How to control and monitor remote employee spend

It can be challenging to regulate a remote employee’s expenditure effectively, especially if they’re on the go or spending irresponsibly.

It’s important for organisations to control remote employee spend without placing an undue burden on workers, especially given the increasing number of people working outside of the office.

If an organisation’s expenses policy still relies on manual, outdated systems like paper and spreadsheets, it can be hard to get a handle on where money is being spent. This makes it nearly impossible for a business to make smart, well-informed business decisions that lead to success.

We have identified three ways to monitor and control remote employee spend:

1. Be transparent with the team

Organisations need to keep their travel and expense (T&E) policies updated and share them with the team regularly to ensure everyone knows how much they’re entitled to spend on what items. Simply communicating clearly can eliminate many out-of-policy expense claims.

Using an automated expense management system can help. It lets employees check expenditure policies instantly, and can prevent out-of-policy claims from being made altogether. This prevents any semblance of unfair treatment and ensures all employees are complying with the same rules.

2. Let smartphones make it easy

Many employees wait until their wallet is bursting with receipts before they put their claims in. Organisations should discourage this inefficient approach by letting people use their smartphones to take photos of receipts, which automatically creates a claim so the employee doesn’t have to. Empowering teams in this way makes it quick and easy for them to submit their claims on the go, making it less of a chore. It also gives employers a real-time view into what’s being spent and by whom.

An automated system also speeds up the process by letting managers review and approve expenses wherever they are. Automatic notifications tell them what action needs to be taken and when, so, even if employees are on the road, the expense claims process is never slowed down. Employees who need to be reimbursed will appreciate this fast turnaround.

3. Automate the booking process

Being able to capture travel spend, no matter where it has been booked, improves visibility into overall spend. Technology that lets remote employees simply forward their booking confirmations, with all spend captured in one place, gives employers faster and more accurate insights.

The key to smarter expense management is gaining full visibility into remote employee spend and helping staff manage their expenses more effectively. Careful planning and consideration can help organisations control expenses and ensure compliance.

Murray Warner, Business Development Director, Concur