The 2009 Total Employee Mobility(®) Benchmarking Report, released by Runzheimer International, cites that businesses continue to invest in remote workforce programs, however do not have control over the associated risks, costs or benefits. The annual report was developed through interviews with executives from 90 small, mid-sized and large organizations across the U.S.

Report Findings

- Fifty-one percent (51%) of the workforce is mobile on any given day, whether traveling, working from a virtual office or driving for business. This number has increased by 31 percent since 2006.

- Total investment in workforce mobility per-employee, per-year has increased significantly in the last four years, and currently stands at $7,426. This number increased by three percent year-over-year and is significant when compared to budget cuts companies have enforced in areas like IT Security, HR Training, Marketing and Legal Counsel this year.

- Businesses lack insight into management of employee mobility programs. In the case of virtual office programs, 73 percent of respondents have no policies in place and 57 percent were unable to provide support cost information. Sixty-four percent (64%) of organizations reported that corporate travel costs were loosely managed.

- Mobile workforce program ownership often involves multiple departments. More than 80 percent of employees fall into multiple categories of drivers, travelers and virtual office and often need to interact with three-to-four different departments regarding policy and systems.

- In many cases, companies are not aware if the money they are spending on employee mobility is benefitting the organization. In the case of virtual office programs, 56 percent are unaware if the programs they have instituted are productive.

"This year's benchmark report emphasizes where organizational gaps exist for these high value, high cost programs," said Greg Harper, president of Runzheimer International. "Insight into the effectiveness of employee mobility is essential. Without it, companies risk operational efficiency, liability exposure and employee satisfaction. Given the economic pressure companies are under today, now is the time to focus a strategy around mobile workforce programs. This means centralized management that is measured, tightly structured and optimized to fully support employees. Organizations that adopt this approach experience stronger cost management, increased corporate agility and high employee satisfaction. We are proud to recognize those organizations with our best practices awards for 2009."