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Create Team
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A company is oDesk's way to separate 'you the person' from 'you the business'. Each company is owned in our system by a user. But ownership can be transferred as necessary.
A team is a division of a company. It gets its own team room, work diaries, reports, etc. Basically, it's a way to separate the people who work for your company into manageable groups. Each company starts out with just one team (that's all most users need); but you can add more as necessary.
When there's just one team in your company we don't bother to give them separate names and IDs. If you decide to create additional teams they will be displayed through the system as Company:Team. Keep that in mind when choosing your names and IDs.
Companies and teams are pretty much the same as you'd find offline. For example, Bob owns a company called Bob's Building Supplies. Within the company, the workers are parts of teams - sales, customer service, installation, accounting, etc. It's just like that on oDesk. You (the user) own a company. You can have many teams inside that company as you need - whether that's just one or dozens!
You need to hire some software engineers and marketing gurus. You sign up as a buyer and create a company during registration. Then you create two more teams - company:engineering and company:marketing. Now you can keep your providers and reports separate but pay everyone on the same invoice each week.
You're a design agency doing work for multiple clients. Have client A's work done in team A and client B's work done in team B. A given client is confined to that team, so you know the true costs (use task codes for more detailed reports) and can bill accordingly. You can also invite your client to collaborate directly with their team.
As far as the system is concerned, there is no difference between a buyer company and a provider company. A company is an entity just like a user is an entity. It's what you're doing that determines the difference.
- Buyer Company
- Post jobs and hire providers to do them. Pay them on oDesk for their assignments. You'll need hiring manager privileges and a verified payment method to act as a buyer company.
- Provider Company
- Sell the services of affiliated contractors (providers who work on your behalf). Earn money for their assignments. You'll need staffing manager privileges to act as a provider company. How you compensate your affiliated contractors is up to you - at this time, it cannot be done within oDesk.
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You can use your company both as a provider and as a buyer. Your company's buyer and provider work and feedback histories will be kept completely separate.
Users create companies for many reasons, but they all fall under two categories:
- To post jobs and hire providers to do them. (Buyer Company)
- To sell the services of affiliated contractors. (Provider Company)
Buyer companies are by far the most common use case. Even providers who decide to create companies usually form buyer companies because they're looking to hire other users.
Your first company and team are created together (and share a name and ID). Buyers do this during registration. If you don't own a company on oDesk, you can create one at any time.
- Go to My Jobs > Candidacies.
- Press the Create new company button at the top right.
- Check the box to indicate whether you want to be a provider company or a buyer company (or both).
- Name your company.
- Enter a Team ID. This cannot be changed later.
- Nearly all users find it better to leave their finances combined. If you need to keep your company completely separate from your existing financial account (there will be no way to transfer money between the two accounts), check the box under Advanced Financial options. This cannot be changed later.
- Press the Create Your Company button.
Checking the provider company box will make you a staffing manager so you can add affiliated contractors, manage their candidacies and earn income from their work.
Checking the buyer company box will make you a hiring manager so you can post jobs, hire providers and pay for their work.
You can always change your privileges later in Manage & Work > Team Admin.
Checking the buyer company box will make you a hiring manager so you can post jobs, hire providers and pay for their work.
You can always change your privileges later in Manage & Work > Team Admin.
Giving your company a separate financial account is rarely necessary. All our financial reports can be easily filtered to separate your personal activity from your company's activity. Most importantly, separate financial accounts means you can't use your personal oDesk earnings to pay your company's oDesk invoices.
Exclusive affiliated contractors cannot create their own companies.
You can create as many teams in your company as you'd like. Only the company owner can create additional teams.
- Go to Manage & Work > Team Room.
- Select the relevant team at the top left.
- Click the Create new team link in the Team Tools at the right.
- Name your new team.
- Enter a Team ID. This cannot be undone.
- If you need to keep this team's finances completely separate from your company's financial account, check the box under Advanced Financial options. This is not recommended and cannot be undone.
- Press the Create Your Company button.
Giving a particular team a separate financial account is rarely necessary. All our financial reports can be easily filtered to separate each team's activity. However, you should create a new financial account if you need this team to be billed separately (for example, to a different credit card).
After you've created your new team, set your permissions and invite team members in Manage & Work > Team Admin.
The flexibility we've built into team management can accommodate nearly all use cases. However, creating a new company may be necessary under some circumstances.
To create a new company, please contact Customer Support. Explain your circumstances and the support team will help get you set up appropriately.
