New Expense, Manually Create, and select the Distance tab for automatic calculation and map receipt creation.If you are nursing while traveling on GitLab approved business, you can reimburse costs in order to travel with breast milk or ship your breast milk back home. You can expense:
Check with your health plan to see if you are eligible for reimbursement for the cost of a breast pump or any other supplies.
If you decide to stay with friends or family instead of a hotel / Airbnb for a business trip, the company will pay you 50% of what would have been the cost of a reasonable hotel. A reasonable hotel would be the negotiated hotel rate a conference provides. This is in keeping with our values of frugality and freedom, and intended to reward you for saving company money on accommodation expenses. Contractors should take a screenshot of a hotel search from the same location in TripActions and submit this along with your expense report or invoice. Team Members Employed through a GitLab Entity should submit the screenshot for approval via Expensify.
Before booking any flights please ensure that you have the proper visas in place.
When your accommodation booking is confirmed, you may want to communicate the dates and address with your manager.
Below is some more information to help you get set up with your TripActions account.
Flights
All flights need to be booked through TripActions (Business related flights), the costs will be added to the GitLab invoice and no credit card is needed. Please note that all business related flights will not have the option to pay with a personal credit card. Also to note that while it is possible to find a cheaper flight outside of TripActions, we get overall better rates in the aggregate with the buying power of the whole company.
Hotels and Cars
If you book Hotels and/or Cars through TripActions, the costs will need to be charged to a personal credit card. For business related bookings, you can submit the costs for reimbursement via our corporate expense reimbursement tool.
Trains
If you book Trains through TripActions, business related bookings should be, upon receipt of manager's approval, paid upfront and expensed through expensify.
Personal Bookings
In TripActions, you have the ability to book Personal trips. Note that when selecting this option, a personal credit card will be required at time of booking. Personal trips will not have the option to be added to the GitLab invoice.
Many airlines offer basic economy fares by default. This can create confusion and stress on the traveler if the conditions of their airline ticket aren't known.
To ensure a trouble-free experience with air travel booked through TripActions:
CONFIRMATION field in a TripActions trip entry, look up your flights with the airline's own website to ensure times and conditions are what you expect.Note: Once a flight is booked, re-routing is at person’s own cost unless requested by the company or force majeure (in the latter case often the airline will cover the difference).
Please read through these FAQ entirely.
193.6cm or 6'4" in height (i.e. you exceed the 95th percentile height distribution for a male human) you may:
We base eligibility on the 95 percentile because it is a practical figure for capturing outliers without being overly prescriptive and applicable to all travel if we care to flesh out guidance around other forms of transit in the future.
It is common for manufacturers to design seating that comfortably accomodates only a certain percentage of the populate. For example, see how Herman Miller designs their chairs to accomodate the 95th percentile.
TripActions FAQs is a great resource for questions surrounding TripActions features.
Please also review our TripActions Q&A doc.
GitLab offers travel insurance for business travel. Full details of GitLab's Business Travel Accident Policy can be found in the benefits section.
Working remotely while being abroad can be quite different. For example it can be harder to arrange good working internet and you may need extra tools to have a similar level of comfort to be able to work effectively.
Learn more about optimizing comfort and efficiency when taking your office with you while traveling.
Planning flights far in advance can help you get cheaper fares when booking. For example you can set alerts when there is a significant drop in price for your travel destination.
What if you find a cheaper flight outside TripActions? If you are able to find a better price elsewhere, feel free to contact support@tripactions.com or call +1-(888)-505-TRIP (8747) for help. Please note, TripActions cannot match flight pricing found on “discount websites” or “flash sales” that are sometimes advertised as part of an airline sale. They are bound to the prices set by the airlines.
Offline navigation content is key when you are not certain of an internet connection.
When you have an internet connection, it can save you quite a bit of money to be able to communicate just using data.
Applications which are all around wonderful to have when traveling.
The following tools make paying someone back in their own currency a lot easier.
Traveling together or letting someone else pay something for you? This makes it easier to see how costs add up or should be split up.
VPNs can help you reach services or sites that are blocked, get contents that are not available abroad or let you browse the internet as if you were home (with your own language preselected).
Note that a VPN may not always work as intended. For example both Netflix and China have blocked certain VPNs, limiting their usefulness.
The following services provide offline functionality for their content if you have a paid membership.
Electricity is a requirement on your journey abroad. Be it to power your phone or your laptop.
During your working travel your restricted data could be exposed. If you feel that your travel frequency may expose your data please keep in mind the following points to ensure that sensitive data contained in your devices will not be compromised:
When traveling, there is the possibility that customs, border control, or other law enforcement agents demand that you provide the password to your laptop or mobile device. If this happens to you in regards to a company-owned account or device, GitLab recommends that you comply with any such requests without protesting. If you do end up providing a password to any device or account that has access to GitLab resources (including your personal devices), you should follow the process to engage Security on-call as soon as you can safely do so. Even if you do not provide a password, if any of your devices are permanently seized or even temporarily removed from sight, you should also engage the Security on-call.
For additional security specifically when traveling through an airport, the following advice is provided:
#security-department Slack channel.Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members.
The COVID-19 Travel Working Group is comprised of the Covid Response Committee that was formed in 2020. Members are: Chief People Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer with additional support by Legal and People Operations. This group meets once monthly for 25min to review the current travel guidance around COVID-19. The meeting generally occurs on the second Thursday of every month which began on 2021-03-11
Meeting Schedule:
These meetings are subject to change and we will continue to evaluate the frequency of them. The People Operations support is responsible for drafting any shareable updates as a result of the meeting, which include MRs and messaging around changes to the travel guidance on this page.
If you have a question or feedback related to the working group, please post in the slack channel: #covid19-response-committee
Where can GitLab Team Members Travel? While some areas of the world have decreased cases of Covid-19, some are increasing. Team Members must refer to the CDC website) to ensure that both locations (traveling from and to) are safe locations in which to travel.
This section has been updated as of 2022-07-29
Fully vaccinated and boosted team members (as defined by CDC Guidance) who want to travel for any business reason can do so without seeking prior approval from the COVID-19 Travel Working Group. With COVID-19 cases decreasing around the world, we've made the data-driven decision to re-open team member travel with the vaccine requirement.
While obtaining COVID-19-specific approval before travel is no longer needed, you will still need to get manager approval. As with every case, always coordinate with your manager to ensure alignment with the required travel, and please follow the Travel and expense guidelines.
If your role does not require you to travel:
For most Team Members, business travel is voluntary. If you are in a role where travel is voluntary please only travel if you are vaccinated and boosted, and feel comfortable doing so while abiding by local regulations and requirements. No workplace accommodations will be accepted for voluntary travel.
If your role requires you to travel:
There may be some roles that require travel. If travel is required for your role, your manager will communicate this to you and in most cases it will also be reflected in your job family. You will be required to be vaccinated and boosted to travel and non-vaccinated team members are currently not allowed to travel without an approved accommodation. An accommodation will only be reviewed for mandatory, job required travel. Non-vaccinated team members seeking reasonable accommodation to travel must first confirm with their manager that travel is business critical for their role, and then reach out to the Leaves team at leaves@gitlab.com to initiate the accommodation request. If the accommodation is approved, the team member will be asked to ensure that they continue to adhere to local governmental requirements specific to the travel destination as well as any customer or venue requirements as they relate to testing and masks.
At this time, all business travel requires pre-approval by your manager, and only fully vaccinated and boosted team members may travel for business if their request is approved. By making a request to travel, you are confirming that you are authorized to travel based on your vaccination status. GitLab is not requiring vaccination confirmation at this time to travel.
Team members must wear a mask that meets CDC or WHO guidelines during travel to their destination(s), and must continue to follow mask requirements meeting CDC/WHO guidelines or local, venue or client requirements, whichever is most strict.
Business travel requests should be made for any mode of travel (including personal vehicles for local travel and local public transportation) where team members will be meeting co-workers, customers and/or partners in person.
All international travelers must follow each country's guidelines governing entry and re-entry. If COVID-19 testing is required to travel, GitLab will reimburse team members for required testing costs.
The COVID-19 Travel Working Group will re-evaluate our travel policy at least monthly to assess the risk of COVID-19. As always, the safety of our team members, partners, and customers is our top priority.
If a meeting/meet-up includes 5 or more GitLab Team Members meeting in person, please follow these protocols:
All GitLab attendees must test negative on a rapid at-home Antigen test for COVID-19 prior to travel, and again each day of the event prior to meeting with team members. If you have been exposed to Covid within 10 days of travel, tested positive for Covid, or if you are symptomatic, please do not travel regardless of test results.
The cost of the test kits are often covered by medical insurance. In the event that the tests aren't covered by your insurance plan, you may expense the cost of the Antigen tests required during business travel. If you are attending a large event, please check with your event facilitator who may have tests available at discounted/bulk prices.
If a Team Member tests positive for COVID-19, they are to refrain from meeting with others and must contact the facilitator of the meeting, and/or the venue contact, and notify teammemberrelations@gitlab.com via email. The team member may be required to quarantine until testing negative for COVID-19 which could take 7-10+ days. Quarantine and isolation rules differ by country and that's where Team Member Relations can help determine next steps.
If the team member is required to quarantine based on their location, and the team member is local to the event and traveled to the event by car, they may return and quarantine from home. If they are not local and traveled to the event via plane or other public transportation, they will be required to follow applicable laws regarding quarantining, which may include being required to quarantine at the venue or location and may not be allowed to return home until testing negative. For additional context and information about quarantining and isolating, please see the CDC Website Quarantine and Isolating
If you are the facilitator or coordinator of an in-person event, and if a participant at the event tests positive for COVID-19, please notify teammemberrelations@gitlab.com via email. The transmission period runs from 2 days before the person felt sick (or, if not showing symptoms, 2 days before testing) until the time the person is isolated. Please provide the name of the event, the dates, the location, and attendees. We prefer for the team member who tested positive to report the test result to teammemberrelations@gitlab.com directly. If you are aware of someone who has tested positive, you too can report that you aware of a positive test to teammemberrelations@gitlab.com. We will work to determine attendees and notification requirements based on local regulations, and to ensure that team members are alerted to the potential exposure to COVID-19. However, if multiple positive COVID-19 cases are detected at the same event, the notification may be limited to the first occurrence only. You should take any precautions you feel comfortable taking (for example, continue testing after the event for several days, isolate, watch for symptoms and if symptoms develop, follow your doctors orders, etc.)
While we do not have a mask requirement in place, we do highly encourage GitLab travelers to wear a mask indoors during meetings/events and while traveling.
General recommendations/precautions:
You must make your own decision about what is right for you regarding travel. Please be aware that any risk of potential exposure to Covid-19 may subject you to potential restrictions from GitLab or third parties (ex. customers, vendors, conferences, etc.) on your ability to attend in-person meetings or events for some period of time, even after the removal of general travel restrictions. Consult authoritative agencies at both departure and arrival locations before embarking on international travel. If you choose to travel internationally, please note the resources provided by agencies such as the CDC (in the USA) and your local government, and we ask that you notify your manager with your travel dates so we can help set expectations for timing to return to possible in-person meetings in the future. Always consider ways to get the business results remotely before requesting travel approval.
Even as an all-remote company, GitLab recognizes that some travel is necessary. These considerations aim to reduce the environmental impact of travel: