I’m a salesman, and my travel and client expenses are pretty steep. Luckily, my company has always been very good about reimbursing me every two weeks.
Recently, the woman who handles our expense accounts left the company, and we have been told that company policy requires her replacement to go through a probation period before she receives authorization to cut checks. In other words, we must wait three months until she clears probation before we receive our reimbursements.
I depend on that money. I cannot afford to front my company for three months of travel just because of their own stupid policy. But when I went to my boss to find out if there was an alternative, he told me I just had to “suck it up.” I’m not sure what to do, because I honestly cannot afford to wait that long. Where’s the line?
There is a parade of stupidity going on here, but it’s not the policy. Requiring a new employee to earn trust before you give them the keys to the safe is a common, and sensible, practice. What’s ludicrous is not having a backup plan for the meantime. The policy is sound; it’s the overall system that is broken.
But what really gets me angry is your boss telling you to “suck it up.” In other words, “I’m going to insert a metaphor gleaned from my high school football coach to cover our own ineptitude and laziness.”
Your company has absolutely no right to expect you to incur financial damage because they have a weakness in their own system. Suck it up? They’ve done enough sucking for everyone, thank you.
You have to fight this, but you have to do it right. I’m going to assume you’re no the only salesperson in your company, so you’re probably not the only one who is upset about this. There’s strength in numbers. Get your fellow salespeople on your side and then make your case to someone who will listen. Your boss has proven he’s not that person.
In this case, choose a senior person you trust, and then have them take it to the boss. Yours isn’t a hard point to get across if you stop and consider it for a second. Your boss didn’t want to take that second, as evidenced by his sports cliche response.
Don’t be aggressive; be consistent. You’re in the right here, and all it will take is getting one senior person on your side and the problem could easily go away. How hard would it be to authorize someone else to cut the checks in the interim? Not at all. It’s time for your company to suck it up and take care of its employees.
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