Hostage training and hours of pre-trip preparation signal the terrifying new reality of traveling for work

Large-cap companies have taken significant steps to tack on more proactive protection protocols like armed guards, defensive drivers, and zero-trust cybersecurity systems. But not everyone in the business world has security personnel. 

Thompson “didn’t have his team with him, and he was alone,” said Jake Newton, chief operating officer for CPPS, a travel risk management training provider. So sometimes it is up to the individual to protect themselves. Rank-and-file executives can undergo hostage situation training, research their destinations, create pre-travel checklists, and do little things like making sure their phones are always charged, said Newton during a Global Business Travel Association event on Thursday. 

So first things first: make a checklist of what you can do before you even leave for your business trip, he said. Pull up a map and check out the area for hospitals, bodies of water, and important routes. Identify local laws, look up crime statistics, and be aware of safety considerations. Notify the state department any time you leave the United States, Newton explained. But there are things your company can do, too.

Companies can put preparation teams in place, where a travel manager, security personnel, and someone in benefits and insurance come together to plan—that’s all before actual training. There’s geographical training that goes hand in hand with the preparation to-do list. There’s training for high-risk travel, where you literally practice hostage situations, he shared. And there’s training for the basics, which begins with understanding your personal risk.

“Every traveler in an organization should have a baseline awareness level training,” Newton said. “So let’s say you have some information that you don’t want getting out to the public, or you have some intellectual property knowledge that maybe if you’re traveling to a country they might desire that information, that increases your risk as an individual.”

Those are scenarios you can anticipate and practice in a safe environment, so that if you’re ever in a dangerous situation, you know what to do. But once you’re actually there, don’t forget the small things: charging your phone and knowing important phone numbers and addresses. 

To mitigate the risk of something bad happening, pay attention, be aware of your surroundings, and try to blend in, Newton explained. Avoid telling people what hotel you’re staying at and what room you’re in. Let’s say you’re at a conference and some tension erupts—don’t stay and watch, just leave, Newton said. 

A new era for corporate security 

After Thompson’s murder some companies escalated their spending on executive security and others were already allocating millions of dollars to protect their bosses. For instance, Meta spent $23.4 million on security for founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to its most recent proxy statement. Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson increased their spending for security for its top executives last year. The former spent almost $74,000 on security for CEO David Ricks, and that was the first time security costs were disclosed; the latter spent close to $103,000 on security for CEO Joaquin Duato, and that was four times as much as it previously had, per Reuters. 

The average disclosed cost of security for the full executive team was more than $400,000, and the highest disclosed cost was close to $7 million, revealed an analysis of the 500 largest public companies conducted by Compensation Advisory Partners (CAP), a consulting firm that specializes in executive compensation and corporate governance.

For CEO security, the average cost was around $650,000; and, the highest was $23 million in the technology sector. Among the 10 companies that spent the most on CEO security, the median cost was $1.8 million, CAP found. It typically went to home and personal security systems and security personnel.