Communicating On and Outside of Upwork - Terms of Service Changes

[daryl_sando]

Today, Upwork users can, with certain exceptions, share contact information and communicate with each other outside of the Upwork platform. Unfortunately, communicating outside of Upwork raises risks for talent and clients in our community, while undermining the wellbeing of the marketplace. 

To protect our community, we are making changes to our Terms of Service that will require all pre-contract communications take place on Upwork and no contact information to be shared before a contract is started. These changes will become effective June 26, 2020. 

Here we would like to tell you about these changes so you can understand what they entail and why we are making them.  

WHY ARE WE MAKING THESE CHANGES?

The goal of these changes is to create a safe environment in which both talent and clients can thrive. We have found that when users communicate outside of Upwork there is an increased risk in fraud, scam, circumvention, and other behaviors that harm our community. But when communications and work stay on the Upwork platform, not only can we track, verify, and address any issues that emerge, the potential for these behaviors to cause harm decreases dramatically. For example, the vast majority of scammers that take advantage of talent on Upwork do so by taking work or communications off the platform. 

When relationships are maintained on Upwork, those outcomes become part of the record on the platform, providing transparency for other users into the reputation and success of other professionals and talent. This transparency allows for better connections, stronger relationships, and ultimately more success for professionals and clients. 

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES?

These changes apply to Section 7 of the User Agreement:

1. Professionals and clients may not request or share any contact information before a contract is started

Before a contract has started, professionals and clients won’t be able to ask for or share contact information with each other that would allow them to make contact outside of Upwork. This includes requesting or providing contact details in a profile, job post, proposal, invite, or message, which is an expansion from the current restriction on contact information sharing that was limited to just profiles and job postings. 

Update: Freelancers and clients may not request or share any contact information* before a contract is started, with one exception.  A client or freelancer may only share contact information if it is for the sole purpose of giving the other party access to a system that allows them to scope the project in advance. This allows freelancers to review a project prior to a contract so they can determine if they have the needed skills, how many hours it will take, etc. 

This change also provides more clarity on what constitutes contact information, which will include but not be limited to: 

• Phone number
• Email address
• Physical address
• Link to a contact form or form requesting contact information
• Link to an applicant management system or means to submit a proposal or application outside of Upwork
• Any information that would enable contact through social media, other website, platform, or application (i.e., Skype or WhatsApp IDs)

2. Users must conduct all pre-contract conversations (aka interviews) through the Upwork platform

As professionals and clients meet and engage on Upwork, they will need to maintain their communications - whether messages, phone, or video calls - through the Upwork platform until a contract has started. 

3. Exception

Our larger business partners often have specific requirements and business needs that make it more difficult to use our communications exclusively. Clients who utilize Upwork Business and Enterprise solutions are permitted to request and share contact information, as well as conduct interviews or pre-contract communications, outside of Upwork. This exception extends to professionals’ communications with an Upwork Business or Enterprise client. 

HOW ARE WE ENABLING THESE CHANGES?

To support these changes, we have also made improvements to our internal Message Center. We recently upgraded our call and video systems to provide more consistent uptime and a higher quality of service. These changes have provided improvements in user experience and overall user satisfaction. We have enhanced the user experience to provide more straightforward access to this service and flexibility in viewing. Lastly, we are continuing to prioritize improvements to the Message Center to ensure our users have a best in class experience in communicating with each other. Find out more about these upgrades here. 

 

Our goal: To keep the Upwork community safe

These changes will help keep Upwork’s marketplace somewhere for both professionals and clients to thrive while preventing breaches of trust that put the community at risk. If you have any questions, please comment below or contact Upwork Help.

The updated Terms of Service will become effective June 26, 2020.

Daryl Sando, Sr. Manager

Upwork Trust & Safety

**UPDATE**

We appreciate feedback shared on this thread about this upcoming change. We’d like to address and highlight a few concerns that came up multiple times on this thread.

• Many of you noted that you often need to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement prior to accepting an offer. We've heard your feedback and made the decision to make an exception regarding legal documents. If prior to starting a contract a legal document must be shared that includes contact informaton (such as NDAs), this will be permitted.

• We understand that many of you need to share large files with your freelancers and clients. Users are free to share files via Upwork Messages at any time. Documents can be added into Messages for sharing or you can use Upwork’s  integration with Dropbox to share files. If critical project information is stored in a system that requires an email address to access, you can share your email address for this purpose only. Remember all communications before a contract starts must take place on Upwork. 

• You can share a portfolio that’s not on Upwork. We know sharing your past work is important. Therefore, you can share links to external portfolios when you submit a proposal. Note: We understand external portfolios may include contact information. If you cannot remove that information, please ask the client to only contact you via Upwork.

• We understand that many of you need a way to schedule meetings and interviews via a calendar. Upwork Messages enables users to quickly coordinate interview timing and conduct live interviews using the call feature. We’re constantly looking at ways to improve this experience so we appreciate your feedback.

• We’d like to confirm that calls made through Upwork Messages are not recorded. We encourage users to report violations of any sections of our TOS including these changes. We also have mechanisms in place to identify and flag TOS violations

[filip_knezevic]

I prefer Upwork messages, as it's safer, and you have a proof if the client is acting up.

On the other hand, clients prefer Skype. Hope this won't drive some of them away. If it drives 'five dollar fixed price for hours of work clients' away, I don't mind. 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Candice and others, 

Thanks for sharing your feedback about Upwork Messages. We made several improvements to Upwork Messages, to support these changes:

1. Upgraded our call and video systems to provide more consistent uptime and a higher quality of service. 

2. Enhanced the user experience to provide more straightforward access and flexibility in viewing.

We also will continue to prioritize improvements to ensure our users have a best-in-class experience when communicating with each other. Find out more about these upgrades here. 

[grg183]

Some other issue with this:

- Many of my clients ask me to sign an NDA before any detailed discussions are made, obviously in signing the NDA I need to include full contact information.

- When I share a portfolio samples, I have these watermarked with my name, etc.. so that they cannot be stolen by others and presented as their work. So now there are more risks of this happening.

- There are cases in which in a interview call there are third parties present (a multi-user skype call), for example a manager, CEO, etc... how will that work?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Muhammad,

Yes, the Voice/Video call feature in Upwork Messages has a screenshare option. Check out this post for more information.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Rizwan and Lisa,

Business and Enterprise clients are permitted to request and share contact information and conduct interviews or pre-contract communications outside of Upwork’s platform. You can identify whether a client is Upwork Business or Enterprise by looking for the following symbol on the right column of the job post or in the search tile: 

[rastemformal]

Okay, I carefully read your post and all I can say is...

Sure thing! This is DEFINITELY for the benefit of freelancers and it is in NO WAY benefiting you, as a platform.... khm... 🙂

But at the same time, I kindly ask you guys to give it a go and try explaining this to all the clients who are super busy, important, and just want to sign a contract ASAP without jumping through a single hoop. I can assure you many of them will stop replying to freelancers once they hear they MUST have a chat / call via the Upwork platform.

But hey, you guys do what every corporation has to do!

[firescue17]

fail fail fail

[pandoraharper]

Wow. Thank the gawds I don't do EDIT - many interviews. This contact update is just sad, from so many angles. 

I go above and beyond to try NOT to share contact information with my customers before they hit the hire button, but now I have to tell them no, I can't use their PREFFERED meeting software? I can see the conversation now. Client: Are you sure? Me: Yes, and here is the link to the terms in the TOS, not that you have time to read it. Client: I have not used this system before, can you tell me how? Me: Sorry, I don't know either because it's NEVER worked when I tried to use it. Client: Oh well we planned on interviewing and recording our interviews so our CEO could watch them. Me: Sorry. Client: well I guess we are going to hold off on hiring until we we can figure something out. Me: Well, sorry this did not work out, and good luck on hiring here on Upwork.

Here are a couple more (And to clarify, I expect these conversations to happen in the next 6 months).

Current Client: Let's get David and Amy in on this call with John. Both can act as extra screeners.
Me: I agree this is the best course of action, but we can't do that. As I recently explained, the new Upwork Terms of Service does not allow this. And the meeting tool we are allowed to use does not allow 3-way calls.
Client: I don't recall specifics. Why can't we just schedule this and send invites to their email? We have been doing this for a long time on Upwork. It's a working system.
Do this and let me know how it goes.
Me: Uh.....

My initial contact with perspective customer (either a reply to a direct invite or a bid and cover letter) will be including this line, but it won't be enough:

P.S. The new <date> Upwork Terms of Service do not allow either of us to share, however inadvertently, any contact info that would allow you to pay me outside Upwork. We will need to use the Upwork Message Center. Please expect technical issues. You can read about this here: <hopefully a knowledgebase page on how to use the Meeting function>.

I expect all replies (if I get any at all) will go something like this:

Perspective Client: I use Zoom/Google Meet/Uberconference for all my meetings, and someone on my team handles things on Upwork. I don't know how to use the site.
Me: I must train you to use the site before we can meet, so that you can figure out how to use the call feature.
Client: I'll just send you a Zoom invite, what is your email?
Me: I'm sorry, I am not allowed to send you any messages that will allow you to, however inadvertently, contact me outside of Upwork.
Client: Never mind, I've already got a meeting lined up in Zoom with someone who is way more interested in this position.
Me: Good luck filling the role! <sarcasm, duh>

[tlsanders]

In other words, Upwork is no longer a viable platform for clients who are looking to have work done on an existing website, have large files to share that the freelancer would need to review before quoting a price, or otherwise need to share custom information, sites or files in advance of committing to a contract. 

The more professional the freelancer and the higher-level and more customized the work performed, the less likely it is that it will be possible to assess the project and provide a viable quote.

Seems weird Upwork would want to make the site unusable for the highest earning freelancers.

[florydev]

---

George S wrote:

Some other issue with this:

- Many of my clients ask me to sign an NDA before any detailed discussions are made, obviously in signing the NDA I need to include full contact information.

- When I share a portfolio samples, I have these watermarked with my name, etc.. so that they cannot be stolen by others and presented as their work. So now there are more risks of this happening.

- There are cases in which in a interview call there are third parties present (a multi-user skype call), for example a manager, CEO, etc... how will that work?

---

You know that thing people do where they say all the Gurus always agree with everything Upwork does...here is a perfect example.  This is a fundamentally stupid idea.  They clearly did not think this all the way through.

I think it might make sense for people just starting out that seem to get scammed so easily but overall I would like to know what problem they are solving because this will not solve circumvention.