By Jennifer Harrity, SEP
An organization's commitment to inclusion shows up in many ways, including operational decisions relating to something as practical and routine as corporate travel.
Professional services firms, for example, rely on travel to build client relationships, develop business, and elevate brand presence. Conferences, client meetings, leadership summits, and recruiting events are central to growth strategies.
Yet travel is not experienced equally by all professionals. For transgender and LGBTQ+ individuals, and others who may face heightened scrutiny or discrimination due to identity, certain jurisdictions can present real legal, physical, and psychological risks.
An inclusive travel policy is a matter of risk management and talent strategy.
Travel risk is not evenly distributed
For many professionals, an airport layover is a logistical detail. For a transgender employee traveling through an area with restrictive restroom laws or limited nondiscrimination protections, that same layover can create anxiety and exposure. Concerns about identification documents, access to appropriate facilities, potential harassment, or lack of legal recourse are not abstract; they influence whether an employee feels safe representing the organization.
Requiring attendance at conferences in jurisdictions that threaten personal safety or mandating travel through hubs where employees feel exposed places an uneven burden on certain individuals. The same airline ticket that feels routine for one person may feel risky for another. Identical policies do not always produce equitable outcomes.
Organizations focused on creating cultures of inclusion and belonging may need to recognize that flexibility is necessary to achieve balanced outcomes when reviewing travel expectations.
A risk management issue
Organization leaders are accustomed to evaluating exposure across multiple dimensions. They assess regulatory risk, cybersecurity threats, insurance coverage, political instability, and environmental hazards.
Well-developed travel policies already reflect health advisories and security considerations. Personal safety risks tied to identity warrant the same structured analysis.
When developing a comprehensive approach to travel risk management, include a review of local legal frameworks and social conditions that could reasonably affect employee well-being. If a jurisdiction presents heightened risk for certain employees, the organization has both a moral responsibility and a fiduciary incentive to mitigate that exposure.
Consider the reputational consequences of requiring attendance in unsafe environments, particularly if harm occurs. In contrast, the cost of allowing reasonable travel adjustments is typically marginal and predictable.
The talent and retention imperative
The profession is competing in a demanding talent market. Increasingly, professionals evaluate employers based on how values are operationalized in daily practice. An inclusive travel policy signals psychological safety, leadership accountability, and cultural maturity.
Consider the difference between requiring a transgender manager to seek special approval to reroute a layover for safety reasons and empowering employees to make reasonable adjustments without additional scrutiny. In the first case, safety appears negotiable. In the second, trust is institutionalized. Trust supports engagement, productivity, and long-term retention.
The absence of flexibility can create silent attrition. Employees may decline leadership opportunities, avoid high visibility assignments, or ultimately seek employment elsewhere if they perceive that their safety is secondary to convenience.
When you’re ready to review your travel policies, here are 3 tips to kick-start the process:
Consider cost versus consequence
Organizations routinely approve premium travel to protect executive time and client relationships. And perhaps your organization already accounts for travel adjustments that need to be made on the spot.
Protecting employee safety is an equally sound business decision.
If you build flexibility into travel budgets during annual planning, you can offset any surprises and proactively budget for flight options that include more comfortable layovers. Incremental costs of an alternate routing or different layover are modest when compared to lost productivity, potential legal exposure, or reputational damage.Design a forward-looking policy
Inclusive policies strengthen institutional resilience and demonstrate alignment between stated values and operational practice.
A forward-looking travel policy:Allows reasonable adjustments within defined cost parameters
Incorporates multiple elements of safety considerations into conference site selection
Offers virtual participation where appropriate
Prohibits retaliation for declining assignments due to documented risk
Align values with practice
Most organizations articulate commitments to inclusion, belonging, and stakeholder responsibility. The credibility of those commitments is demonstrated by operational decisions.
An inclusive travel policy aligns corporate values with business practice. Now — ahead of strategic planning for the next fiscal year — is a great opportunity to translate commitment into action by creating travel policies that recognize uneven risk and prioritize employee safety.
Protecting employees is prudent governance and sound leadership. Although my blog post is inspired by International Transgender Day of Visibility, the principle of inclusion extends beyond the transgender community. International days of recognition remind us that inclusion is a year-round responsibility. When organizations anticipate risk and remove hurdles, they reinforce a workplace culture where employees can do their best work.
About the expert
With more than 25 years’ experience, Jennifer Harrity, SEP, advises accounting firms and mission-driven organizations on ESG strategy, operations, culture, communications, and stakeholder governance. She has built and led sustainability practices within professional services firms, and she partners with executive teams to align risk management and long-term value creation. Jennifer writes and speaks on inclusive governance, ethical AI, and how firms can translate values into operational policies that protect people and strengthen performance.
About the LGBTQ+ Initiatives Committee
AICPA Diversity and inclusion resources are designed to support or develop a work environment that is inclusive of people with different experiences and perspectives, fostering an accounting and finance profession that is reflective of communities in which they operate and is positioned to innovate to meet the demands of an evolving global economy.
The LGBTQ+ Initiatives Committee is an environment for discussions and actions that encourage inclusive workplaces and representation of LGBTQ+ community members in the accounting profession. Visit the LGBTQ+ Initiatives Committee webpage for more information.