Can you use “work” and “happiness” in the same sentence?

In the Olden Days – let’s say the 1980s – employers didn’t always put employee happiness at the top on the corporate hierarchy of needs. Sure, it was good to know people liked their jobs, but it was their output that really mattered. Output still matters, of course, but in the middle of a pandemic and Great Resignation, employers are being forced to look at what matters to employees.  

Happiness, after all, breeds engagement. And engagement leads not only to loyalty, but to productivity and profits.  

But let’s be clear: When we’re talking about happiness, we’re not talking about money. The adage is true: Even though you can rent it for a while, money doesn’t buy happiness. So we’re talking about frustrations. About meaningless, menial tasks. About the minutia of day-to-day work that get in the way of real and rewarding work.  

Specifically, we’re talking about trivial travel and expense processes that slow your employees down. Like holding onto paper receipts. Like filling out expense reports. Like booking a trip on a legacy travel program – let’s say from the 1980s – only to discover that their purchase falls outside of some corporate rule they’d never heard, so it doesn’t get approved and they wasted their time.  

These little infuriating issues aren’t really that little. Just take a look at these employee concerns:  

“I don’t have enough time to complete my expense reports.” 

“I hate trying to keep track of paper receipts.” 

“I don’t know the COVID protocols for the places I’m traveling.” 

“I don’t want to accidentally spend money on something that won’t be reimbursed.” 

These are legitimate issues, and the solutions are out there – you may, in fact, already have a solution designed to tackle these hassles. Either way, your organization needs simple, engaging travel and expense experiences that simplify spend management for you, make travel easier for employees, and ensures that their spending fits your policies. All with a few simple apps that:  

• Automatically build expense reports during travel, so employees don’t have to do them at home. 
• Trade paper receipts for digital records that don’t get lost, torn, or smudged. 
• Provide up-to-date, location-specific guidance on COVID regulations, along with other safety tips. 
• Incorporate pre-spend approval into travel workflow so employees know what they can spend and what they can buy. 

With the right solution and a few intuitive apps, teams can tap their way through expense reports, compliance challenges, and changing regulations – all while improving safety, sustainability, and spending. And you can prove that you’re listening to what employees have to say while protecting your company’s finances.  

And who wouldn’t be happy to work in a place like that?