Everbridge Inc., a global software company that provides critical event management and enterprise safety applications, announced the findings of its research into the safety of mobile, remote and traveling workers.

The research focuses on how companies approach informing and protecting employees in the case when threats such as an active shooter, terrorist attack, workplace violence, or severe weather put the personal security of mobile employees at risk. With 72 percent of the U.S. workforce expected to be made up of mobile workers by 2020, companies will face new challenges as traditional physical security approaches aimed at protecting employees within company facilities will no longer apply to a majority of the workforce.

Everbridge listed some key findings: 

• an increasingly dangerous business travel landscape;
• organizations are responsible for protecting mobile employees;
• employees are willing to prioritize safety over privacy; and
• employers are challenged with effectively locating and confirming the safety of their mobile employees.

In its newsletter, the Security Industry Association (SIA) concluded that although both employees and employers expect companies to protect them when they are travelling or mobile, there is a gap between these expectations and companies’ abilities to meet them, adding that to be successful, a company must be able to accurately locate, inform and get feedback from employees when a serious threat occurs. 

Visit here to read SIA’s take on the report, and visit here to access the original report.