Travel and Reimbursement Request
How to request your travel and reimbusements?
- All trips should be requested in the following time frame:
- Domestic travel: at least 15 days in advance;
- International travel: at least 21 days in advance.
- The travel request forms will be approved, first, by the Head of the Department and, second, by the **Finance **team.
- If there are any exceptions to be approved, the Head of the Department can make an observation in the text field in the approval step.
- Employees should not book their own flight tickets and request reimbursement before the travel request approval by Finance unless previously justified and approved by the Head of the Department.
- The Finance team has up to one business day to approve the travel request, after the Department Head's approval.
- The Accounts Payable team will purchase the cheapest flight ticket available, according to the travel schedule specified in the travel request form.
- Employees should buy their own flight tickets and request reimbursement, via the Travel Expense form, in Zoho.
- Employees should choose the cheapest flight ticket available, according to their travel schedule.
- Employees are expected to travel using economy class, with a few narrow exceptions (e.g. trips longer than 12 hours of direct flight time) and subject to the CEO and General Manager's previous approval.
- Hotel rooms should be booked according to the maximum rate per night in each region:
Region | Amount per night |
|---|---|
Brazil - state capitals | BRL 450 |
Brazil - other cities | BRL 250 |
Other Latin American countries | USD 100 |
USA | USD 180 |
Europe | EUR 120 |
Asia-Pacific | USD 100 |
- Employees should prefer hotels that include breakfast in their rates.
- If the employee chooses to book a room with a higher rate, Rocket.Chat will reimburse the employee up to the maximum daily amount per region described above.
- Exceptions, on the above rates, should be previously discussed and approved by General Manager.
- Employees should choose to rent cars in the “compact/ economy” category. Employees should also include third-party insurance in their booking.
- If the employee chooses to rent a car in a higher category, Rocket.Chat will reimburse the employee up to the “compact/ economy” category daily rate amount.
- Rocket.Chat will also reimburse any tolls paid during the trip, as well as fuel and parking, all subject to the presentation of the receipts in the reimbursement request.
- Rocket.Chat is not responsible for the reimbursement of traffic tickets that may incur during the trip.
- If the employee chooses to use their own car on a business trip, Rocket.Chat will pay the mileage reimbursement, according to the table below:
Region | Amount per kilometer |
|---|---|
Brazil | BRL 1.00 |
Other Latin American countries | USD 0.35 |
USA | USD 0.35 |
Europe | EUR 0.30 |
Asia-Pacific | USD 0.35 |
- The employee should submit an itinerary (origin-destination) and kilometres travelled.
- Rocket.Chat will also reimburse any tolls and parking paid during the trip, all subject to the presentation of the receipts in the reimbursement request.
- Rocket.Chat is not responsible for the reimbursement of traffic tickets that may incur during the trip.
- Employees should use Uber as alternative transportation, using Rocket.Chat’s corporate account.
- To include Rocket.Chat’s corporate account in their app, employees should request Patricia Ferreira, via e-mail, including the Department Head's approval for the trip.
- Taxi or other types of alternative transportation should only be used in locations where Uber is not available and it will be subject to the presentation of receipts in the reimbursement request.
- Meals daily allowance will be reimbursed according to the table below (including tips):
Region | Breakfast (only if not included in hotel daily rate) | Lunch | Dinner |
Brazil | BRL 25 | BRL 55 | BRL 75 |
Other Latin American countries | USD 15 | USD 30 | USD 55 |
USA | USD 20 | USD 50 | USD 75 |
Europe | EUR 20 | EUR 50 | EUR 75 |
Asia-Pacific | USD 15 | USD 30 | USD 55 |
- Employees are not allowed to pay for meals for clients, suppliers, government officers and people who are not employed with Rocket.Chat. The Sales Account Executive team is exempt from this rule, although it should be conditioned to budget availability and previous approval in case of government officers.
- In the case of government officers, the expense must be previously approved by General Manager, even before it occurs.
- Employees are not allowed to accept clients, suppliers, government officers and people who are not employed with Rocket.Chat to pay for their meals.
- Group lunches/dinners:
- The meal should be paid for by the most senior member of the group.
- The reimbursement will be paid to this person.
- In the case of international travel, Rocket.Chat will reimburse telephone charges incurred from the activation of international roaming.
- Reimbursement requests should be submitted using the Travel Expense form, in Zoho, up to 60 days after the trip took place.
- You can submit multiple expenses in the same form - as long as they are related to the same trip (one Trip ID per Reimbursement Request form) - by clicking on the "+" sign in the "Expense" field.
- Receipts must be scanned and submitted along with the Reimbursement template.
- Even if the purchases are made in local currency, don't forget to fill in the "Exchange Rate" field (with either 1 or the exchange rate amount).
- In case of mileage reimbursement: the employee should submit the itinerary (origin-destination) via Google Maps-type screenshot and kilometres travelled. The employee should also present receipts for any tools paid during the trip.
- In case of international purchases using the employee’s personal credit card: the employee should attach a copy of the credit card statement to the reimbursement request template.
- The dates for reimbursement payment are the same as the ones for the remote benefit:
- Every request approved until the 15th of each month (or the next business day), will be paid in the payroll cycle of that same month.
- Requests approved after the 15th will be paid in the payroll cycle of the subsequent month.
- e.g. If a request is made on April 13th, the reimbursement will be paid by the end of April, along with the salary payment. If a request is made on April 16th, the reimbursement will be paid by the end of May, along with the salary payment.
The amounts in this policy will be adjusted yearly, according to the inflation incurred in each region.