August 29, 2017 at 1:33 pm
I worked for a company that checked your mileage using Google maps to verify your mileage even though we had to travel around once we were there extensively. Just there and back is all they paid. I was also a manager there and I took members of my team out to lunch bi-weekly, they would not reimburse me for this even though they originally did. This all occurred after we hired a new Finance/HR person. This was a technology company. I have to say now compared to my previous employer in the 80's and 90's it is black and white. I think the times are changing. Should I ever start my own company I will treat people the way they deserve. After all, the mind is the intellectual property that turns the gears to make the company succeed.
August 29, 2017 at 2:22 pm
I have reimbursement for food or travel for some occasion is always an issue (at least most of the companies) it may not be the policy of a company but bosses or HR will try to show the reduction in expenditure or just be bossy.
In fact I know one of the company where if a developer's code has an issue which is caught in prod, they may have to fix it on the weekends and will not get reimbursement for food or travel
August 29, 2017 at 2:36 pm
ZZartin - Tuesday, August 29, 2017 9:51 AMI would not put up my personal money for anything outside of maybe incidental costs like food, anything like hotels, plane tickets, software trials etc..... should be put on a company card.Now expecting tech workers to be held personally liable for any bugs in their code seems like an incredibly slippery slope. First it's not like a waiter dropping a stack of plates which has a very clear cause and a very fixed cost, a lot of technical issues have a much harder to quantify a dollar impact(and would likely bankrupt the average worker if one person was held accountable for it). Second most of us work in some kind of collaborative environment so who gets the blame whoever came up with the requirements, the QA team that didn't test properly, the manager who ignored the results from QA, the developer who put a decimal in the wrong place?
Heh...or the manager who set the unrealistic deadline? Perhaps the QA group (if you even have such a group) or people who signed off on testing saying that it was good should get hauled into the mix? Then again, it could have come from above that "the product shall ship on date X" and the mid-level manager made it happen, no matter what state the product was in. It's more about working with the developers instead of against them.
Developing software that's accurate, reliable and performant can be a challenge when others set unrealistic or ambiguous expectations. When the people doing the work don't have the experience and aren't given the time to do things right, then beating them or charging them for it does very little good for anyone. I've seen people who could have worked 150 hours a week and would have had no prayer of getting the task done because they didn't understand what was required and the manager wouldn't explain it clearly.
Don't get me wrong...I think negligence is inexcusable. The political blame game is just as inexcusable and is also unproductive.
August 29, 2017 at 4:20 pm
This is an interesting topic, as laws and regulations can be different between jurisdictions.
For expense claims you'd generally need to get approval - preferably in writing - before running up a cost. "Hey boss, I need a new packet of batteries for the wireless keyboard and mouse the company provided" should be straightforward. Saying "Hey boss, I know you said you want to keep using our physical server room in the back closet, but I thought I'd duplicate our entire setup in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services and run a 6 month performance comparison doing 24/7 big data number crunching" might not get reimbursed. That would be considered an employee initiative, and employees should be willing from time to time to cough up if they think their careers will benefit. (Employees paying their own training falls into that boat.)
On the topics of training and underhanded tactics, my SO many years ago worked in Finance. It was an industry expectation that a company, expecting their staff to be CPA qualified as a condition of employment, would pay for the annual refresher courses to maintain that qualification. A new manager was hired to reduce costs and cancelled the refresher budget. But it's fair, right, coz they'd cancelled it for themselves also, yeah? However the company had an initiative that for all savings the manager got 50% of the first year as a bonus. So cancelling the refresher for 10 staff covered her for the next 5 years.
August 30, 2017 at 1:07 am
I would certainly not setup a cloud-based service for a company using my own credit card.
Most cloud vendors do have some trail-based option that you can use to test and then show off to your boss/manager.
Unfortunately my own credit card pays for my training since most companies:
a) do not want to invest in training
b) provide training that is not in line with my personal career goals.
Looking at the rest of the comments, it seems that Steve is one of the few ones that is working for a decent company!
Or maybe the grass looks greener on the other side..? 🙂
August 30, 2017 at 6:43 am
Whether charging back employees is good practice depends on: if the intent is a genuine and fair attempt at encouraging better outcomes, or if it is simply a mechanism intended to reduce operational costs. If the intent is purely financial, then the employees will get screwed one way or the other regardless of their overall performance level. For example, the police enforce speed limits, ostensibly because it reduces accidents and promotes public safety, but I'm sure we're all familiar with things like "speed traps" where a large number of citations are issued in a short time, which some argue is simply an effort to generate more revenue. If driving 55 mph in that 45 mph zone is truly such a threat to public safety, then it should be enforced consistently every day and backed up with statistics showing that a disproportionate number of accidents were occurring on the roadway and issuing speed citations encourages better outcomes.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
August 30, 2017 at 8:44 am
Stefan LG - Wednesday, August 30, 2017 1:07 AMI would certainly not setup a cloud-based service for a company using my own credit card.
Most cloud vendors do have some trail-based option that you can use to test and then show off to your boss/manager.Unfortunately my own credit card pays for my training since most companies:
a) do not want to invest in training
b) provide training that is not in line with my personal career goals.Looking at the rest of the comments, it seems that Steve is one of the few ones that is working for a decent company!
Or maybe the grass looks greener on the other side..? 🙂
I've had mixed results on investing in training. Some do, some don't. Often, if I show initiative and show results from training, I get more training dollars.
I've certainly had b), but I figure that training is always a win for me. Perhaps I'll change my goals.
In terms of expenses, mixed luck as well. Some require everything pre-approved (can be a problem at times, mostly fine), some will approve everything, but let you know what's unacceptable for the future. Some may decline expenses. I usually look for a new job if that happens.
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August 30, 2017 at 9:04 am
For me, training is different than expense reimbursement.
That is an investment in myself and my career, not my employer.
Plus, professional development is a tax write off (for those in the US, who itemize deductions).
August 30, 2017 at 9:37 am
Getting charged back for specific expended items that don't qualify is usually the result of failure to familiarize oneself with the guidelines. However, for some of us there is an even bigger potential risk. Even if the employer eventually reimburses, initially paying for training, travel, or hotel with your personal credit card can be a bit of a stretch, especially if it amounts to several thousand dollars. It can also be a potential risk if the company goes under, you get laid off, or for whatever reason there is a parting of ways before the reimbursement. Make sure you have a clear understanding about how the process works and the timeline. Don't assume anything.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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