Companies Lack Insight About Mobile Employees
More than half of the workforce is mobile on any given day, according to new research.
The 2009 Total Employee Mobility® Benchmarking Report, released yesterday by Runzheimer International, analyzes the results of interviews with executives from 90 small, mid-sized and large organizations across the U.S.
Researchers found that each business day, some 51% of employees are mobile –meaning they’re traveling, working from a virtual office or driving for business. That’s an increase of 31% since 2006.
Unfortunately, the report also found that businesses lack insight into management of their employee mobility programs.
It’s not that companies aren’t supporting budgets for mobile employees. In fact, total investment in workforce mobility per-employee, per-year has increased significantly in the last four years and now stands at $7,426.
But, as the data shows, companies simply aren’t managing their mobile workforce well. Specifically, in the case of virtual office programs, almost three-fourths (73%) of respondents have no oversight policies in place. 57% were unable to provide support cost information.
In addition, 64% of those interviewed admitted that corporate travel costs were loosely managed.
“This year’s benchmark report emphasizes where organizational gaps exist for these high value, high cost programs,” says Greg Harper, president of Runzheimer International. “Insight into the effectiveness of employee mobility is essential. Without it, companies risk operational efficiency, liability exposure and employee satisfaction. Given the economic pressure companies are under today, now is the time to focus a strategy around mobile workforce programs. This means centralized management that is measured, tightly structured and optimized to fully support employees.”
The Runzheimer International report also highlights companies that are leaders in mobility best practices. For example:
- USAA (United Services Automobile Association) was recognized for best practices in vehicle management, corporate aircraft management and total employee mobility.
- Thrivent Financial for Lutherans received honors for best practices in travel management.
- Johnson Financial Group was awarded for best practices in virtual office management.
You can read more details from the 2009 annual report here.
