A new study has looked to shed some light on the evolving economic landscape and changing priorities, revealing the main business habits for UK businesses, with some potentially surprising findings.
According to the report from Soldo, which examined the spending habits of 24,000 UK businesses, green initiative-linked spending saw a healthy increase in 2023 as companies looked to boost their sustainability credentials despite continuing economic limitations.
While the sectors that saw considerable spending may surprise, Soldo confirmed that Britain’s companies are still tracking every penny that’s being spent as they continue to face the threat of business failure.
UK businesses are spending more on travel
Electric cars, which have become far more mainstream in the UK since the pandemic, have resulted in a 68% increase in electric vehicle salary sacrifice arrangements. Companies are also using more electric vehicle charging stations as a result. Soldo noted the tax benefits that have been attracting more companies to go green, as well as the obvious environmental advantages.
The company also found a notable rise in business travel, with companies spending 17% more on rail and 7% more on air travel in 2023 than the year before.
Brandon Till, Director of Business Solutions, commented: “Despite the economic challenges we’re facing, businesses are starting to spend more, and it’s particularly heartening to see them focus on employee support and sustainability efforts.”
Last year, companies also set aside money to spend on talent retention, acquisition, and workforce wellbeing. Rewarding workers has been proven to increase resilience, engagement, and performance – it’s an area that looks to be getting more budget each year.
Despite the positive outcome of the report, Soldo noted some key areas of improvement. Expense and reimbursement processes could be simplified, while an injection of automation could take the hassle out of repetitive admin work.
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