Are these the strangest employee expenses ever?

Some workers are being rather cheeky with their claims

BY Emily Douglas 18 Jul 2018

Business expenses are always to be cleared at management’s discretion – and can be revoked if HR departments deem the claim to be too outlandish.

A report from Allstar Business Solutions uncovered some rather unusual expenses bold employees tried to slip past their HR leaders. After interviewing 1,000 workers, one quarter of staff said they charged their organization an additional 20% every time they submitted a claim.

And, despite the fact this practice is completely illegal, almost half said they didn’t think they were doing anything untoward.

So, why are employees being so deceitful when it comes to their business expenses? Well, according to this research, 40% of workers did it because they felt underpaid in their roles; with a further third believing they were just following company practice.

“Not only is it costing individual companies, it is also having a much bigger impact on our wider economy as a whole and people don’t seem to care that it is both dishonest and illegal,” explained Paul Baker, vice president of customer management at Allstar Business Solutions.

“We found that 80% spend between one to two hours a month working on their expenses claims each month. Those hours spent processing could be better spent working on more productive tasks.”

Eight strange claims that were submitted to HR leaders included:

1. Flowers
2. Alcohol for personal use
3. Haircuts
4. Home improvements
5. Personal groceries
6. Personal parking fines
7. Meals which weren’t business related
8. Hotel breaks with the family