According to the 2018 Pulse Report, the UK events industry is estimated to be worth £42.3bn and much of that figure is likely to be spent on corporate Christmas events. Not only is organising festive events a significant expense but it also can be an organisational headache, especially payroll for temporary or seasonal staff.

With December rapidly approaching, now is the ideal time to look for new ways to make your Christmas party planning simpler and more efficient for this and coming years.

Eliminate the inefficiencies of cash

The security risks, painful administration and accounting complexities have made paying people in cash unviable with company credit cards being even more frustrating. Prepaid cards are the first choice for companies looking for new and more versatile ways to manage corporate expenses, payroll and incentives.

The ideal tool for event organisers

Give your event organiser a prepaid card loaded with an amount you decide and keep track of their spending in real-time. It also means that you are not putting your team in the position where they have to fund expenses out of their own pocket and go through a time-consuming and frustrating manual expense claim process.

Also, you might need to enable multiple people or departments to pay for different aspects of the event such as travel, venue management or sourcing gifts. In that case, it would be impractical and undesirable to issue more company credit cards for a short-term project. With prepaid, you can instantly issue additional cards with different amounts loaded to other team members. This allows you to make completely bespoke employee incentive programmes instantly.

If you are arranging an event abroad where card payments aren’t always accepted, your team can always withdraw cash using their prepaid card from a local ATM, usually incurring lower fees than if withdrawals were made using credit cards.

Stay on budget

While everyone wants their event to be a great experience, nobody wants to find they have gone over budget to achieve it. One of the many drawbacks of paying with cash is that you’ll find it almost impossible to tell if you are nearing or exceeding your staffing budget. Using prepaid cards from B4B Payments would enable you to see exactly how much is being spent in real-time.

Pay a few or a few thousand staff

Whether you’re hosting a Christmas party, impressing your clients or putting on an awards evening, prepaid cards can help you manage events where you are employing a few to a few thousand temporary staff. As you can re-load cards remotely, you can pay staff via a prepaid card once or multiple times using the same card.

Another important advantage is that prepaid cards don’t have to be physical plastic. Today, you could issue virtual prepaid cards that can be issued instantly to anyone in the world. It’s the ideal solution for when you need to set up a method of payment fast for workers in other geographies.

Maximum spending appeal

Some prepaid cards, such as the ones you can issue to staff via B4B Payments, can be used to pay for goods and services anywhere that accepts payment by Mastercard online or offline. That means that you are well positioned to attract temporary staff for your event, especially those who don’t have bank accounts. Your seasonal workers will enjoy the benefit of being able to spend their pay immediately, virtually anywhere.

Expenses for staff

In addition to payroll for seasonal staff, you might also need to cover their expenses incurred such as travelling to your venue or meal allowance. The process of claiming staff expenses is quick and simple for both you and your employees with the ability to upload receipts electronically. No more inefficient manual processes or paper receipts to process and file.

Celebrate your brand

An event is a great opportunity to show off your brand. If you are looking for some extra visual impact, your cards can be branded with your logo as part of a production run from just a few hundred units.

An event is a great opportunity to show off your brand. If you are looking for some extra visual impact, your cards can be branded with your logo as part of a production run from just a few hundred units.

Prepaid cards – not just for Christmas

Mastercard published details of how more companies than ever are finding they can benefit from financial services from suppliers other than traditional banks. The Mastercard Prepaid Consumer Experience Index stated that prepaid use is predicted to grow by 133% in the next five years globally. The figures state that using prepaid cards to manage expenses is likely to be the number one reason why more companies will begin using prepaid cards.

B4B Payments is a multi-award-winning provider of Mastercard prepaid cards to companies, government departments and other types of organisation for uses such as expense management, gifting and payroll. To hear more about B4B Payment product updates, the latest Fintech news or how clients use our products get in touch with us on Linkedin, Twitter or via our website.