Employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic claimed some outlandish expenses this year, including pricey exercise bikes, facelifts and private jets.
Emburse, an expense management software company, released a compilation Wednesday of some of the craziest expenses it has seen claimed this year, some of which were actually approved. That included $1,895, which was approved as a contribution for an employee's Peloton Bike under the explanation of “for health and wellness.” On the other hand, a $7,600 expense claim for a facelift was submitted under the category of “repairs and maintenance” but was rejected, despite the pressing need to look one’s best during a Zoom meeting.
Steve Abbott is chief executive officer at DocAuthority, a company dedicated to helping organizations identify hidden value in unstructured data. He can be reached at steve@docauthority.com
Rachel Allen is Group Product Manager of Shared Mobility for Arity, a technology company founded by the Allstate Corporation. In this role, Rachel has been responsible for defining and bringing to market a set of products that use predictive risk and driving analytics to help operators build the next generation of a connected transportation network.
Prior to Arity Rachel worked at Accenture integrating multiple complex systems before joining HERE Maps where she built multi-model navigation products and then Conversant Media where she created user profiles based on geo-spacial travel patterns for Ad targeting. Rachel has a Masters in Science from Northwestern University and a Bachelors in Science from DePaul.
Sawad Thotathil, MD, clinician and senior director, Persistent Systems, directs product strategy and management for the company’s Digital Healthcare group.
Some expenses weren’t for working from home, but more about getting out of the house safely. An expense claim for a private jet charter costing over $20,000 was submitted and approved under the explanation of “required to limit COVID exposure for international shoots.” Another travel-related expense claim was $2,500 for a helicopter ride, which was not approved.
The $79 expense claim for a dog crate could perhaps be used for travel at some point when that's safer, but in these times it was more plausibly to provide "crate training [for] a new COVID puppy to not run into Zoom meetings."
Below is an infographic produced by Emburse showing this and several other head-scratching claims:
