Growing Mobile Workforce Can
Lead to Unforeseen Business Costs

Runzheimer Industry Benchmark Data and Programs Enable Corporations to Increase Profitability and Process Efficiencies through Effective Management of Mobile Employee Programs

July 9, 2009

In today’s fast-paced global economy, at least 50 percent of the workforce is mobile on any given day – whether employees are traveling in vehicles, commercial airplanes or private aircraft, are working remotely at home or from client sites, or are relocating to a new community. According to Runzheimer International, the industry leader in employee mobility programs, with the increasing trend of employees working outside of the office, organizations must become highly competent in managing employee mobility programs to compete effectively. Industry cost benchmarks are available to help businesses better manage this significant and growing expense.

“Taking an integrated and comprehensive approach to managing all aspects of mobile worker programs can provide significant payoff,” said Greg Harper, president, Runzheimer International. “From a cost savings standpoint alone, organizations can improve profitability by 1 to 4 percent simply by making employee mobility a strategic priority.”

The annual Runzheimer Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Report measures key indicators that corporations can use to assess current programs and determine areas of inefficiency. Statistics include:

• Total investments are comparable to health insurance.  
  Organizations are spending an average of $7,208 per-year, per-employee on workforce mobility programs - a cost comparable to providing health insurance. This cost has steadily increased over the past four years.
• High growth firms invest 56 percent more.  Companies that grow by 10 percent or greater annually invest more heavily in mobility programs per employee, compared to companies growing minimally or not at all: $9,566 for high-growth versus $6,119 for low-growth firms.
• Program management tends to be heavily fragmented.  Ownership of corporate mobility programs continues to be widely disbursed across finance, human resources, procurement and administrative departments. Thus it is common for employees to interact with as many as three to four different departments when questions of policy or process arise. The result is often ineffective policies that translate into unnecessary costs and frustrated employees.

Runzheimer International publishes its Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Report annually in September and will host its annual Mobile Workforce Management Forum on September 22, 2009, in Chicago.

#   #   #