How to Set Up an Uber Business Profile for your Company

Are you looking to streamline the time your company spends on expensing? With an Uber Business Profile, you can cut down on receipts and logging for individual trips taken and expensed by your employees. When you set up an Uber Business account, all your employees will be able to take rides from one “team account” where you have the authority to set the ride parameters. Further, you can coordinate, arrange, and pay for everyone’s rides easily from the web, even if your employees don’t have a smartphone! Curious to try out an Uber Business Account for your team? Follow the below steps to get started!

First, to enroll in an Uber Business Account, your company must have the following:

1. A unique, corporate email domain (example: [email protected]). You can’t use a personal email address (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.).
   
   
2. A valid credit card. Many countries will allow monthly billing via bank transfer as well.
   
   
3. Web access. With Uber for Business there is no need to install any software. Your dashboard is accessed right from a web browser.
   
   If your company meets the above requirements, you can start the sign-up process here. If you already have a personal Uber account tied your phone number, you will be prompted to sign into your account, however, your personal and business account info will always be kept separate.

Once, you have signed in, you can access your business dashboard and start creating “programs” for rides. This allows you to determine when and where your employees can take rides or order meals on the company account. Make sure to follow the prompt to give your program a name and description to differentiate it from other programs you create in the future.

Once you have created a program, you can set the rules of the program to ensure that your employees are taking rides or ordering meals that align with your policy. Here are some examples of rules you can set.

• Expense codes: Determine whether employees are required to enter an expense code before requesting a ride or ordering a meal.
• Spending allowances: Apply a spending limit for each employee per meal, day, or month for meal programs and per trip, day, or month for travel programs. When this rule is enabled, the employee must select a second (personal) payment method, regardless of whether they’ve reached the spending limit.
• Locations: Determine where employees can take rides or get meals delivered. The restrictions will apply within a radius of 400 meters (0.25 miles) from the address(es) you enter.
• Times: Customize what day(s) and time(s) employees can take rides or order meals. You can set multiple time ranges, but make sure they don’t conflict with each other.
• Vehicle (employee travel programs and Uber Central only): Set which vehicle categories employees can request in the Uber app when traveling on a particular travel program.
• Trip allowance (employee travel programs only): Offer riders a set number of trips per day or per month.

Once you have set your rules, you now need to set your group. Groups allow you to arrange your employees based on their travel or access needs. At this stage you can choose which group of people you wish to give access to your program.

You are almost ready to roll out your new Uber Business account for your employees! Simply follow the final prompts to add a credit card to your account. This allows you to manage billing with a single corporate card to streamline expensing, then monitor employee expenses through your dashboard. You can also connect your expense management system (Concur, Expensify, etc) if you wish.

Finally, before you officially roll out this new program make sure you set the proper expectations with your employees. Uber states that “When you add someone to your Uber for Business account, they'll receive an automated email inviting them to join the account. To avoid confusion, it’s important to communicate the following: 

1. Check your work email

Employees will receive an email invitation to join your business account. They'll need to activate their account before they can take rides or order meals on the company account.

2. Don't forward invites

Each invitation link is customized to an individual email address. Forwarding emails or sharing links with other employees won't allow them to join the company account.

3. Sign in to your existing account

If someone already uses Uber, they should sign in with their personal account credentials—not create a new account. Your business account will appear as a profile in the "Payment" section."

Congratulations, you are now ready to launch your Uber Business Account!