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.
Andy Hamilton is the Co-Founder and CEO of When, an AI-powered offboarding platform and severance solution. He has previously co-founded two technology startups, both of which were acquired by public companies. During the Covid pandemic, experiencing a layoff first-hand motivated Andy to create a better off-boarding and post-employment solution for employers. In his personal life, Andy enjoys playing tennis, riding his Peloton, and reading.
Eric Fairchild is a Managing Principal with Capco and leads the US Insurance Delivery Practice. The majority of his career has been spent as a management consultant for Retirement, Life and Annuities companies leading large and complex programs including policy administration systems implementations, book of business migration/conversion projects, large scale capability transformations, and agile transformations.
Kristine Miller is a principal consultant with Capco. She has over 20 years of experience in Financial Services designing and implementing innovative and results driven solutions that accelerate outcomes to complex challenges.
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:
