Benefits December 22, 2010

Firms Need Better Grip on Mobile Workforce

December 22, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A survey from Runzheimer International, provider of services for workforce mobility management, finds effective management of remote employees (54%) is the biggest concern for executives in managing a mobile workforce.
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Despite this concern, employee satisfaction (26%) and competitive advantage (25%) were also ranked as the top benefits gained with a mobile workforce, as well as cost savings.    

According to a press release, survey results indicate companies need to tighten management of mobile workforce programs.  While most survey respondents (60%) believe their companies are effectively managing mobile workforce programs, 33% of these same respondents said they have not yet implemented formal, centralized processes that can be tracked or benchmarked over time. Only 27% of businesses report having centralized management of mobile workforce programs in one department.  

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Respondents said mobile device use and business travel are the fastest growing mobile workforce programs, and characterized virtual office/telecommuting and automobile programs/driving for work as steady/slow growth.  

Runzheimer International makes the following suggestions: 

  • As organizations develop their corporate strategies for the coming year, a detailed review of their mobile workforce programs should be on the agenda, including a close look at employee satisfaction, manager challenges, and cost/return-on-investment.   
  • Opening lines of communication by asking questions related to what employees and managers like or dislike about current programs and what would increase productivity can go a long way toward increasing employee retention and promoting higher levels of customer service.  Formalizing this process through an annual survey and employee reviews offers critical insight. 
  • Third party data that offers industry benchmarks on policy, costs and staff needed to support programs can offer valuable information.  An organization may discover that the number of employees supporting a travel program is above a typical organization by 30% and steps should be taken to tighten policy and automate to reduce administration time.  A comparison of business driver direct spend might reveal a spend 20% higher than the typical benchmark, which means an organization should revisit reimbursement policy.  

 

The Runzheimer survey polled close to 100 executives – director-level and above – from a range of businesses across the U.S. More information is at http://www.runzheimer.com.

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