BEING PRODUCTIVE
E
nter into most any business environment today and it is immediately apparent that the way the workforce operates is very different from how it did ten – or even five – years ago. The workforce continues to become more mobile as people work outside of the office, travel for businesses and reside in different locations around the globe. But while the benefits can be significant in terms of productivity and effectiveness, the growing mobile workforce also brings with it unforeseen costs and risks that threaten short and longterm effectiveness for businesses without structured management and measurement in place to address them. Take into consideration recent findings from interviews with executives from 90 small, mid-sized and large organizations across the U.S.: • Fifty-one percent of the workforce is mobile on any given day, whether traveling, working from a virtual office or driving for business. This number has increased by 31 percent since 2006. • Total cost of workforce mobility peremployee, per-year, has increased significantly in the last four years, and currently stands at $7,426. This number increased by three percent year-over-year and is significant when compared to budget cuts companies have enforced in areas like IT Security, HR Training, Marketing and Legal Counsel in 2009. • Businesses lack insight into management of employee mobility programs. In the case of virtual office programs, 73 percent of respondents have no policies in place and 57 percent were unable to provide support cost information. Sixty-four percent of organizations reported that corporate travel costs were loosely managed. • Mobile workforce program ownership often involves multiple departments. More than 80 percent of employees fall into multiple categories of drivers, travelers and virtual office, and often need to interact with three to four different departments regarding policies and systems. • In many cases, companies are not aware of how the money they are spending on employee mobility is benefitting the organization. In the case of virtual office programs, 56 percent are unaware if the programs they have instituted are productive. 40
Managing
Mobility
From cell phones to laptops to home offices to business travel, today’s mobile workforce can be an expensive proposition. Businesses need to make managing those costs a priority. By Greg Harper, President, Runzheimer International
This data reveals where gaps exist for high-value, high-cost mobile workforce programs. Without insight into the effectiveness of these programs, companies are taking chances with operational efficiency and are more susceptible to liability exposure and damaging employee satisfaction.
Taking Control of Employee Mobility While employee mobility is not a strategic corporate initiative for all organizations, those companies that have put an emphasis on the mobile workforce are seeing a tangible, positive impact. For example, USAA – a company of www.buildingindiananews.com