With travel back on the agenda, increased political unrest and global economic challenges, there have been predictions that cases of employee kidnap and ransom could be on the rise. Sarah Dennis looks at how HR can prepare.

Kidnap and ransom are not the sort of thing most HR professionals would expect to have to deal with in their day-to-day work. However, occurrences are far more common than many may think and have been predicted to increase. Risk consultancy Control Risks predicts ransom demands to increase through 2022 and beyond.

Part of the reason for kidnap and ransom happening more frequently than people realise is that they encompass a much wider set of circumstances than the term suggests.

Far from being just the worst-case scenario of an employee being taken hostage and held against their will, kidnap and ransom can happen virtually without any interaction with the individual at all.