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.
Mike Price is the chief technology officer at ZeroFOX. He is responsible for leading and setting the vision for the firm’s technology. He oversees all aspects of engineering, research, development and all other technology operations. Before ZeroFOX, he founded the mobile security company Vulnr. Prior to Vulnr, Mike was vice president of engineering at Appthority. In this role, Mike collaborated with the engineering team to build industry-leading products, with a focus on mobile operating system and application security. Previously, Mike was senior operations manager for McAfee Labs.
Mike Byam is the former Chief Data Officer and Commercial Lines CIO of The Hartford, and a current Novarica Research Council Fellow. He can be reached at mbyam@council.novarica.com
Genady Knizhnik is senior consultant at Don K Dennison Solutions.
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:
