How HR Managers Can Keep On Top Of Business Fleet Challenges

There are many potential daily headaches for those who work in HR. If you’re not thinking about how to retain staff, you’re worrying about health and safety issues and whether your business’ vehicle fleet complies with the never ending list of stipulations it has to meet.

Do you know exactly when your drivers are using their vehicles for business or private use? Is everything being properly documented according to HMRC standards? Does the business know how vehicles are being driven both in and outside working hours?

If you’re frequently thinking about these things, this blog has been written for you.

As you’ll be aware, businesses’ face serious penalties when they fail to document how and when their vehicles are being used.

By managing procedures more accurately, you can lower the overall costs to your business and stay compliant with HMRC and the law.

Comply with stringent HMRC rules

Remember that recent YouGov survey which discovered that a shocking 56% of those using company cars are entirely unaware of HMRC’s rules for reclaiming business mileage?

Well, if your drivers use a company or personal car for business trips, the duty actually falls to the business to report it to HMRC.

The HMRC requires accurate mileage records that document every driver’s ‘to’ and ‘from’ locations, the number of miles covered and why that journey was taken.

Many businesses tend to overlook this crucial process, with 36% of employees updating their mileage records only once a fortnight. This lack of attention has left many businesses and drivers open to expensive fines. This is understandable due to the time it takes to manually monitor mileage.

HR Managers are increasingly turning to technology to provide an easy and accurate way to monitor mileage effectively. Vehicle tracking can help to automate time-consuming manual mileage sheets by replacing them with scheduled, customisable mileage reports that are able to split out private and business mileage for more convenience.

HR and corporate manslaughter

Even if your employees are using their own personal vehicle for business use, you still have a duty of care to ensure their safety. This includes making sure they are properly licensed, and that they hold a current and valid MOT.

By doing the above, it demonstrates that you have taken steps to exhibit your drivers are sufficiently trained and are using vehicles that are safe and regularly maintained.

Experienced drivers, who cover thousands of miles every year, are 53% more likely to be involved in a traffic accident than other motorists. With this in mind, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has pushed employers to seriously consider the state of their workplace health and safety agendas.

Whether your employees’ vehicles are private or not, HR managers face serious consequences if accidents occur and the law deems that vehicle not fit for purpose.

However, like most problems facing the modern day HR Manager, technology can assist. There are numerous license checking companies out there who can give you a robust procedure and audit trail when it comes to driver licence checks.  These services provide various packages to help reduce risk and save time, by providing peace of mind that this area of driver management is covered.

Are you paying for your staff’s personal trips?

When your employee completes a business journey, it is standard procedure to reimburse that employee for the miles they cover.

However, whether your employees use a company-owned vehicle or not, the difference between the expenses you pay for personal and business use can become a little blurred.

If an employee takes a trip to their local supermarket during business hours, or they drop the kids off before work, without rigid documentation, this can eventually impact business time and your money.

Keeping these occurrences separate is crucial to your bottom line. Identifying precisely when your drivers are travelling privately could reduce your yearly mileage by at least 10%, saving you £150 per driver, every year.

You can distinguish between your driver’s private and personal use with technology such as the private mileage button that can be delivered as part of a telematics system.

The button is placed on the dashboard and is available to click if a driver is taking a business or personal journey. If they click the private button, their vehicle’s location and journey data will be hidden.

When the button is set to business, you’ll be able to access their mileage data, which allows you to create detailed reports on mileage expenses and export them directly into company accounts.

Our customers say it helps to limit disputes around driver mileage, but if they do arise, you can create detailed graphs to highlight accurate business and private mileage for each driver

We understand the challenges HR managers encounter, it’s a real battle out there.

Those tricky lines between private and personal add another layer of needless complexity. That’s why accurate tracking and documentation has become one of the biggest necessities for businesses wanting to operate a successful fleet, and for HR Managers wanting a less stressful life!

Click here for more advice for HR managers and learn everything you need to know to comply with legislation around Duty of Care.