Corporate Offsites Strengthen Teams But at a Cost to Younger Employees

Published 12 hours ago via Business Wire

New Emburse data shows offsites create financial strain for seven in ten Millennial and Gen Z employees

Emburse, whose leading travel and expense solutions power forward-thinking organizations, today revealed findings from its State of Corporate Offsites survey and report. Corporate offsite meetings strengthen employee connections to their workplaces, allow for networking among colleagues and are growing in budget and frequency. The new survey of 2,000 U.S. employees exposes a problem, however: inefficient travel and expense management practices unfairly disadvantage younger employees, who are left with a bill for workplace bonding.

Offsites Build Community and Alignment

Emburse found employees value corporate offsite events because they foster a connection to their workplace and colleagues:

  • Eighty-five percent of employees said offsites strengthened their connection to their organization and its goals.
  • The top benefit cited by employees was networking with colleagues they don’t often interact with (32%), followed by direct communication with leadership (21%) and skill-building opportunities (19%).
  • When asked about their feelings in anticipation of attending a corporate offsite event, the top response by far was excitement (65%). Only 4% of employees reported a sense of dread.

Improving employee engagement may be why employers are planning offsite gatherings more often. In fact, employees reported attending an average of 2.6 offsite events in 2024, compared to 2.4 in 2019. Most (61%) thought their company's budget had increased in 2024 over the previous year.

Younger Employees Pay to Attend

Despite their generally positive view of offsites, employees said the costs of attendance, such as travel incidentals, childcare and new clothes, exacerbated by delayed reimbursements, created a financial burden, particularly for younger employees.

  • Over three-quarters (77%) of Generation Z respondents ​​and 70% of Millennial employees reported a “major” or “some” impact on their personal finances, while the majority (62%) of Baby Boomers reported no financial impact.
  • Employees in Generation X were split nearly in half, with 54% reporting a financial impact.
  • Only 25% of respondents reported using a corporate card (virtual or physical) to pay for offsite-related expenses, 29% said they paid out of pocket and submitted expense reports, while 46% said someone else at the organization managed their expenses for them.

Moreover, in a study last year, Emburse found that nearly a quarter of employees had engaged in “revenge spending” by passing off personal purchases as business expenses. Putting an additional financial burden on employees may make those participating in this practice feel justified in their actions.

“Thoughtful policies that minimize out-of-pocket costs for employees are more than operational fixes; they demonstrate that the organization values its workforce and what each person brings to the team,” said Adriana Carpenter, Chief Financial Officer at Emburse. “Companies are going to great lengths to bring people together for sales kickoffs, holiday parties and all-staff meetings. Why risk all that goodwill and planning by putting financial stress on your junior employees? Virtual cards and other smart reimbursement practices can eliminate the need for out-of-pocket payment, so employees can stop worrying about their finances and focus on nurturing important work relationships while planning strategically for key initiatives throughout the year.”

Other interesting findings from the State of Corporate Offsites report include evidence of the growing trend toward “bleisure” travel, where workers combine business travel with personal vacations. Half (50%) of respondents said they added vacation or personal travel time to the beginning or end of a corporate offsite. Respondents also indicated an increased focus on comfort, with nearly half (48%) saying they fly business class or above to attend corporate offsite events.

For more data and analysis, read the full report online.

Methodology

This random double-opt-in survey was conducted by market research company Talker Research, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).

About Emburse

Emburse delivers innovative end-to-end travel and expense management solutions that solve for what’s next for forward-thinking organizations. Our suite of award-winning products are trusted by more than 12 million finance and travel leaders, and business professionals around the world. More than 20,000 organizations in 120 countries, from Global 2000 corporations and small-medium businesses to public sector agencies and nonprofits, count on us to manage business travel and employee expenses with ease.

Our highly automated mobile-first solutions streamline business travel planning, booking and management, and eliminate manual, time-consuming expense submissions, approval and reconciliation. We deliver efficiency and time savings, increase financial visibility, enhance spend control and compliance, and improve the entire business travel experience. This empowers our customers and their teams to deliver meaningful value for their organizations.

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