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.
These tools will help make the work from home process easier.
Tobin Van Ostern is co-founder of Savi.
Kate brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services, technology, and workplace benefits industries. Her organization and responsibilities include sales, relationship management, issuer strategy and excellence, as well as end-to-end strategy and implementation for go-to-market, growth and retention efforts across both public and private corporate clients for Morgan Stanley at Work. Kate's priority focus is on executing the firm's workplace market growth and revenue strategies. Additionally, her responsibilities include heightening the client engagement disciplines and practices to best serve the firm's corporate clients.
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:
