The majority of UK businesses are so focused on reducing the ‘hard’ costs of business travel that they fail to consider the wider elements of business mobility, a survey by Alphabet has found.

Hard costs such as company cars (90%), fuel management and reimbursement (82%) and rental vehicles (79%) were all considered by the majority of 100 fleet decision makers surveyed.

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However public transport costs, environmental impact and staff administration time were all often overlooked.

Alphabet said companies could be spending as much as £10m on getting employees from A to B without considering these wider costs.

The reason for this oversight appeared to be a lack of ownership for different areas of business mobility. According to Alphabet, the majority of fleet managers assumed many of these areas fell outside of their remit.

Martin Quail, chief commercial officer, Alphabet comments; "From the findings, it’s clear that many businesses do not have a grip on the total cost of mobility. They think they have full visibility, but in reality they are only seeing half the picture. In order to recognise the true cost of business travel, including environmental impacts, organisations need to think beyond the number of vehicles on their balance sheet. Business mobility is no longer solely about company cars and their financing, it’s about getting employees from A to B in the most carbon and cost efficient way.

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"Employees’ expectations of business mobility provisions are also changing as the younger generation are less interested in having a personal company car in favour of a more flexible approach. To ensure companies can attract and retain talent they need to take this into account when making future mobility decisions."