Perhaps, like me, you’re sick of hearing about MPs and their expenses?

Perhaps, also like me, you’re quite intrigued by the range of reactions from people. Reactions such as:
- is it really theft if it's "just expenses"?
- is it really their fault if the system is so poorly communicated?
- isn't this just because they are not paid the going rate for their work and they have to make up the extra somehow?

Why do you know more about their expenses than you do about their recent voting decisions in the House of Commons? Perhaps you work in a culture where it is widely expected that people can claim for a few extra (non-existent) taxis or dinners. Or some nights away when they actually got the last train home.

The more I talk to HR people, the more I've been struck by what is tolerated in the way of expenses claims. I reckon there are a few aspects of culture that can promote a sense of financial responsibility.

First: whether people are trusted with cash. When I arrived at !What If?, I was told that we all sign off our own expenses up to the first £250 because "we can be 100 per cent trusted to take responsibility for the company's money – we are thrifty as if it were our own money".

I asked if there had ever been abuse and was told that in the past 10 years there had been only one person who had taken advantage and had to be spoken to. As we grow, we still find that trusting people to judge for themselves if a cost is appropriate is by far the best route rather than heavy controls.

Second: how we communicate about the cash. Every week we update the whole company on the sales results and the work in the pipeline. Everyone knows week to week how much work we are converting and how we are performing against our target.

Some might say there is too much information, but we think it’s really important that everyone understands how we are doing and can see the hard work paying off. They will be interested as we approach the profit targets as they know this will trigger profit share for everyone, regardless of role.

Lastly, I do think that there is something in the issue of being paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work. We Brits tend to shy away from conversations about salaries unless it’s the review period. Or perhaps a conversation is started when someone resigns over money. We need to change this and get comfortable talking about money. Making sure that people are being paid correctly is incredibly important to how they relate to the company and to ensure that they feel valued – and less likely to be looking for opportunities to “make up” for the value they feel they are losing out on.