At least 50% of the workforce is mobile on any given day -- traveling by car or plane, working from home or a client site, or relocating to a new site. While few businesses could operate effectively without that mobility, it does come at a price. Greg Harper, president of Runzheimer International, a workforce mobility program provider, notes: "From a cost savings standpoint alone, organizations can improve profitability by 1 to 4% simply by making employee mobility a strategic priority."
Based on its Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Report, Runzheimer reports that organizations are spending an annual average of $7,208 per employee on workforce mobility programs involving business vehicles, business travel, corporate aircraft, employee relocation and compensation, and virtual offices. This cost is comparable to providing health insurance and has been increasing steadily for the past four years.
High-growth firms (defined as those growing 10% or more annually) invest an average of 56% more than firms with little or no growth -- $9,566 for high growth versus $6,119 for low-growth firms.
Runzheimer found that mobility program management tends to be heavily fragmented. The company reports that ownership of these programs is disbursed across finance, human resources, procurement and administrative departments. As a result, it is common for employees to interact with as many as three to four departments when a question of policy or process arises. Runzheimer says the result is often "ineffective policies that translate into unnecessary costs and frustrated employees."
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