If you run a business, large or small, you’ll be familiar with the problems that dealing with employee expenses can often cause. How frequently employees need access to expenses in order to carry out work on behalf of the company will depend on the nature of your business, but it is a certainty that at some time or other all businesses will need to provide their employees with access to expenses.
Traditionally, employees have used their own money and claimed it back, necessitating an irksome paper trail for both the employee and the finance department. An alternative has been to provide a company credit card, which all too often has been seen as an invitation to spend, spend, spend.
Now, at last there is a solution which is better for both employer and employee. Prepaid cards operate just like credit cards, but they are preloaded with a set amount, so overspending is an impossibility and because they are not directly linked to a company bank account they are far safer to use in online transactions than a conventional credit card.
Know how company money is being spent
A ‘payment control dashboard’ enables the employers to see how and where money is being spent in real time. Employers can set limits on expenditure for specific areas such as accommodation or dining.
Employees no longer have to spend their money on company business
It’s unfair to expect employees to spend their money and then have to claim it back. It may cause them financial hardship and it certainly breeds resentment. Millennials expect the financial autonomy, independence and convenience that a prepaid card delivers.
Employees will feel trusted and valued
Good relationships with your team are essential to the success of a business and providing your employees with access to expenses makes their working life less stressful and is a positive sign of trust.
Ease of differentiation
The employer determines the amount of money with which a card is loaded which means that budgets can be set for all employees from the most junior to the most senior. Younger members of the business who are not old enough to hold a credit card can be issued with a prepaid card which will give them the same access to expenses as an older employee.
Improves expense management among employees
The transparency of the prepaid card system, employees know that there is close monitoring of their expenses, will put pay to the notion that expenses are a perk of the job and will lead to more responsible behaviour.
This eliminates the unpleasant necessity of pursuing a fraud case against an employee and leads instead to a culture in which employees can be rewarded for their financial management.
Security and peace of mind for all
If a card is lost or stolen it can be frozen instantly, without the need to freeze and entire account. It is no longer necessary to pass a around a company credit card, with all the attendant risks that involves, because every member of staff has their own card for which they alone are responsible.
