Employee Experience
Little Tools, Big Wins: How Finance Leaders Are Elevating Employee Experience Through Simpler Spend Management
When we talk about employee experience, flashy perks and office design usually steal the spotlight. But ask your team what really affects their day-to-day—and chances are, they’ll mention the frustrating little things: chasing receipts, clunky expense systems, and endless invoice approval chains.
For finance leaders and business owners across ANZ, this is a game-changing insight: your travel, expense, and invoice tools directly impact employee satisfaction.
A thriving workforce is built on moments that show people their time, ideas and wellbeing matter. As the SAP Concur tip sheet reminds us, “It’s every leader’s job to make the employee experience as good as it can be.” When the daily grind feels seamless, employees bring more energy to innovation and service—fuel for business growth.
Finance and HR leaders are now co-owning employee experience—because it’s not just about culture. It’s about systems, support, and how easy (or painful) it is to get work done.
Our guide shines a light on the connection between finance tools and workplace morale—and why companies that ignore this link risk losing more than productivity.
When employees are:
- Struggling to navigate outdated expense platforms
- Confused about what’s claimable and what’s not
- Delayed by manual processes when traveling or submitting invoices
…it leads to disengagement, burnout, and even turnover.
For growing businesses trying to attract and retain top talent, that’s a problem finance can’t afford to ignore.
The Payoff of Smarter Spend Management
Here’s the good news: modernising your spend management processes isn’t just good for the bottom line—it’s good for your people.
Forward-thinking small, medium and large-sized companies are seeing tangible benefits from automating and integrating their travel, expense, and invoice workflows, including:
✅ Fewer errors and less admin time
✅ Clearer policy communication
✅ Faster reimbursements (and happier staff)
✅ A stronger sense of trust between finance and employees
And all of it adds up to a more seamless, supportive workplace—without sacrificing compliance or control.
Little Things That Can Have a Big Impact on Employee Experience
Download this tip sheet for some little things that leaders can do that can have a big impact on improving the employee experience, increasing engagement, and reducing turnover.
Download now5 bite-size changes that deliver outsized results.
Each one tackles a common pain point flagged in the guide and turns it into a win for productivity, morale and your bottom line.
1. Save Them Time with Automation
Talent signs up to create value, not chase receipts. Cloud tools that capture expenses and vendor invoices automatically hand back precious hours across finance, managers and travellers. “Streamlining and automating repetitive processes… can improve the experience for your entire team.”
- Auto-capture receipts the moment they hit an inbox or smartphone camera
- AI-driven policy checks flag issues before reimbursement, not after
- Real-time status dashboards replace back-and-forth emails
- Single-sign-on access puts expenses, invoices and approvals in one place
Quick start:
- Map your highest-volume manual tasks—expense coding, invoice matching, approval follow-ups
- Pilot automation in one workflow, measure hours saved, then expand
2. Make Travel Simple and Sustainable
Business trips still matter: “92% of employees say the future of their career depends on successful travel.” At the same time, staff want greener choices.
- Default to direct flights and rail alternatives with visible emissions data
- Auto-fill traveller profiles so loyalty numbers and preferences carry over every booking
- Mobile itineraries push real-time alerts on delays, gate changes and local health rules
- Built-in carbon tracking feeds ESG reports without extra spreadsheets
Quick start:
- Set direct flights or rail within 2.5 hours as the policy default
- Highlight suppliers with verified eco credentials at the top of search results
3. Listen to Your Employees
Surveys and town-hall Q&As unearth small process glitches that quietly drain motivation. Acting on that feedback shows people they are heard. “When employees use these channels—especially when your company acts on their input—they feel heard and valued.”
- Mix pulse surveys, anonymous suggestion boxes and live Q&A sessions
- Segment feedback by role so fixes target the biggest bottlenecks
- Publish a quarterly “You Spoke, We Acted” recap to close the loop
- Track sentiment scores alongside productivity to prove ROI
Quick start:
- Launch a friction-audit survey each quarter
- Pick one process to fix, publicise the change and celebrate the impact
4. Offer Flexibility Wherever Possible
Hybrid work is no longer a perk; it is the baseline. The tip sheet highlights that 54 percent of companies believe flexible work is the new normal.
- Cloud apps, mobile approvals and digital signatures keep momentum high away from the desk
- Meeting-free focus blocks help remote staff carve out deep-work time
- Clear guidelines on core collaboration hours prevent “always-on” burnout
- Stipends for home-office gear level the playing field between office and remote staff
Quick start:
- Review any process that still requires in-office access and migrate it to a secure cloud platform
- Pair new tech with a simple policy on when in-person collaboration matters most
5. Show Genuine Appreciation
Small gestures reinforce culture. Team lunches, surprise gift cards or virtual coffee vouchers can strengthen bonds—especially for remote colleagues. “A small gesture can reap big dividends in employee engagement and morale.”
- Use an allocated quarterly “thank-you” budget that managers can spend without red tape
- Create a dedicated expense category so finance can reimburse in days, not weeks
- Spotlight everyday heroes in company chats or micro-video shout-outs
- Rotate recognition so quiet achievers share the spotlight with star performers
Quick start:
- Automate approvals for recognition expenses under a set limit
- Encourage peer-to-peer nominations to widen the recognition net
The Payoff
Employee experience drives performance: 30% of organisations now see employee experience as a direct growth lever. By fixing everyday friction, you unlock capacity, spark innovation and keep high performers on the team. Remember, “When employees win, you win.”
SAP Concur’s full report breaks down how modern finance tools are shaping employee sentiment and offers practical ways finance leaders can elevate their impact—without adding more complexity.
🎯 Ideal for:
- CFOs and finance managers aiming to support culture through smarter tools
- HR leaders collaborating with finance to enhance EX
- Operations and IT teams supporting digital transformation
- Business owners wanting both performance and people-first processes
Because experience isn’t just what you say—it’s how your business runs, from the tools your team uses to the trust they feel in the process.
