Employees Say Expense Reports Are Time-Consuming and Confusing

78% of employees think that business travel expense report processes are confusing and take too long.

These findings come from a recent research report by Mesh Payments, Employees and Expenses: Companies struggle to modernize expense management. The survey unpacks what employees would like to change about how their employers manage travel and expense management.

When employees were asked what their top expense report frustrations were, the results showed that receipt organization and wasting time were the biggest drawbacks.

In addition to manually collecting and storing paper receipts, employees disliked using multiple systems to submit expense reports — from Google Drive to spreadsheets to just “envelopes.” Even for companies with integrated systems, some employees complained about outdated user interfaces.

On top of the time-consuming and manual nature of many organizations’ expense report policies, employees also revealed frustration with unclear and confusing expense policies.

45% of employees find their company’s travel policies and approval processes confusing — which makes it difficult for employees to stay within budget and within policy.

Top complaints with company travel policies include inflexible budgets that don’t consider regional differences in costs and time-consuming approval processes.

These misunderstandings waste time with back-and-forth communication and make it difficult for employees to follow rules and budgets.

So, how can companies ensure that travel and expense management is efficient, easy to understand, and beneficial to both employees and employers?

To learn more about the findings and read our recommendations for modernizing expense management and improving the employee experience, download a copy of the report.

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