Photo by Thirdman:
Visit any job website and look at the postings for estate agents. One of the likelier requirements of the position is a full driver’s license because of the amount of time on the road that the career demands of its practitioners. Whether it’s valuations, viewings, or opportunities, you’re probably going to spend more time out of the office than sitting at your desk, regardless of what the weather is like outside.
Staff Management
While this can be exciting, there’s always a cost. In this case, it’s literal. Travel is expensive and time-consuming, both for roaming agents and the people who have to make sure the journey goes as smoothly as possible. Of course, there are plenty of tools designed to make the latter job easier but they often provide way more functionality than a small business needs.
Staff management software serves as a repository for employee details, rotors, and documentation, besides things like payroll, holiday allowance, and performance reviews. Put another way, this kind of product operates within a human resources department, with the flexibility to expand or contract based upon a business’ present needs.
For the more cash-conscious outfit, finding a more condensed, specific tool for the job is often necessary. As an example, the reimbursement of employee expenses and accounting often fall to the same department, which makes tools made specifically for this task a better investment than something dedicated to maintaining an entire corporation all on its own, like the software we just discussed.
Lots of financial products include support for team management in some capacity or another. A platform created by corporate card issuer Moss folds expenses reporting and reimbursements into a single thing. Transactions can be approved in minutes, and all the complex calculations are done automatically. The employee only needs to upload a photograph of their receipts.
Expenditure
Team-wide, corporate financial products decrease the strain placed on employees, accountants, and managers by masses of paperwork. For instance, fuel costs, entertaining fees, and even lunches can be uploaded to an app like Moss, where financial teams can decide how to reimburse each agent, either directly and immediately or via their next salary.
These tools help keep a team moving by ensuring that employees aren’t kept out of pocket for too long. Of course, they can be used in isolation or as part of a structured financial package that includes regular credit cards, digital wallets, and cash. This flexibility allows agents to do their job while staying in control of their expenditures, both concerning their own finances and company budgets.
Team-orientated products exist in a very cluttered marketplace that’s dominated by monday.com, Eddy, and Workday, among others. These tools provide useful services to any human resources department, but, as far as finance is concerned, a piece of software that has a more singular purpose can help prevent employees from spending more than they should on the road.
So, as a last piece of advice, look at your business and think about what kind of product will benefit your day-to-day operations. It may just save you money.