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.
Janet Clarey is a manager in Learning and Development Research at Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting, where she conducts research in the area of learning culture, career development, high-impact learning organization maturity, and learning technology. Janet has more than 15 years in the learning and development profession. Janet holds a B.A. in Communications from the State University of New York at Oswego and a master’s degree in Instructional Design for Online Learning from Capella University. She has also completed coursework toward a doctorate from Syracuse University in Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, three children, and two corgis.
Shane Wolverton is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Quantros, Inc.
Ron Kleiman is CEO of BenefitVision.
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:
