[$250] Full story : “Get paid back from my employer” onboarding flow does not work for BYOC users

[m-natarajan]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number:
Reproducible in staging?: Needs Reproduction (Reproduction blocked)
Reproducible in production?: Needs Reproduction
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack:
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers):
Logs: https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/4856
Expensify/Expensify Issue URL:
Issue reported by: @danielrvidal
Slack conversation (hyperlinked to channel name): #Convert

Action Performed:

Description:

During onboarding, the “Get paid back from my employer” option does not work well for BYOC (Bring Your Own Company) users who have not yet been invited to their company’s workspace.
In observed Track sessions, users are signing up for Expensify because their employer uses it, but they have not yet received a workspace invitation. When these users select “Get paid back from my employer,” the flow does not properly accommodate their situation.
Many of these users are simply trying to track expenses or prepare expenses before they are invited, especially if they have a corporate card or are not reimbursed directly through Expensify.
Currently, the flow only allows them to skip, instead of allowing them to create a workspace or proceed with expense tracking.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new Expensify account without being invited to a workspace
2. During onboarding, select “Get paid back from my employer.”
3. Continue through the onboarding flow

Expected Result:

The onboarding flow should support BYOC users who have not yet been invited.
Users should have the option to:
Create a workspace, or
Continue with “Track and budget expenses” if reimbursement via Expensify is not applicable yet.
The flow should not force users to skip.

Actual Result:

The “Get paid back from my employer” flow does not properly support users who have not yet been invited to a workspace.
Users are effectively forced to skip the step

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

Select the officially supported platforms where the issue was reproduced:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

The link for the full stork is in slack thread

View all open jobs on GitHub

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @sobitneupane

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022031871664336616105
• Upwork Job ID: 2031871664336616105
• Last Price Increase: 2026-03-11

[MelvinBot]

This has been labelled "Needs Reproduction". Follow the steps here: https://stackoverflowteams.com/c/expensify/questions/16989

[MelvinBot]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

During onboarding, BYOC (Bring Your Own Company) users who select "Get paid back from my employer" but have not yet been invited to their company's workspace are funneled through a flow that immediately completes onboarding without offering any useful alternatives (like creating a workspace or tracking expenses). These users are left with Concierge tasks ("Submit an expense", "Take a test drive") that assume a workspace exists, but they have none.

What is the root cause of that problem?

The onboarding flow routing in BaseOnboardingPurpose.tsx and BaseOnboardingPersonalDetails.tsx treats the EMPLOYER choice as a terminal path that calls completeOnboarding() directly, without ever routing users to the WorkspaceOptional screen that offers workspace creation.

Specifically:

1. Private domain users (BYOC): In BaseOnboardingPurpose.tsx:100-118, when isPrivateDomainAndHasAccessiblePolicies is true and the user's name is already set, selecting EMPLOYER falls into the else branch at line 105 which calls completeOnboarding() immediately. Only PERSONAL_SPEND gets routed to the WorkspaceOptional screen (line 101-103), and only MANAGE_TEAM gets the full workspace setup flow (line 95-97).

2. Public domain users: In BaseOnboardingPersonalDetails.tsx:130-142, after entering their name, EMPLOYER users fall through to the final completeOnboarding() call at line 142. Only PERSONAL_SPEND / TRACK_WORKSPACE are routed to the WorkspaceOptional screen (lines 136-139).

The WorkspaceOptional screen (BaseOnboardingWorkspaceOptional.tsx) already has both a "Create Workspace" button and a "Skip" button — it just needs to be reachable from the EMPLOYER flow.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Route EMPLOYER users to the WorkspaceOptional screen instead of calling completeOnboarding() directly. This requires changes in two places:

1. BaseOnboardingPurpose.tsx (lines 100-118): For the isPrivateDomainAndHasAccessiblePolicies branch, route EMPLOYER to ROUTES.ONBOARDING_WORKSPACE (the WorkspaceOptional screen), similar to how PERSONAL_SPEND is handled. This gives BYOC users who haven't been invited the option to either create a workspace or skip.

2. BaseOnboardingPersonalDetails.tsx (lines 136-142): For the public domain path, add EMPLOYER to the condition that routes to ROUTES.ONBOARDING_WORKSPACE alongside PERSONAL_SPEND and TRACK_WORKSPACE.

The WorkspaceOptional screen already handles all the completion logic correctly — its "Skip" button calls completeOnboarding() with the original purpose choice, and its "Create Workspace" button creates a workspace and completes with TRACK_WORKSPACE. No changes needed to that screen.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

• Adding a new intermediate screen ("Have you been invited yet?") for EMPLOYER users — rejected as over-engineered when the existing WorkspaceOptional screen already provides the right UX.
• Changing the Workspaces (join) skip behavior to offer workspace creation — rejected because the Workspaces page is specifically for joining existing workspaces, and the WorkspaceOptional screen is the appropriate place for creation.
• Changing post-onboarding tasks for uninvited EMPLOYER users — this would be a separate improvement but doesn't address the core flow problem.

---

Next Steps for Contributor+ team: Reply with @MelvinBot implement this to create a draft PR, @MelvinBot <your feedback> to refine this analysis, or explain why you are rejecting Melvin's proposal.

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @sobitneupane (External)

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022031871664336616105

[Dlove123]

🎯 Bounty Claim

Agent: @Dlove123
Bounty: $250 - Onboarding Flow Issue for BYOC Users

Plan

Investigating why "Get paid back from my employer" onboarding flow doesn't work for BYOC users.

Will identify the issue and submit a fix.

Timeline

• Analysis: 1-2 hours
• PR submission: Within 24 hours

Starting work now. 🚀

[melvin-bot]

📣 @Dlove123! 📣
Hey, it seems we don’t have your contributor details yet! You'll only have to do this once, and this is how we'll hire you on Upwork.
Please follow these steps:

1. Make sure you've read and understood the contributing guidelines.
2. Get the email address used to login to your Expensify account. If you don't already have an Expensify account, create one here. If you have multiple accounts (e.g. one for testing), please use your main account email.
3. Get the link to your Upwork profile. It's necessary because we only pay via Upwork. You can access it by logging in, and then clicking on your name. It'll look like this. If you don't already have an account, sign up for one here.
4. Copy the format below and paste it in a comment on this issue. Replace the placeholder text with your actual details.
   
   Format:

Contributor details
Your Expensify account email: <REPLACE EMAIL HERE>
Upwork Profile Link: <REPLACE LINK HERE>

[shivang-goliyan]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

When a BYOC user selects "Get paid back from my employer" during onboarding but hasn't been invited to their company's workspace yet, the flow completes immediately without giving them any useful options. They never see the WorkspaceOptional screen, so they can't create a workspace or make an informed choice to skip. They're just dumped out.

What is the root cause of that problem?

There are two routing decision points that both skip the WorkspaceOptional screen for EMPLOYER users.

In BaseOnboardingPurpose.tsx (line 101), the private domain fast-path only checks for PERSONAL_SPEND before navigating to ONBOARDING_WORKSPACE. When an EMPLOYER user hits this branch (line 105), they fall straight into completeOnboarding() — onboarding ends right there.

The second spot is BaseOnboardingPersonalDetails.tsx (line 136). After the user enters their name, only PERSONAL_SPEND and TRACK_WORKSPACE are routed to the WorkspaceOptional screen. EMPLOYER falls through to completeOnboarding() at line 142.

Both paths need fixing — the Purpose fast-path handles private domain users who already have their name set, while the PersonalDetails path handles everyone else. Missing either one leaves a gap.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Add EMPLOYER to both routing conditions so these users land on the WorkspaceOptional screen:

In BaseOnboardingPurpose.tsx (line 101), extend the condition to choice === CONST.ONBOARDING_CHOICES.PERSONAL_SPEND || choice === CONST.ONBOARDING_CHOICES.EMPLOYER.

In BaseOnboardingPersonalDetails.tsx (line 136), add || onboardingPurposeSelected === CONST.ONBOARDING_CHOICES.EMPLOYER to the existing check.

No changes needed to BaseOnboardingWorkspaceOptional.tsx itself — its Skip button already calls completeOnboarding() with whatever purpose was selected (so EMPLOYER users who skip get the same outcome as today), and its Create Workspace button correctly routes non-PERSONAL_SPEND users to WORKSPACE_CONFIRMATION. Both paths work for EMPLOYER out of the box.

The existing test in tests/ui/OnboardingPurpose.tsx (line 139) validates that CHAT_SPLIT completes directly for private domain users — that test stays unchanged since we're only altering the EMPLOYER path.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

I traced a few other approaches through the code. Routing EMPLOYER to the Workspaces (join) screen doesn't work — that screen only lists joinable policies, and its Skip button goes back to PURPOSE, not WorkspaceOptional. There's no creation option there. I also looked at conditional routing based on whether joinable policies exist, but that data comes from an async getAccessiblePolicies() call on the Workspaces screen and isn't available at the routing decision point. A new intermediate "Have you been invited?" screen would be redundant since WorkspaceOptional already provides both paths (create or skip).