Chrome River Survey Shows Corporate Travel Policies Rapidly Catching up with Sharing Economy

Majority of medium-to-large companies’ policies now address ride and accommodation sharing services

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than three-quarters of medium-to-large companies have adopted policies on shared economy services such as Uber, Lyft and Airbnb, according to a survey by Chrome River, a global leader in expense management and invoice automation solutions. The findings revealed that of companies with policies in place, 78 percent allow employees to use ride-sharing services, and 68 percent allow employees to use shared accommodation services.

The research, commissioned of 100 finance executives at companies with 1,000 or more employees, showed that one-in-six (17 percent) do not allow their employees to use ride-sharing services, and just under a quarter (24 percent) block employees from staying in shared accommodations. However, the number of companies which mandate their use is still low. Thirteen percent of companies overall currently mandate the use of ride-sharing for their employees, with slightly fewer (12 percent) for shared accommodations. Among companies whose policies explicitly permit sharing economy services, 21 percent mandate their use for ground transportation and 23 percent for lodging.

“Corporate travel and expense policies should be agile enough to address the ever-changing nature of business travel. It’s refreshing to see that larger organizations have already incorporated sharing economy services into their policies,” said Alan Rich, CEO of Chrome River. “Forward-thinking corporate travel leaders understand that employees live increasingly mobile-centric lives. They expect to have the freedom to plan, book and expense business travel on any device. Companies can rely on their expense systems to handle it from the compliance perspective.”

	Ride sharing         (e.g. Uber/Lyft)	Shared accommodation (e.g. Airbnb)
We don't have any policy on the use of these services	22%	24%
Our policy does not allow our travelers to use these services	17%	24%
Our policy allows our travelers to use these services, but does not mandate it	48%	40%
Our policy mandates that our travelers use these services	13%	12%
I don't know if our policy addresses shared economy services	1%	1%

Source: Chrome River/YouGov online survey of 100 CFOs, controllers and treasurers at U.S.-based companies, employing a minimum of 1,000 employees (August 2017).

A high-resolution infographic of study findings can be found here.

About Chrome River

Chrome River Technologies, Inc. lets business flow for some of the world’s largest and most respected global organizations. Our highly-configurable cloud-based expense reporting and supplier invoice automation solutions deliver an elegant and intuitive user interface, which offer the same high-quality experience on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Our SaaS products provide a world-class business rules engine and technology infrastructure, combined with a completely agile solution that supports today's changing business climate, and that the CFO, AP and travel managers, and business travelers will all love.

To find out why Chrome River is trusted by more than 1 million users at 600 organizations worldwide, contact us at [phone] or visit us at www.chromeriver.com, or on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.