Travel Expenses: Dumb Things your Company has Done
Apr 8, 2017, 7:43 pm
#241
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I work for a large company with a very generous expense policy. There are few rules, mostly guidelines on the best choices to make to keep the company happy (i.e. prefer this type of hotel, fly this airline, when it does not inconvenience the traveler).
This week, I learned that the policy is not evenly applied across the company. Apparently there is a budgeting process each year to set a target amount for travel for each group. I have always worked in traditionally travel-intensive groups in the company, so the worst I have heard is "try to keep expenses down this month if you can"...
A colleague in a group that does not usually travel, but is traveling heavily this year due to unexpected vacancies, apparently does not have an appropriate budget.
His group is being told things like:
Rental cars are prohibited. Find the other employees traveling to the same customer and hitch a ride. (that's fine, I guess, except he might be visiting 3 different customers in the same day)
Hard limit for a hotel is $xxx.xx, regardless of the city. If you can't find a hotel, stay outside the city and Uber in. (that was a 20+ mile ride recently)
Etc.
It's borderline becoming a retention issue; this is a relatively senior group, working way harder than they expected, then they have to deal with all of these petty inconveniences.
I am thankful for the proactive managers I have had, who had enough foresight to allow us full use of the official expense guidelines.
This week, I learned that the policy is not evenly applied across the company. Apparently there is a budgeting process each year to set a target amount for travel for each group. I have always worked in traditionally travel-intensive groups in the company, so the worst I have heard is "try to keep expenses down this month if you can"...
A colleague in a group that does not usually travel, but is traveling heavily this year due to unexpected vacancies, apparently does not have an appropriate budget.
His group is being told things like:
Rental cars are prohibited. Find the other employees traveling to the same customer and hitch a ride. (that's fine, I guess, except he might be visiting 3 different customers in the same day)
Hard limit for a hotel is $xxx.xx, regardless of the city. If you can't find a hotel, stay outside the city and Uber in. (that was a 20+ mile ride recently)
Etc.
It's borderline becoming a retention issue; this is a relatively senior group, working way harder than they expected, then they have to deal with all of these petty inconveniences.
I am thankful for the proactive managers I have had, who had enough foresight to allow us full use of the official expense guidelines.
This is brain-dead management of the highest order. I can´t believe a group that is filling in and covering for un-planned vacancies in other departments can´t get some VP-level or above executive to arrange for some type of exception waiver to the budget, funded by the part of the company that has the unexpected personnel shortfall, and as a result, undoubtedly has a lower than forecasted expense load.
Apr 9, 2017, 4:58 am
#242
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This is brain-dead management of the highest order. I can´t believe a group that is filling in and covering for un-planned vacancies in other departments can´t get some VP-level or above executive to arrange for some type of exception waiver to the budget, funded by the part of the company that has the unexpected personnel shortfall, and as a result, undoubtedly has a lower than forecasted expense load.
Apr 9, 2017, 8:23 am
#243
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I had to fill in for another branch in another city as they had the entire office leave with no notice. My expenses including travel, hotel, food, etc. were charged to the office I was covering for while the company was hiring new personnel. That is what the poster's company should be doing as they are covering shortages of personnel in other departments.
Apr 9, 2017, 10:05 am
#244
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This is brain-dead management of the highest order. I can´t believe a group that is filling in and covering for un-planned vacancies in other departments can´t get some VP-level or above executive to arrange for some type of exception waiver to the budget, funded by the part of the company that has the unexpected personnel shortfall, and as a result, undoubtedly has a lower than forecasted expense load.
We'll see what happens when his team confronts him on this.
Apr 15, 2017, 8:02 pm
#245
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I was once on a trip to the UK that exceed the number of days required to have clothes laundered. I noticed that the hotel was going to charge me 12 pounds each for my underwear so I jumped on the tube and bought a 3 pack at H&M for 9. The expense report had to be escalated 3 times before it was finally paid and came along with a stern warning to never do that again.
Apr 20, 2017, 7:39 am
#246
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In theory, accountants won't pay this as it would be an asset which you retain. In practice, of course, it's far cheaper than paying for laundry.
In practice, I use cheap off-site laundries. It's just the way I am - always looking for value.
In even more practice, in that kind of employer, nobody cares if you spend £36 washing your undies or having a hotel breakfast instead of a cafe snack, as long as it's within the guidelines.
Always remember: these guys care about process, not value. They don't know anything about value.
Apr 21, 2017, 12:25 pm
#247
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Posts: 937
Attending a conference in Philadelphia next week. Due to this 50,000 person event, every hotel in the city is sold out or prohibitively expensive ($500+ per night) and hotels by the airport are also sold out. Only hotels within our $250/night limit would be 20-25 miles away - meaning i'd be spending a lot of time going back and forth and racking up a few hundred dollars in uber charges.
Managed to find an AirBnb that would have been $480 including all fees and taxes for 3 nights. i book it and submit the expense. It's denied. My boss cannot override it and neither can her boss. As a result I am forced to cancel the stay, my company foots the bill for the $100 cancellation charge and I go ahead and book a $500/night stay at a Sheraton. Will be so nice to send in a nearly $2,000 hotel bill when I could have had a comparable stay for a quarter of the price.
Managed to find an AirBnb that would have been $480 including all fees and taxes for 3 nights. i book it and submit the expense. It's denied. My boss cannot override it and neither can her boss. As a result I am forced to cancel the stay, my company foots the bill for the $100 cancellation charge and I go ahead and book a $500/night stay at a Sheraton. Will be so nice to send in a nearly $2,000 hotel bill when I could have had a comparable stay for a quarter of the price.
Apr 21, 2017, 12:44 pm
#248
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wow
that's actually a good reason -- if you have even half a notion, a couple months out, of attending an event of this size -- to book a placeholder hotel reservation; just remain aware of the cancellation deadline in case the company has other ideas about underwriting your attendance
that's actually a good reason -- if you have even half a notion, a couple months out, of attending an event of this size -- to book a placeholder hotel reservation; just remain aware of the cancellation deadline in case the company has other ideas about underwriting your attendance
Apr 22, 2017, 9:52 am
#249
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that's actually a good reason -- if you have even half a notion, a couple months out, of attending an event of this size -- to book a placeholder hotel reservation; just remain aware of the cancellation deadline in case the company has other ideas about underwriting your attendance
Apr 22, 2017, 6:41 pm
#250
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Years ago I worked in an industry where there was a premier conference every year that drew 50,000 people. It would strain the hotels even in large cities like LA. My two employers back then both hated to commit in advance to sending R&D staff to the conference. They always fretted over whether budget would be available. Well, budget always was-- this conference was a singular priority for researchers and practitioners in the industry-- but by delaying that decision until 1-2 months in advance instead of allowing bookings 6 months in advance, the costs were always much higher.
Waiting to "see if there's budget" or debating decisions because of budget concerns ends up costing more money in the end.
i tell my staff I never want to hear budget as the excuse why decisions didn't get made sooner rather than later and that there are also indirect costs to waiting. Can't tell you how many times key people had to waste their time scrambling at the last minute and take time away from more important things to meet conference registration deadlines for things like attendance, sponsorship, etc.
Apr 22, 2017, 8:11 pm
#251
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this is probably unnecessary to repeat, but unlike most airfares, many if not most hotel bookings don't require anything more than a credit card to hold the reservation until a day or two beforehand
I suspect part of the problem injera experienced may reflect corporate policies (e.g., liability) that are likely not well defined with respect to AirBnB-ing
independent of corporate travel policies or budgets, though, it's simple risk avoidance to make your own hotel reservation three or four or six months in advance, and even the annual end-of-govt-fiscal-year nonsense is generally overcome enough to where most "last-minute" approvals for conference attendance actually occur a week or more ahead
I'd guess that changing a standard hotel booking to replace your personal credit card with whatever form of payment corporate requires is probably palatable with a minimum of cussing and discussing the particulars (this of course presumes some reasonable and logical people and thought processes in the approval chain, which is in no way a given)
I suspect part of the problem injera experienced may reflect corporate policies (e.g., liability) that are likely not well defined with respect to AirBnB-ing
independent of corporate travel policies or budgets, though, it's simple risk avoidance to make your own hotel reservation three or four or six months in advance, and even the annual end-of-govt-fiscal-year nonsense is generally overcome enough to where most "last-minute" approvals for conference attendance actually occur a week or more ahead
I'd guess that changing a standard hotel booking to replace your personal credit card with whatever form of payment corporate requires is probably palatable with a minimum of cussing and discussing the particulars (this of course presumes some reasonable and logical people and thought processes in the approval chain, which is in no way a given)
Apr 23, 2017, 1:11 pm
#252
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Sound advice, don't forget that car rentals also fall into the same category, and for the most part don't even require cancelling before a deadline if your plans don't come through.
Apr 23, 2017, 2:19 pm
#253
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I own a small company, and our travel policy is two words: "Be reasonable"
Works like a charm, and we have never had an issue. In fact, most people actually find it fun to compete for travel deals, find the best hotels for the best price, etc. etc.
Works like a charm, and we have never had an issue. In fact, most people actually find it fun to compete for travel deals, find the best hotels for the best price, etc. etc.
Apr 23, 2017, 3:19 pm
#254
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unfortunately, I suspect it doesn't scale very well with growing numbers of employees
Apr 23, 2017, 3:25 pm
#255
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Probably not. Also, our travel is all expensed to our company, not a client. Therefore, the more you spend on travel, the less profit there is at the end of the year, the less bonus you get under the corporate profit share.