Expensive embarrassment: UK employees miss out on £1.3bn in expenses to not look ‘petty’

British workers forgo claiming £1.3bn in expenses at work for fear of looking “petty” according to new research.

80 per cent miss out on unclaimed expenses amounting to around £245 a year per employee, according to Pleo.

Despite the cost of living crisis biting hard for many Brits, business spending solution group Pleo found workers didn’t want to raise the issue of expenses, with more than half not wanting to look “petty” and a similar figure losing receipts.

48 per cent didn’t want the “hassle” of claiming it while two-fifths of those polled felt “embarrassment” over a specific item they were claiming.

The figures show on average workers only claim for items or expenses over £15, while more than half are now more nervous about making out-of-pocket purchases for their company, with 37 per cent of workers now doing so at least once a week for their firm.

“There are clearly issues with the expense process at many companies” said Anita Szarek, chief financial officer at Pleo, meaning “workers are left out of pocket and businesses less productive.”
 
“With rising costs and at a time when every penny matters, these poor processes are biting Brits even harder; over 50 per cent of employees are experiencing increased anxiety towards overall outgoings when making work purchases due to the cost of living crisis. 

She called for firms to move away from “a legacy expense management system to an inexpensive and simple spending solution” allowing people to claim expenses are easily.