How Can HR Tackle Employees Misusing Company-Provided Cab Services for Emergencies?

Hello everyone,

I am working as an HR manager in an Interior Designing company. For the past few months, I have been facing a problem. Our organization provides a facility to all employees that if they work late, they can hire a cab to reach home for safety precautions. However, now the employees easily hire a cab to go to any site, giving lots of excuses of emergency work. How can I stop this on an urgent basis?

You may call all the employees and inform them about the increased expenditure on transportation, particularly due to late working hours. Please provide details on the previous expenditure and the current expenditure. Does the rise in transportation costs align with the increase in sales revenue?

Encourage them to brainstorm ideas on reducing expenses. This participative management approach is intended to sustain their motivation.

In India, working late is often seen as a display of loyalty. However, this loyalty can sometimes overshadow efficiency. Why do employees work beyond regular hours? Have you conducted an analysis of their overtime at the office? Employees typically stay late due to the following reasons:

a) Insufficient workforce
b) Inadequate planning
c) Lack of coordination among departments
d) Redundant or duplicated efforts
e) Delays in procedures and approvals
f) External customers interfering in internal processes
g) Lack of measurement on process turnaround times

You have recently introduced a cab-drop service for the employees. Abruptly discontinuing this service without any assessment may lead to resentment and demotivation. Please exercise caution before making any changes.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate your thoughts, but my company has Interior Designers and Site Engineers who have to visit the site from time to time on a weekly basis as part of their Key Result Areas (KRAs). We also have laborers on our execution site. To monitor the daily work of the laborers, we have appointed site engineers. However, for ensuring the quality of work, the designers and civil engineers have to visit the site. They can manage using the Metro or a cheaper vehicle, but they choose to hire cabs, which leads to high expenses. I want to explain to them that we should cut down on these expenses within our control.

The team should understand that we are a team, and we are all working for one organization. We should all focus on the organization's growth rather than individual growth.

Dear Priyanka,

In that case, you need to set a specific percentage for the transportation cost out of the total project cost. The project manager is responsible for managing this cost. As long as he stays within the limits of the percentage, everything is fine. Over time, you can gradually reduce this percentage.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

I wonder why you have termed the use of hired cabs as a misuse of the facility by company executives. You mention that "Site Engineers who have to visit the site from time to time on a weekly basis, as part of their KRA. We also have laborers on our execution site, and to check the labor's daily work, we have appointed site engineers. However, for quality work, the designers and civil engineers need to visit the site to ensure quality."

Please don't mind, I am very frank in my views. Your suggestion that "they can manage with the Metro or a cheaper vehicle" seems penny-wise and pound-foolish. When you talk about the KRA of the executives, you should also know that KRA is directly related to performance, not only of the executives but also of the company. You want them to achieve their KRA but act like a miser when it comes to spending on their transportation, which is essential for them to efficiently discharge their field duties and responsibilities, thereby enhancing the company's efficiency and productivity.

You may want to review your policy, or your company should provide official vehicles to help them fulfill their field duties and responsibilities. If you or your company expect them to sit in the office and achieve their KRA targets, then you should forget about their KRA-based performance and the ultimate productivity and profitability for the company.

I appreciate your views. Everyone is doing their job according to the KRAs, but when visiting a site, an employee should also consider the cost. The organization has provided them with the facility to hire cabs, but if they opt for luxury cabs, it incurs additional costs for the company. I hope you understand what I am trying to convey.

For example, if we can use an auto for a visit costing $150, but hiring a cab would cost $400. Opting for a luxury cab would escalate the cost to $800-$1000, showing a significant cost difference that we can work on reducing. If someone insists on extravagance, it may indicate a focus on personal luxury rather than company interests.

Types of Employees

There are two types of employees - those who work diligently for both personal gain and company benefit, and those who work only from 9-6 without much consideration. Employees should think before acting to ensure mutual benefit.

I will definitely reach out to you for more suggestions. Thank you.

Regards

Dear Priyanka,

In the corporate world, we must not be penny-wise and pound-foolish. You have to weigh the pros and cons of productivity versus expenditure, not merely the expenditure. The economy is good, but it should never be at the cost of efficiency.

You may, however, issue instructions for the authorization of different classes of executives for hiring different types of transport according to their status.