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.
David Drake is vice president and benefits consultant at BXS Insurance. He can be reached via email at david.drake@bxsi.com.
Max Effing is part of the global insurance practice at Simon-Kucher & Partners. He focuses on price/product design, salesforce effectiveness and digital sales processes. Within the scope of his projects he works primarily on the optimization of insurance portfolios, and modeling of innovative sales processes with a strong emphasis on value delivery, customer engagement, behavioral pricing and needs-based selling. Max pursued his studies in International Business at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. He holds a master degree in finance and marketing.
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:
