Businesses in the UK are wasting thousands of pounds on costs associated with meetings according to an independent study commissioned by BT Conferencing.
The report, which looks into use of taxis, hotels and travel services in conjunction with business meetings, has revealed statistics that suggest staff spending is out of control.
Of the employees questioned, 53 per cent travel abroad at least once a year to attend meetings, with 15 per cent leaving the country more than six times (1).
To compound the problem, 38 per cent of staff spend corporate cash on taxis every month; 15 per cent of whom spend over 25 and 5 per cent between 100 and 500.
With European flights from the UK costing anywhere from 1 - 450 (2), a company of 100 people could spend almost 40,000 (3) annually on taxis and flights alone.
ìStemming the flow of money out of an organisation on unnecessary business travel should now be at the top of board-level agendas,î said Nigel Stagg, CEO, BT Conferencing. ìThere are technologies that can bring effective decision-making tools to the desktop, removing the need for businesses to waste large amounts of company money each year.î
Nigel added: ìThe current uncertainty in the financial climate has created new focus on streamlining business procedures. I imagine 40,000 taken out of a companyís annual costs would be most welcome.î
(1) Research carried out by BT and Continental research across 200 UK businesses, September 2005.
(2) Based on flight offers from Lastminute.com during the month of October
(3) Total figure calculated based on survey findings for air and taxi travel (Air travel - 32 employees not travelling, 53 employees flying once a year at 100 a flight and 15 employees flying seven times each year x at 100 a flight). (Taxi travel ñ 15 people 25/month, 8 people 26/month, 7 people 51/month, 4 people 101/month, 1 person 201 per month, 1 person 501 per month, 64 people 0/month)
Too many meetings cause cash black hole for UK companies
Corporate spending spirals as employees rely on business travel
