My Boss Made Me Do It: How Workplace Culture Can Influence Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is an issue that can impact both our personal and professional lives. In fact, the Travelers Risk Index found that work can even be the reason that many people drive distracted. The 2019 Risk Index also cited the following reasons why employees feel pressure to respond to work communications while driving, their reasons include:

• feeling the need to always be available (45 percent)
• worrying it might be a work-related emergency (44 percent)
• fearing they will miss out on something important (31 percent)
• concern that their boss will be upset if they do not answer (20 percent)
• the inability to mentally shut off from work (18 percent)
• using drive time to get a lot of work done (17 percent)

Chris Hayes, a safety professional with the Travelers’ Risk Control team, advises employees, “When your boss calls you while you’re driving, the right response is to let it go to voicemail and check back when you are safely off the road.”

Managers and company leaders also have a responsibility to help set the tone within their teams. Hayes has a specific message for managers. “The first question you should ask when you call an employee’s cellphone is, ‘Are you driving, can you take a call?’ Support them and tell them to call you when it’s safe.”

Learn more about why companies need to discourage distracted driving by watching the video below: