How do agency contracts and payments work?

[#1]

How does upwork agency contracts and payment work for a non exclussive freelancer member?

1. Can the business manager apply for a project and get a member freelancer hired?
2. when a business manager applies for a job as a member freelancer, does the member see the proposal and interviews?
3. When a business manager applies and get a contract for a member freelancer, can the member freelancer see the rate? directly or indirectly (maybe through the agency external profile contracts list)
4. Is it possible for an agency to apply for a job at a given rate and hire the member freelancer at a different rate? If possible, will this be two contracts with 2 rates (one for client-agency/manager AND one for agency-freelancer)? 
5. Is there a way to make contract rates confidencial and hire a member freelancer at any rate the agency wants?
6. For hourly contracts, on the work diary, does it show the tracked hours along with the money amount worked for the freelancer? or does it only display the logged time without disclosing the rate and total money between the client and the agency?

[#2]

And how do earnings and rating show on a non exclusive  freelancer's profile after he leaves an agency?

1. Can new freelancers build their profile by working in an agency? Does money earned through agency, rating and experience get displayed when the freelancer applies in future jobs on his/her own?
2. Will non exclusive agency members get their own reviews from clients? or does one review given to the agency is put on both the agent and the freelancer?
3. Will the earning and review show on the non exclussive freelancer's profile as their own work? or as the agency's work?

[#3]

Hi Ato,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I will be happy to help. First of all, I would like to clarify that you can't hire a freelancer as an agency you can only invite a freelancer to join your agency.

Business Manager can submit and manage team proposals and contracts for all your team members, adjust Exclusive Freelancer profile rates and profile visibility. Can see agency time-based reports, including Weekly Summary. You can find more information about agency settings and permissions here. 

Please know that the agency members who are non-exclusive can work on Upwork independently or as part of an agency. When the contract is with the freelancer as an agency member, contract payments are paid out to the agency. However, contracts independent of the agency are paid directly to the freelancer. Non-exclusive agency members have the option to submit proposals as a freelancer or as an agency member. Feel free to check this page for more information about Exclusive vs. Non-Exclusive agency members. 

You may also want to check these resources:

• Agency Contracts
• Agency Finances

Additionally, you can find a lot of helpful articles that have all available information about agencies on Upwork here. 

[#4]

Thank you for the reply. But I have already read those links you shared and couldn't give me an answer to those questions I wrote.

It would be really good if anyone can share their thoughts on the numbered questions I was unable to find the answers to.

Thank you

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Hi Ato,

1. The business manager can send proposals on behalf of the whole team. They can be hired under a contract to work on, or have one the team members hired on the contract. 

2. While business managers can view all of the proposals, some team members can't view their proposals. To learn more about the permissions you can assign to your team, check out this Help Article.

3. Freelancers can view the rate that is listed on the contract. However, you can restrict the access of the freelancer to the message room and the Work Diary. For more detail above this, please refer to the guide above.

4. At the moment, this is not a possible. If you apply to a job for X rate, the same rate will be listed on the contract for your team member/s.

5. At the moment, we don't have this option. However, thank you for your feedback I will share it with our team.

6. The Work Diary will only show the time tracked, the activity for the time the freelancer has worked, and the screenshots. To learn more about the Work Diary, check out this Help Article. 

7. If your team members are exclusive members, the contracts they are working on will be listed on their profiles as well. To learn more about the difference between exclusive and non exclusive members, check out this Guide. 

8. Non exclusive members can work as an independent freelancers and on contracts under the agency. For more details, please refer to the above guide. 

9. The work will be listed under the freelancer profile as well. 

[#6]

Thank you very much for taking time to answer those questions ! !

On your answer for number 7, Could you please also tell me how the job completed and ratings get displayed for non exclusive freelancer's profile? does it add up on the non exclusive freelancer's total earning number on their profile? (can freelancers work on agencies to build their profile for future independent works?)

And on the guide you sent me, under the bullet Agency freelancers it says "Can see reports about their own work, but can't see their rates on their reports or contracts." does it mean they can't see what rate the agency gets paid on the contracts they are hired on?

Thank you ! !

[#7]

Hi Ato,

Yes, and yes! A freelancer's profile reflects their Work History from their time in the Agency, even if they leave. Also, they are unable to see the rates on Agency contracts. Payments for all contracts are sent directly to the Agency, so how much a freelancer gets paid for any given contract is determined by the relationship between the freelancer and the Agency. 

[#8]

Thank you Andrea, will the non exclussive freelancer's total earnings number on his profile change when he works in an agency? And wouldn't that reflect the rate of the project?

Or on the list of completed works on his profile, won't it show how much money he earned from that job he worked through agency? how is that calculated? wouldn't that number show the contract rate? since you can get the rate if you have the total earned and the time?

[#9]

Hi Ato,

What Andrea explained and what's in the guide you read, it's specific to Member Roles. If the role is "Agency Freelancer" then the freelancer can't see their rates on their reports or contracts. 

[#10]

I know it doesn't show on their report and contract. But how about when the project is completed, on their profile how will it get listed? wouldn't it show the total they earned? can't they calculate the rate based on the time? if the total earning is available there? I just wanted to know

[#11]

Hi Ato, 

The hourly rate of a non-exclusive agency member's agency contract would still appear on their Upwork profile even if the contract is under the agency. In terms of visibility to your account, payments will only show under your financial activity but will show the rates in their freelancer profile.

For agency freelancers' profile rates, the option to switch it from public to private is for exclusive agency freelancers only. You can set it in the Agency Roster settings.