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The pandemic, though terrible, has given us much-needed time to pause, reflect, and perhaps make some changes to the way we live our lives. We have a chance to reevaluate what is really important to us. What brings us happiness? What drains our energy? What experiences add meaning to our days? Which ones take it away? We have an opportunity to face this challenge in a way that makes us better people.

Businesses are on a parallel path. With the diminishing of old norms comes the possibility of reimagining our old processes. That has brought about an acceleration of technology adoption across virtually every industry. Still, there’s another storyline emerging as well—the rise of what Heather E. McGowan calls The Human Capital Era. McGowan believes that the workforce has exhibited incredible resilience and creativity during the pandemic. They’re “an asset to develop rather than a cost to contain.”

I’m all for it.

Everyone knows the term “return on investment”—or “ROI”—meaning you get more monetary value out of something than what you put into it. But money is not the only measure of value. As we take stock of our business and personal lives, I think we should re-establish a lesser-recognized concept: return on experience.

Return on experience is significantly more objective than a return on investment since the measurement varies by opinion rather than hard numbers.

For example, we all have gone out to have dinner and found that the bill was more expensive than expected. Maybe the food was just so-so, you had a long wait time, or the server was brusque. Whatever the reason, it just wasn’t a great experience. But you might gladly pay twice as much for dinner where the food is delicious, or the service is kind and attentive. That’s what I think of as return on experience—getting value beyond what money can buy.

We embrace this concept more easily in our personal lives, where there’s less accountability for how we spend our money. For example, pre-COVID, I enjoyed traveling with my wife and two kids. Those trips were expensive, even after accounting for the hotel points and airline miles I’d collected. But the memories will stay with us forever, long after the cost has been absorbed and forgotten.

When you think about your business and your accounts payable team, what is the return on experience from antiquated methods like processing checks? What is the opportunity for growth? One person can’t cut or sign checks much better than another. There’s a limit to the impact you can have by stuffing checks in envelopes every week. It’s the opposite of a good experience.

Incorporating automation in your back office is a good way to tackle ROI and ROE simultaneously. When you have removed mindless tasks from your AP team’s plates, they are free to spend their energy on more interesting, strategic, and valuable tasks. I think that’s an initiative that’s well-aligned with the Human Capital Era.

As we re-examine our lives and our businesses, let’s remember what it means to evaluate something in the first place: to judge or calculate the quality, importance, amount, or value of something. And in that calculation, consider the return on experience in terms of your business, beyond money. It’s about setting yourself and your employees up to live and work in a high-quality environment—one that encourages personal and professional development.

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Derek Halpern is Senior Vice President of Sales for Nvoicepay, a FLEETCOR Company. He has over 20 years of technology sales and leadership experience, including 16 years in the fintech and payments space.

Organizations have made significant changes to enable working from home – but what has it meant for employees, and specifically their expense claims?

New data released by AppZen, the leading AI solution for modern finance teams, reveals how the pandemic and remote work have impacted company expense reports.

CEO Anant Kale provides insights into the findings and how companies should take note when it comes to how to handle employee expenses moving forward.

Why did AppZen do the survey and what were the primary findings?

We surveyed 1,000 workers of companies with at least 250 employees, to gain insight into how companies have adapted new expense policies and how those changes have impacted employees.

AppZen’s research shows the drastic shift from office to home working and the importance of clearly stated policies. 17% worked remotely prior to COVID, spiking to 83% during the pandemic.

We also found 75% of employees submitted work from home expenses during the pandemic versus 69% of employees who submitted expenses pre-COVID.

The findings also shed light on the importance of clear policies. 83% of employees who received an updated policy said their employer fairly compensates them for work from home-related expenses compared to only 29% of employees at companies where the policy was not updated due to COVID.

What are employees submitting expenses for?

Our findings show claims for internet usage at home rose 6% and 46% of companies are reimbursing their employees for internet during COVID.

While the pandemic has led to different kinds of expenses for workers, only 29% of employees feel they are fairly compensated for these new types of work from home expenses – such as childcare. And what’s more, only 26% say they feel uncomfortable about actually claiming these types of expenses.

How do gender and position play a role in expense reports and company reimbursements?

AppZen’s data shows differences among executives and non-executives in the expense report process and a gender divide.

Women are less likely (59%) than men (80%) to feel fairly reimbursed for work from home-related expenses.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the C-suite and company executives are more likely to have company credit cards and expense accounts while the majority of employees are reimbursed for work-related expenses paid for with their own money.

The COVID lockdown had a disproportionate effect on the shift to work from home on specific jobs and roles. 42% of business owners/business partners and 37% of sales managers worked from home prior to the COVID lockdown.

What can companies learn from this survey?

Our research has highlighted some of the challenges faced by organizations during the COVID pandemic. Most have resulted from a lack of action or, to be more precise, a lack of proactive steps to adapt to the changing situation. Here are 3 recommendations for organizations; to re-engage with their workforce, and to build a modern, repeatable structure for managing expenses and change moving forward.

Embrace work from home expenses

Expense types have changed. Employees are not claiming classic travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses – but are claiming new types of work from home-related expenses. These include one-off items such as office chairs, external monitors, and desks; subscription costs such as internet usage; and COVID-specific items like hand-sanitizer and face masks.

Organizations need to adapt their expense policies quickly to embrace this changing environment. The new policies need to be clear, fair and configured in a software system that can apply them the second they are activated.

Ongoing review and adaptation of policies

Crises come and go but what we have learned from COVID is that the ability to adapt and roll out new policies quickly and dynamically is the cornerstone of resiliency.

Best practice organizations will utilize their AI-enabled expense management platforms to automatically identify trends and changes in expense behavior – but all enterprises should create adaptive policy frameworks to ensure policies receive regular reviews.

With new policies in place, the organization should proactively communicate the changes and why the changes have been made. The first time such as significant change is made, the communication should be as visible and personal as possible – webinars or video meetings are Ideal in this situation.

But communication should not stop after the initial flurry of activity. Reinforcement of the new policy rules and regulations is an essential tool for ensuring maximum understanding and compliance.

Listen to employee concerns

We see several unexpected nuances in the research. From a perception that senior executives are getting preferential treatment, to women feeling less well compensated for work from home expenses, these nuances can only be truly understood by talking to staff.

CFOs understand the cost of perpetuating harmful industry and societal practices. This can cost the company valuable employees and put the company at risk of blowback. Through analytics and rapid adaptability, finance leaders are equipped to change these practices and therefore the overall health of the business.

In addition, organizations should create a regular cadence for feedback from staff. This ongoing dialogue should be at least quarterly and involve both the finance team and leaders from within the business. By actively eliciting details of employee concerns, the organization can continually develop and refine policies that fairly compensate employees for out-of-pocket expenses.

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For more information, recommendations, and a look at the full report, visit: https://www.appzen.com/blog/four-ways-for-finance-teams-to-avoid-employee-disengagement-during-covid/

Uncover New Opportunities from a Return on Experience

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