[All Hands] FAQ London All Hands

Mozillians
#1

Hello all,

Another All Hands, another FAQ, if you have more inquiries, questions, doubts, please reply to this topic. This FAQ is based on the previous ones, so feel free to ask anything you need to know.

What is an All Hands?
An All Hands is a meeting where all the Mozilla Employees get together to meet in person with their team mates, to work on their projects, to plan, and to discover more about the objectives and the goals of the organization for the next quarters… It’s also an opportunity to work across teams, to identify shared priorities and to build a broader understanding of Mozilla.

What are the objectives/goals?
The main objective is the opportunity to work in person teams that usually works remotely. This is very much a “get work done” event. Also is the occasion to learn about the objectives of Mozilla for the next quarters, and align all the teams under those goals.

What is the selection criteria?
Each team has assigned a budget to invite volunteers, so they need to select carefully those people that they want to work more closely, or in a specific project for the next months. The criteria depends on each team, and also depends on the objectives or goals that they have for the next quarters.
In this occasion, the process was through nominations, and then the teams voted and select the volunteers based on their contributions, and commitment proposal.
For more information about this process, please visit the wiki.

How many volunteers are invited?
For the London All Hands, around 110.

How often we have these Workweeks and where?
From 2015, we are having 2 gatherings per year.

I’ve been working with X team and they didn’t select me, even after I made important contributions.
It could be that the team you’ve been working with doesn’t have the budget to invite volunteers, or can only invite a few. We encourage you to have a conversation with the team(s) you work with to better inform both of you for upcoming events.

Where I can find information about the All Hands?
You can check the wiki, where you’ll find all the necessary information. From the Participation team, we will be sending an email after you complete the registration with the details about how to book your flights.

What if I want to stay a couple of days more at London?
The official arrival date is June 13th, and the departure should be June 18th. Anything outside these dates will be on your own. Mozilla will cover flights, meals and accommodation only for those days. If you want to extend your stay in London, be aware that you will have to look for an accommodation option, and flight price should be similar to the official dates.
There are certain exceptions (like in previous WorkWeeks), if you need to ask about this, please contact Francisco Picolini or George Roter.

It will be activities like previous workweeks?
Yes, please check the wiki for get more information.

#2

Logistics information:

1) When the WorkWeek will take place?
The All Hands will be taking place from June 13th to June 18th in London, United Kingdom.

2) What is covered by Mozilla?
All meals, travels and accommodation costs while the workweek takes place. All food are included during the event. We will be using public transport to get from the Airport to the hotel. More information to come in the wiki, or here.

3) Do I need a visa to enter UK?
If you are unsure if you need a visa or not, please visit this page:
https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa
You will need a valid passport for at least 6 months to enter the country.

4) Does Mozilla covers Visa fees?
Yes, we will be covering costs related to visas. Please contact Francisco for more information.

5) How will be the process to request reimbursement for visa fees?
If you are a Rep, you only need to file a budget request through the standard process. There is an event page in Reps portal, so you can include it in your request. If you are not a Rep, please contact a Rep in your country, or in your region to help you out. If that Rep doesn’t know how to help you, or refuse to help you for some reason, please contact Francisco Picolini.

6) What papers do I need in order to request the visa?
Each country has different requests, please contact your local UK embassy in your city for more information. If you have to request something special, please contact Brianna or Francisco. We will be sending an invitation letter, and the hotel confirmation as soon as possible. With that and the flight confirmation email from Egencia, should be enough.

7) How do I book the flights?
After you complete the registration (through the link you’ve received in your email), you will receive an email with a link to book the flight. On that link you will be requested to create an account. Note that if you already have an account, you will have to access with your details.

8) I’ve requested an account in Egencia, but I haven’t received anything yet.
Note that the account authorization is manually, so don’t expect immediate replies, or an email on a weekend. Also, if you have already an account, you will be able to access with your user and password. If it has been more than 72 hours without a reply, please contact Francisco Picolini.

9) It ask for Traveler Group and department
Please include All Hands Volunteers as traveler Group, and 1002-Participation as department.

10) Which Airport is the one that I should choose?
There are a few airports in London, the recommended is Heathrow, but Gatwick and Luton are the other valid options. We will be publishing more information about traveling from those Airports to the city as soon as possible.

11) What specific costs related to request a Visa are covered?
Only costs associated to process the papers. Which can include travel to the office (if you live far away, or if there’s no office or local embassy in your city).

12) What costs are excluded?
Since we are sending invitations with 2 months in advance, we won’t cover the following “extras”:

  • Fees associated to offices or agencies that process the visa for you.
  • Expedit/priority visas (we can do exceptions, but has to be reviewed)
  • Medical insurance (note that in some countries are “suggested” and in others is “mandatory” in order to process the visa. We will only reimburse in case of “mandatory”)
  • Passport (if you need to do a new passport, or if your passport is expired).

13) I’m under 18 years old, are the costs related to the visa of my guard covered by Mozilla?
Yes, exactly the same as stated above, we will cover only costs related to the visa, and won’t cover the “extras” already mentioned.

14) What would be the process to request the reimbursement?
The same as we stated above for requesting reimbursements.

15) Is Mozilla covering public transport inside London while the workweek?
No, transport during the event will be centralized and coordinated by Mozilla.

#3

Added the Event page from Reps, so you can start asking for reimbursement.

Regarding reimbursements, we will be accepting reimbursement request up to 60 days after the event.

#4

  1. I need to travel to the Visa Center to have my biometric fingerprints taken, does Mozilla cover the travel expenses by bus/plane to the embassy since its significantly far away(8 hours by bus)?

  2. Also since the embassy in my country doesnt process Visas, i have to go to a Visa Center and they have an extra fee apart from the regular visa fee, does Mozilla cover this one?

#5

@thephoenixbird
Please check question number 12 above.

#6

@franc am i allowed to get reimbursement for travel to airport & layover if my returning dates are different?

#7

Hello @Swarnava et all,

From the info we have now, people arriving to Heathrow will receive a two way ticket for Heathrow Express valid for 90 days. So that means that if you return for a different date (beyond the 90 days window, or through a different transport), you won’t get reimbursed, since it supposed that you have a return train ticket (it’s different for those arriving through Gathwick or other option).

Aside this, we won’t be reimbursing Oyster cards, nor transport tickets for the days of the event.

Regarding layovers, we’ll proceed with the same we did with Singapore. Only layovers of more than 3 hours will be reimbursed and the maximum is 15 USD per person per layover.

And remember that extras like hotel nights, won’t be reimbursed under any case.

Hope it’s more clear with this, but don’t hesitate to continue asking so everyone can be aware of this.

Regards,

1 Like
#8

@franc Thanks, I am asking about layover food cost while returning, and transport cost from airport towards my airport. my return date is 25th which is 1 week later than the work week. can i ask reimbursement for that?

#9

Sorry for the late reply.

We will be using a similar policy than for Leadership summit. We can reimburse food and transportation if it’s related to the travel itself. But we won’t be covering any extras like extra nights, or transportation in London during the event.

If you want to request reimbursement for food at layovers, we will covering only 15 USD per person, for layovers over than 3 hours on the official dates. And we will be reimbursing transportation in home cities, suggesting the use of public transport.

Regards,

#10

Hi, I came across http://mozillalondonallhands2016.sched.org/ from the All Hands wiki page. It seems that an account is needed to fully access it though, and it says it’s invite only.

So :

  1. Should it be accessible to contributors ?
  2. If so, what’s the steps to follow to create an account ?

Thank you

#11

Hi Nicolas,

Anyone can use it as-is, but if you want to create a custom calendar for the week, you will need an account.

#12

I get “This event starts on June 13, 2016 and is currently private.”

Screen Shot 2016-05-07 at 22.29.36.png712×267 78.2 KB

1 Like
#13

This seems fixed now

#14

Usually they keep it private until they announce the schedule through an email :wink:

However, keep in mind that this schedule is not definitive, so it can suffer some modifications.

Cheers,

#15

@franc what is the recommendation for volunteers for London? Attending a conference? Or is Work Week fine?

#16

Yikes!

Please please please don’t say work week. It’s the ‘work’ that’s a problem
as that implies a job in the UK. So…get rid of those two words!!! :wink:The
border will give you a hard time if you call it a work week.

Meeting, conference, or gathering.

#17

Hi @mkohler, like George said, do not say Work Week. We’ve changed the name of the event to All Hands, and in the invitation letter there’s no mention to WorkWeek.

Having said this, some countries might have issues at border more easily than others. So probably attending a meeting, or a conference should be enough. Please note that if you are saying that you will be working as volunteer will add confusion in UK (we knew this from Mozfest).

Indicate that you have been invited by Mozilla, that Mozilla will cover all the costs of your stay, and that you will be attending a conference, should be enough (along with the invitation letter printed, and the email with the hotel information).

Regards,