then theres a conversation between traveller, line manager and travel team about what external support is required, eg daily check in calls to make sure someone is ok.
A risk assessment is done by the traveller. Always the traveller as they will know their own trip and they need to be familiar and agree with mitigations in place. But it’s based on our standard risk assessment for travelling (which you’d be told where to find) then modified to take into account region or trip specifics so you look at what other people had put in previous risk assessments for that region if available. So you should be shown where these are. Standard mitigations are no travelling at night, no lone travelling in certain regions, known taxi company to be used, pre-booked travel from hotel to work site only, etc. One place I only travelled with a local staff member as they knew the city (we had to go through some very dodgy regions on the way to the site and I 100% would have got lost if driving myself!) so they accompanied me everywhere, etc. This risk assessment is reviewed by your line manager and if high risk (defined either by region rating or other factors eg 2 years ago all travel was classed as high risk due to Covid) then the risk assessment is also reviewed by a director who signs off that it can go ahead, they’ll usually ask for further info about mitigations.
When travelling there is 24 hour on call manager support if something isn’t right, in reality I wouldn’t wake someone up in the middle of the night unless the sky was falling in but it’s good to know it’s there.
We have a policy that anyone can call stop at any time if they’re not happy, and employees do. And they are backed up by management - always, no questions asked (well not at the time, there’s always a review afterwards). But the other side to that is that we expect employees to take charge of their own safety as frankly I can’t do anything for my team if I’m not there and they know more, all I can do is facilitate stopping or modifying work, if and only if I know what’s going on.
examples I’ve had:

• employee says to me they’ve been to a site and they didn’t feel safe - great info, we talk about why and agree that anyone going to that site again shouldn’t go alone. Work risk assessment modified to reflect this.


• employee calls in to say their trip site has changed due to logistics regions - no action taken as no reason to think new site is any more dodgy.


• trip logistics change so that employee travelling into high risk area at night and they won’t have slept - trip extended and arrangements changed so they’re put up in airport hotel to facilitate daytime travel


• etc

personally I think risk assessments are over used as arse covering. They have their use, mainly so any employee realises their high risk activities and mitigations can be considered. But more important is the confidence to call stop if they’re getting put in an unsafe situation. So eg if you’re working at a dodgy site and are asked to go out for a meal in the area then make your own way home - you say no. If you’re asked to nip out for an errand - you explain that you need a local staff member with you (or say no).

I’ve refused to do an activity on a job before, no biggie, I just explained I wouldn’t do it and why.

It's interesting that quite a few of you read judgement into my post, when in fact there was none.

The capabilities and temperament of the specific individual in any given situation are key to a realistic assessment of risk. Far more so than any official FCO travel advice. That is what I was trying to convey. There is no 'safe or not' for all. It is important to know and accept your limits, your experience, your possible responses to various risk scenarios. The answer will not be the same for everyone. Who you are will affect the likelihood, the trajectory and the outcome of any potential incident.

The poster who wrote that they 'wouldn't notice a kidnap attempt until the bag was over their head' has made a robust self-assessment. This inspires confidence and trust, and makes clear what mitigations would be needed.

The capabilities and temperament of the specific individual in any given situation are key to a realistic assessment of risk. Far more so than any official FCO travel advice. That is what I was trying to convey. There is no 'safe or not' for all.

I agree with this. It’s why someone needs to be able to have the confidence to make on site safety decisions based on their own capability. Eg I am confident in my driving ability (been driving for years, frequently drive other vehicles). So will happily drive in other countries if appropriate. I also have the ability to sleep on flights. So its more appropriate that I drive straight after a journey than someone who has just passed their test who doesn’t sleep when travelling.
However I have the sense of direction of a peanut. When going round a roundabout I have to count junctions as I have no idea how far I have turned. So it’s not appropriate to have me driving on my own if I have to navigate between and on the edge of dangerous areas as I’d drive straight into them.

OP, I have travelled internationally for work for years. Some places definitely weren't safe and it always involved a lot of planning, even to the places that were considered safe.

When that planning started to slip I immediately felt the effects of it. Anything from my paperwork not being in order and therefore not allowed to board a plane to issues with flights and hotels and it was an absolute nightmare. I was exhausted after each trip. And then I still had to start the project.

A company may be reputable, but that doesn't mean they have their shit in order. In your case I would resign. This is not worth the risk. You have other experienced profesional travellers in your life telling you so. Please listen to them.

@biokult how has this ended up after chat with your line manager?

Any update @biokult ?