Work is Changing, and Right Tools Prepare HR and Employees

For businesses and HR leaders seeking to attract and keep talent, improve the employee experience, ensure duty of care, and increase productivity, some statistics point to the challenges involved: 

• 54% of HR leaders say manual processes or procedures make it challenging to enable work from anywhere.¹ 
• 59% say employee frustration with expense processes causes a large or very negative business impact.² 
• 43% of business travelers say the most stressful part is planning, booking, and organizing a trip.³ 
• Only 39% say their business is very or completely effective at managing duty of care.⁴ 

Employees want to do good work, but those challenges can get in the way. And in the way of HR leaders and teams trying to create an environment where good work can happen.  

Help for HR Leaders Navigating Workforce Change 

Explore how HR can enhance employee experience, talent recruitment and retention, productivity, and duty of care, and how the right T&E processes and solutions can help. 

Read the whitepaper

The challenges cut both ways. Employees are frustrated by gathering receipts to submit expense reports and often delay filing reports, which hinders the company’s view of spending. Many employees want to work from home or in a hybrid manner, but the company lacks processes and technology to effectively support them. Business travelers want the flexibility to book outside of corporate booking channels, making it harder for employers to see costs and itineraries and complicating duty of care.  

A new whitepaper, Preparing for Perpetual Workforce Change, examines trends and how HR leaders can more effectively manage the shifts that have taken place and make themselves ready for change that will come. That, of course, requires a multipronged strategy, but one approach leaders can take is advocating for a modern, intelligent travel and expense system at their businesses.  

Keeping Employees Satisfied 

Few employees want to spend their time trying to divine the meaning of travel and purchasing policies. They’d rather focus on meaningful work instead of distractions. Automated T&E solutions can provide them flexible travel choices, the consumer-like booking experience they’re used to, simplified receipt and expense capture, and clear in-app guidance that helps them make preferred and even sustainable choices.  

Attracting and Retaining Employees 

With cloud-based, AI-infused solutions, employees can work where they choose, and HR has the tools to support them. Processes and technology can be applied across locations, limiting frustration and simplifying onboarding and movement within the company. Planning and making trips are easier, which is something that’ll be appreciated by employees who recognize how essential travel is to careers. Overall, the solutions help companies demonstrate their commitment to employee values and preferences. And that can be a recruiting tool. 

Making Everyone More Productive 

When processes are burdensome, employees put off paperwork for expenses, mileage, or anything else that takes time to do or figure out. Sometimes they do the chores after hours, cutting into personal time. Or they must block out valuable pieces of the workday to catch up. Automated solutions cut down on delays, because travelers can snap a picture of a receipt, which is then read and itemized. Mobile tools let managers approve expense reports quickly, no matter where they are. HR and other policies are quickly updated, and employees know about that change right away. The time saved is productivity. 

Delivering Duty of Care 

It’s simple. You can’t help employees or keep them safe if you don’t know where they are. Automated, agile, and mobile T&E solutions help companies locate travelers and keep them apprised of changing flights, conditions, or other factors affecting their trips and safety. They collect itinerary details from multiple sources and supply information on neighborhoods, political unrest, health outbreaks, and matters of concern LGBTQ+ employees. HR and other teams can keep in touch with employees, and employees can do the same. Before and during travel, the tools are in place to fulfill duty of care.   

The nature and location of work will continue to evolve, as will the needs, preferences, and values of employees. Few in business are better positioned to understand and respond to the change than HR leaders and their teams. Read the whitepaper for resources to help prepare for the future.   

1. Harvard PR, “Work from Anywhere” Research, conducted on behalf of SAP Concur, July 2023.  

2, 3. Empower the Future of Work with Intelligent Travel and Expense Solutions, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consult on behalf of SAP Concur, May 2023. 

4. Oxford Economics, Empowering Your People, 2022