# Mileage reimbursement in the remote work era > How to adapt reimbursement policies for the new reality of hybrid and remote work. **Author:** Camila Ribeiro — Field Operations Editor **Published:** 2025-08-08 **Updated:** 2026-06-13 **URL:** https://quilometragem.com/blog/mileage-reimbursement-in-the-remote-work-era **TL;DR:** How to adapt reimbursement policies for the new reality of hybrid and remote work. - How to adapt reimbursement policies for the new reality of hybrid and remote work. - Remote work has radically changed travel patterns, requiring review of reimbursement policies. - Remote employees make fewer daily trips to the office, but may have more sporadic travel for client meetings or corporate events. - Clearly define whether occasional office trips count for reimbursement. ## How remote work reshaped commuting Remote work has radically changed travel patterns, forcing companies to review their reimbursement policies. The old model was easy to understand: the employee went to the office every day and reimbursement, when it existed, revolved around trips to clients during the workday. That design no longer describes the reality of most teams. Today there are fully remote employees, hybrid ones, and others who come to the office only on specific days. Each of these arrangements creates a different commuting logic, and a single, dated policy simply cannot keep up. ## Less routine, more sporadic travel Remote employees make fewer daily trips to the office, but they may have more sporadic travel for client meetings or corporate events. The volume drops, but the type of trip changes: instead of many short, repetitive routes, there are occasional and often longer journeys. This has a direct impact on the calculation. An occasional trip of hundreds of miles to a company event can weigh more on the monthly reimbursement than the entire previous routine of commuting to and from the office. The policy has to be ready for this new profile. ## The question of occasional office trips One of the most sensitive points is clearly defining whether occasional office trips count for reimbursement.[^lei-14442] In the traditional in-person model, the home-to-work commute was generally not reimbursable. But when remote work is the official policy, many companies begin to treat the trip to the office as business travel. There is no single answer, which is exactly why the rule needs to be written down. What matters is that everyone knows in advance what is reimbursable, avoiding conflicting interpretations and denied requests that breed frustration. ## Home office in a different city The home office may be in a different city from company headquarters. This increasingly common scenario raises questions the old policy never had to answer: who pays for intercity travel, how often it is allowed, and what level of approval is required. Establish clear rules for these cases. Define, for example, how many in-person visits per quarter the company covers, the spending limit, and who approves out-of-the-ordinary trips. Without these definitions, every situation turns into a draining individual negotiation. ## New uses of the car beyond the office routine It is worth remembering that remote employees may use their car for activities they would previously have done in person at the office, such as meeting clients, attending local meetings, or picking up materials and equipment. These trips are legitimate and deserve reimbursement, even with no direct connection to headquarters. Recognizing these uses keeps the remote employee from feeling shortchanged. They are still working on the company's behalf when they drive to a client; the only difference is that the starting point is now their home rather than the office. ## Reliable recording for less frequent trips When trips are rare, the risk of forgetting to record them grows. Nobody logs a once-a-month trip as carefully as they would a daily commute. That is why simple digital tools make all the difference. Quilometragem works perfectly for this new work pattern. It lets you record one-off trips with date, origin, destination, and distance, generating standardized receipts even for sporadic and longer journeys, without relying on anyone's memory. ## Adapting the policy for hybrid work Most teams are neither fully in-person nor fully remote, but hybrid. That middle ground is precisely the hardest to model, because it combines a partial routine with variable travel. The policy needs to address that mix explicitly. Create clear categories for the different work arrangements, define what each one covers, and review them periodically. With well-designed rules and Quilometragem's digital history exported to Clara, the company can treat both the daily commuter and the once-a-month visitor fairly. The goal is a policy that bends without breaking as work models keep shifting. Remote and hybrid arrangements will continue to evolve, and the companies that win are the ones whose rules anticipate change instead of reacting to it. A clear, well-documented framework spares everyone the repeated, case-by-case improvisation that quietly drains trust and time. [^lei-14442] ## Frequently asked questions ### Does remote work define the business trip start at home? Yes, for employees officially on home office, the home is considered the work base and travel to clients or office counts as a business trip. ### How to reimburse occasional office visits? Non-mandatory occasional visits can be reimbursed by the same external-trip rate table, provided the policy includes them. ### How to document trips without a fixed office? Register the home address recorded in the contract as base and enable automatic GPS in the app to generate a continuous, auditable log. ## Sources - [Lei 14.442/2022 — Trabalho remoto e reembolso de despesas](https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2019-2022/2022/lei/l14442.htm) — Presidência da República — Brasil (2026-04-28)