The common corporate practice of financing a portion of employee mobile communications spend through HR is costing companies time and money. This commonplace business process is easier for corporates to implement, and to date there is no alternative practice in place.
"This practice negatively affects not only the company`s communications budget, but also has implications on management`s abilities and employee productivity," says Craig Young, Group Managing Director for Unison Communications, a leading telecommunications management company.
"Employees waste time and money on personal activities that have no business value. Our figures reveal that as much as 63% of all mobile calls are personal.
According to Young, business face the following consequences:
* Companies have no means to accurately measure how much of the HR mobile expense claim was actually dedicated to business calls.
* Because these mobile costs do not fall under the communications budget, the principles and controls behind effective management are lost.
* The company is absolved of responsibility of the mismanaged mobile costs - this has negative implications for stakeholders in the business.
Unison`s findings have also revealed how employee behaviour is affected:
* Often employees will tailor-make their mobile expense to fit the claim limit permitted by HR, ie, if their claim limit is R700, employees will generally claim the full amount. Claims are not based on any business communications value.
* Once employees approach their limit, they will automatically cut down on business usage and rather use their fixed line at the office to make essential business phone calls. This behaviour collapses the principles behind business continuity through mobility.
Currently, the average amount of communications traffic is at a 60%-40% ratio, with the majority of calls being cellular. "It is essential that companies keep abreast of communication trends. Unison estimates that within two years fixed line communication traffic will be virtually nonexistent, and over 80% of all communications traffic will rest on the mobile infrastructure.
"The only way to deal with these various issues is for business to claim responsibility for HR mobile expenses and start an effective management process. This culture of responsibility will filter down and begin to positively influence employee behaviour, keeping productivity up and unnecessary expenses down," concludes Young.
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Unison
Unison Communication`s solutions and skills regarding total corporate communications management have helped companies track, control and manage their telecommunications expenses. Supported by best-of-breed infrastructure and technology, Unison services over 60% of South Africa`s top companies and works alongside leading switch providers and multiple carriers.