One Solution for All Personal Asset Reimbursement?

Think about everything that helps you do your job. We’re talking things you cannot function without. Your computer? Your internet connection? A cup of coffee (or two)? Maybe your phone? Take enough time and you’ll find yourself with quite a list. And you’re just one person. What about everyone else at your company? There’s bound to be some overlap and some outliers. But let’s focus in on three personal assets that stand out: cars, phones and home internet connection.  

Remove any of these necessary elements from a business – especially one that requires some travel for workers. Where is a company without employees driving for work? What happens to a business when employees can’t use phones to communicate with team members, customers and prospects? How do you benefit from employees working from different locations if they can’t connect to the rest of the company?  

It’s an alarming scenario, but it isn’t hard to imagine the productivity drop. These assets are vital to day-in, day-out business. When the programs that support them are working, you shouldn’t have to think about it. But too often, something comes up. The likely culprits are cost, compliance and convenience. Managing them all from one partner can make it so you never have to think about these issues again. How? Let’s get into it. 

Cost 

Budgets are essential to the operation of any business. Certain items remain in the budget, even in economic turmoil: payroll, rent, static operations costs. Others have a little more wiggle room. That’s especially true of travel and expense. It’s not always a question of what’s the cheapest. Sometimes it’s a question of value: “What are we getting for what we’re spending? Is that enough? Can we make changes as we grow?” 

For a lot of companies, the program provides value simply because they don’t know that alternatives exist. Time and time again, we meet with companies that had no idea there were other options, ones better suited for the company than their current programs. And when they realize what they’re getting for what they’re paying, versus what they could be getting… the question of cost returns. Let’s look at a real-life example: 

When a company uses one partner to meet their personal asset reimbursement needs, they don’t have to worry about potential alternatives. One of our customers started out with changing from fleet vehicles to having workers use their personal vehicles for work. They needed a solution to help them manage reimbursing people equitably and quickly for the use of their car, but also to keep tabs on insurance and driver violations as well to reduce risk for the company. After a great experience with the vehicle program, they realized that they needed to offer reimbursement for personal phones, as different groups of employees were heavily using them for work. They were able to use the SAME partner and a similar model for equitable phone reimbursement as well – not to mention being familiar with the experience of onboarding and implementation.  

Compliance

Another area where these programs pop up is compliance. It’s nice to have your personal asset reimbursement programs legally buttoned up, because if they aren’t, the company is exposed to legal risk. Mileage reimbursement that doesn’t meet IRS compliance is taxed. It might even expose the company to an audit. Depending on the state, not reimbursing employees for the business use of their personal phone or home internet might violate labor laws.  

Additionally, employees value employers that enable employees to work provide adequate reimbursement. They may appreciate a lump sum payment to cover the expenses of driving for work, using personal devices or home internet. But those rarely adequately compensate employees. That’s why its important to ensure reimbursements are calculated specific to individuals based on their job roles and geographic location. 

By using one platform for all personal asset reimbursement needs, a company doesn’t have to worry about potential exposure from one program. The guarantees are in the expertise and the compliance, all steadfast and in the same place. 

Convenience 

Imagine processing every submitted business expense. The process of opening, reviewing, denying, reviewing again, approving each expense would be endless. A complete waste of time and manpower. That’s the beauty of personal asset reimbursement programs. When an expense is consistent–like vehicle travel, device and home internet usage–companies should use reimbursement programs. 

The problem with having multiple reimbursement programs is using five to ten different browsers and programs to open, review, deny, review again, before finally approving payments. You’re almost better off back at square one. Certain software will be more user friendly than others, more capable of pulling reports. Just learning the intricacies of each one to use on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis is enough to pull your hair out. 

That’s the benefit of reimbursing all personal assets from one platform. The approvals, the insights, the reports, they’re all in the same place. No more opening a bunch of different software, no learning the ins and outs of program with terrible experiences. There’s just one platform, one place to go, for everything. 

The Motus Platform 

Motus is focused on the personal assets employees use in their jobs every day. Each element—the car, the device, the internet and home office—is essential to the mobile worker in one way or another. There’s plenty of difference, but they all connect employees to the work they do. So why not provide all personal asset reimbursement from one partner? 

By partnering with Motus, companies will have access to all the data points they’re looking for – in one place. There’s an opportunity to optimize spend, gain efficiency and enable employees to do their best. It all comes back to the Motus platform.  

Interested in learning more? Check out our solutions page and explore the Motus Platform! 

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