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.
Mia Barnes is a health and wellness freelance writer with over 3+ years of experience specializing in workplace wellness. Mia is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine, an online healthy living publication. Follow Mia and Body+Mind on Twitter!
Dasle Hong is the Senior Manager of Employer Brand & Internal Communications at DailyPay. She is an innovative digital strategist with 10+ years of expertise in social media, employee engagement, and internal/executive communications. Dasle is passionate about cultivating connections between employees and a company through corporate philanthropy, employer branding campaigns, and authentic storytelling. Dasle is also a published author in the Oxford University Press textbook: Digital Strategies: Data-Driven Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising.
David Osborne is CEO of Caseware International, the leading software-as-a-service provider to the auditing and accounting industry.
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:
