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.
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Dr. Peter Hovard is Lead Behavioural Scientist at RGA, based in RGA’s London (U.K.) office. His role is to apply behavioural science principles and methods to RGA and clients’ challenges. Peter previously worked as Behavioural Science Lead for UK general insurer RSA. As the organisation’s first behavioural scientist this involved introducing behavioural thinking in areas such as digital behaviour change, product development, claims and counter fraud. Peter has a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex, has taught university classes across psychology and has published in peer reviewed journals on eating behaviour, appetite and atypical perception.
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:
