Study: companies with mobile workers paying more business miles

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Updated Aug 6, 2018

 

The Motus platform helps companies automate the process of tracking mileage and reimbursing employees for business use of personal vehicles.The Motus platform helps companies automate the process of tracking mileage and reimbursing employees for business use of personal vehicles.

Mobile workforces are growing and more companies are reimbursing employees for use of personal vehicles.

A new report by Motus, a vehicle management and reimbursement platform, shows industry data on vehicle reimbursement programs and best practices. The company’s new Workforce Mobility Benchmark Report includes data from more than 2,000 companies spanning multiple industries – including food and beverage, manufacturing, retail, business and professional services.

Based on this year’s survey results, the top challenges facing businesses with mobile workers include cost control (26 percent), followed closely by risk and liability exposure (23 percent). The report also found that vehicle reimbursement programs are 32 percent less expensive than company-provided vehicles.

Findings in the 2018 Workforce Mobility Benchmark Report also include:

  • Mobile workers are driving more for business. In 2017, organizations reported the highest average business mileage of the past five years.
  • Seventy percent of organizations report requiring “minimum levels of auto insurance” for vehicle reimbursement programs, but only 55 percent “collect documentation to confirm that mobile workers have up-to-date insurance coverage.”
  • Only 39 percent of companies use a reactive approach like “defensive driving courses” for employees with multiple Motor Vehicle Record infractions (traffic violations); 15 percent report “no consequences.”
  • Company-provided vehicles remain the most expensive option – organizations report that fleet vehicles cost nearly 11 percent more than the average vehicle program spend per mobile worker.
  • Use of automated mileage tracking is increasing. Organizations report a nine percent year-over-year increase in the use of GPS-verified mileage.
  • Companies have limited visibility into field sales activities – only 22 percent of organizations “can quantify the work habits of top field sales performers.”
  • More than one-third of organizations that have vehicle allowances have not reviewed their vehicle allowance amounts within the past six years.

Motus says its mobile app and cloud-based technology enables employers to reimburse their business drivers fairly and accurately based on actual costs related to the business usage of their personal vehicles. Motus also offers Driver Safety Solutions, a suite of driver safety assessments, motor vehicle record checks, employee insurance verification, and individualized, web-based safety training and employee risk profiling. The suite has enabled employers to reduce collision rates by 35 percent on average, it says.

“As the workforce evolves, choosing the right vehicle program can be difficult for businesses with mobile workforces,” said Craig Powell, CEO of Motus. “The goal of this report is to make it easier for these businesses to make informed decisions about the methods they use to reimburse and support mobile workers.

To access the full report, visit https://resources.motus.com/reports/2018-mobile-workforce-benchmark-report.