James Henderson is the CEO of Healix International.

Imagine you send one of your employees to China for an extended business trip. You soon hear reports from your China-based colleagues who work closely with the employee that they are behaving out of character and they have some concerns about their welfare. The next day, he doesn’t turn up to an important meeting, and his wife calls the office asking where he is. Would your organization know what to do next?

The reality is that workforces today are more mobile than ever. Whether it’s international assignments, back-to-back trips or long stints away from home, mobility is often essential to growth. But the emotional cost of that mobility—stress, isolation or burnout—is easy to overlook until it becomes a crisis. And by then, it’s often too late.

Mobility may fuel business goals, but it also creates fertile ground for mental health issues. Employees can find themselves without familiar support, exposed to cultural isolation, struggling with time zones or far from decent care. Coupled with the pressure to perform and a reluctance to speak up, small problems can quickly turn into big ones.

As business leaders, we need to understand the hidden pressures that arise to protect employees during business trips or long working stints overseas. The challenges they may face, and their impact, don’t always show up straight away. They often build up over time, escalating quickly, and can make it much harder for your organization to support than an issue occurring back at home.

Know who you’re sending, and what they might face.

Before sending any employee overseas, it’s crucial that business owners review the traveler’s personalized risk profile, which considers factors such as gender, sexuality and travel experience. When it comes to poor mental health, age can be a big consideration. In my experience, younger staff may report higher levels of anxiety, depression and burnout. Personal resilience varies according to life, work and travel experience. A lack of travel experience, or in some cases, none, can add stress that requires more preparation and support.

Prevention beats cure.

There are a few common mistakes I see in how organizations approach mental health among mobile staff. Leaders often spring into action only once something has gone seriously wrong—when someone’s burned out, made a mistake or disappeared from communication. But by then, the damage is done. The better route is prevention: Know what to look for and act early.

Business leaders need to be aware of what their organization’s mental health solutions, packages and helplines look like—and make sure the approach is not bundled into wider wellbeing offers, which can be shallow, generic or unreflective of the realities created by different locations, roles and cultures.

Instead, solutions need to offer a structured plan for handling a mental health crisis when it arises, with a clear process and an idea of who to contact in the region. Any approach needs to address local sensitivities, regional risks and cultural norms. Third-party support is an option that can help business leaders avoid cultural misunderstandings that might unintentionally create barriers to accessing the right help.

Business culture can also cause challenges and problems. Without clear policies and staff who are properly trained to support those with mental health issues, employees may not feel safe to share if they are struggling, causing delayed intervention and, ultimately, bigger problems.

So, what should business leaders do?

To avoid the escalation of poor mental health in employees, it’s best practice for organizations to identify and mitigate risk early. To support this, I recommend that business leaders:

• Proactively plan to ensure mental health has been considered as part of your organization’s risk strategies. Look at policies and plans to consider whether they protect individuals or simply tick boxes. What is the plan if things go wrong, and will it really work?

• Carry out trip-specific risk assessments, looking at any risks posed by the location that can be avoided.

• Implement individual screening, looking at what support someone might need before, during and after a trip. Consider how well the individual is equipped to travel overseas, such as their ability to manage local risks and possible culture shocks.

• Ensure protocols are clear. Before a trip, make sure the individual is aware of how they can access help, in real time, should they need it.

• Ensure key roles in your organization, especially line managers, are trained to support mental health. They’re often the first to spot when something’s wrong—but without the right skills, signs can be missed or mishandled. Good training builds empathy, sets clear boundaries and gives staff confidence to act and escalate when needed.

• Do your due diligence when it comes to suppliers and partners, and if needed, call on trusted third parties when you need support. At my company, we supported a client when one of their employees overdosed during a trip. We were able to admit the patient to a private clinic and subsequently arrange their transfer home. We also pre-arranged admission to a mental health hospital upon their return so they could begin treatment.

Conclusion

Good travel risk management now includes mental health as standard. You’ll never remove every risk, but you can do far more to prevent problems than fix them afterwards. And it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s smart business. Employees who feel supported will likely stay longer, perform better and represent your company more positively in front of clients, partners and local teams.

Mental health should travel as well as your best people do. That means investing in training, planning for disruption, and checking in often. It’s not just a duty of care. It’s how you build a workforce that can thrive anywhere.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?