Around one in five managers who have responsibility over fleet operations claim that administration tasks have become more time-intensive over the past year. Luckily, overworked fleet managers could benefit from van leasing deals that support their efforts.
More administration and multi-tasking
GE CapitalFleet Services recently released their quarterly Company Car Trendsresearch, which found that 20% of fleet managers (whose primary job role was fleet related) had experienced an increase in administrative duties.
A similar increase was reported by 17% of managers with a wider remit beyond fleet management. When questioned about their primary job role, 25% stated that they were operations based, while another 22% were in finance, 18% in administration and 16% in human resources.
While this research focused primarily on company cars, it’s likely that this situation is very similar, if not worse, in the case of commercial vehicle fleets.
Getting tied up in fleet management issues
Gary Killeen, managing director at GE Capital UK Fleet Services, explained: “We believe that these figures show two key findings.
“Firstly, and most obviously, a sizeable number of managers involved in running fleets are seeing a year-on-year increase in the amount of administrative work they have to undertake.
“It is the second finding that we find more interesting. It clearly shows that managers who become involved in fleet decisions, and for whom company cars and vans are not their primary responsibility, increasingly get tied up in fleet issues.
“This is especially true in areas such as operations, finance and human resources. For these core functions, fleet administration is eating up a greater amount of work time and it appears that this is a situation that is increasing quite quickly.”
Fleet compliance gets more complicated
There are several reasons that explain the growing amount of administration in fleet management.
We recently examined the importance of fleet compliance in detail, and found significant financial, legal and moral implications for fleet managers who fail to keep on top of vehicle and driver standards. An employee has a Duty of Care to at-work drivers, and fleet managers may be under pressure to enforce fleet compliance measures.
Environmental responsibilities are also making it more complicated to run a vehicle fleet, particularly for businesses which use large commercial vehicles. In urban centres such as London, strict new legislations have been introduced to curb air pollution levels and fine non-compliant fleets.
Van leasing companies can help your fleet
Multi-tasking managers can struggle with fleet management responsibilities, and it isn’t a huge surprise. There’s a lot to consider when running a commercial vehicle fleet, and if your background is in finance or HR it’s unlikely that you will be aware of all the current legislation and best practices.
By outsourcing some aspects of fleet management to a professional van leasing company, a business can take some pressure off managers who are working across various different departments. We provide all our contract hire customers with all-inclusive vehicle maintenance and servicing, so you don’t need to worry about passing MOTs or arranging roadside assistance.