re: How Would You Handle? Employee spends too much on company card. But is top producer...

Piss him off by bitching about his spending. Your CC bill will go down. He’s probably bringing in enough business to cover his and everyone’s company CC bills. Once he moves over to your competitor, you can cry bc y’all didn’t make your “numbers”. Cut the other’s spending and maybe a few of them. Get lean and mean. Meanwhile, over at your competitor, dude will spend the same, bring in more for them, and they’ll have the bragging rights of stealing one of your best employees.

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Rules are rules, until following them hurts financially. Rules are also rules, until they hinder your best performers performance. Reminds me of a place I worked once. Always on call, did some nights for projects, and always stayed past quitting time. Office manager was a stickler for being there at 8, regardless. Bounced out of there after two years, CFO was very upset I was leaving. Promised to make sure stupid shite like that didn’t get in the way of me producing at the level I produced. Told him the damage was already done and the new place is offering way more than they could offer. Without the clock wardens help in running me out, I would have stuck around and never looked for anything better.

Sounds like he's testing you. I'd talk with him about it. If he's worth it, make up a presentation showing the revenue he's brought in, and see if the company might raise his limit. Be ready for the owner to say, "We pay him well already."

At one point, a company I worked for set limits on how much I could spend on customers. It wasn't a per diem. It was a limit that I could spend out of my own pocket. It was part of some ethics BS. I ignored it, and bought my best customers their favorite alcoholic beverages for Christmas, like I had always done.

I had no ethics. I've negotiated credit for an ad with the wrong information, while my customer was getting a dance from two sisters, on me, at a gentleman's club.

ETA:
This thread makes me miss working, and some of the pleasures DFW offers.

Are there some days where he doesn’t touch or even get close to the $125 a day per diem to where there is money left in the allowance budget? Say one day he spends $25 dollars only. My suggestion is to look at his expenses for a month, come to a decision afterwards. There is an average of 19-22 billing days/working days in a month. Take the lower number of 19 days x $125 a day allowance = $2,375 per month. See if he is somewhere around that target. It’s really left up to you what to do next. You’ll have to decide if that allowance is used for only entertaining the customers or if the employee is allowed to treat himself occasionally. It may be a good explanation for him doing that. If he busts his butt and gets after it, there may be days where he doesn’t even take a lunch because he is so committed to his work. Those are questions you need to find out.

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"Hey man, I don't mind you treating yourself every now and then since you have earned it, but try to keep most of the meals within the per diem limit."

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This seems like a very easy thing to say

The top producer needs that extra $125 to get that Tinder slut in the mood and it adds a little pep in his step the next day when he's talking to clients.

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Take away the company card and switch to a per diem. He gets $125 added to his check per day of travel for food and incidentals. Whatever he doesn’t spend is his to keep. He gets to use his own card and collect more points. Problem solved. He’ll be happy and you keep your budget intact. I can tell you from experience that my dinner expenses went WAY down when I got to keep the money. Went from eating steak and booze to water and Cava bowls.

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If I’m the top producer and I’m used to $250 meals and you limit me to $125 a day then I’m going produce for the competition

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f I’m the top producer and I’m used to $250 meals and you limit me to $125 a day then I’m going produce for the competition

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I’d tell you to get back to me when you find a company willing to take on that bill. Unless you’re a Csuite executive, and even then I have my doubts, NO company is going to give their people $250 meals on a normal basis anymore. That is ludicrous. Maybe a 1 time deal as a reward or something but during normal travel, not a chance. That kind of wasteful stuff got phased out long ago. And again, this is SOLO travel. Client entertainment is a different deal.

Besides - how anyone could eat that expensive of a meal on a normal basis even if it was free is beyond me. Your gut probably shows it.

Yeah, you can drop $250 on a bottle of wine and it's nowhere near the most expensive bottle on the list.

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you can drop $250 on a bottle of wine and it's nowhere near the most expensive bottle on the list.

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The key here is that this is NOT HIS MONEY. Hes spending the business owners money on ridiculous stuff. Justifying it by saying he could have spent more if he tried is besides the point.