Identity Verified badge soon required for all earning freelancers

[Aleksandar D]

Hi Anna,

Thanks for reaching out to us. One of our team members will reach out to you directly via support ticket to assist you further.

Thank you.

[Richard C]

What sort of identification/security issues is Upwork Having? We had to do this in 2018. Having to to this more than once is time consuming. I have no other memberships to sites which requires doing this more than once.

[Bojan S]

Hi Richard,

As part of our ongoing work to keep the Upwork marketplace a secure place for freelancers and clients, verification is sometimes required more than once. We do try to avoid doing this repeatedly and apologize for the inconvenience it may cause. 

We don't target any specific freelancers or a group of freelancers when requesting verification. The goal is to verify all freelancer profiles on the marketplace. So far it's helped us to identify profiles that are fake or fraudulent and protect genuine users and the marketplace as a whole. 

Thank you.

[Roksalena S]

Good news.

But what do you mean by all earning freelancers?

Do you have to verify your identity straight after you register to the site or once you get your first contract? 

it is not very clear.

[Vladimir G]

Hi Roksalena,

Thanks for your question. We are rolling out this requirement to earning freelancers, entailing those who have earned on Upwork, and we’ll notify them when it’s time to verify their identity.

[Karen B]

OK - -OBVIOUSLY if a freelancer is earning...and getting reviews...they are real!  What is the point of the verification -- other than causing a lot of stress and more $$ from freelancers?

[Carolyn F]

Bojan, by "protecting users" you mean those posting jobs. All your efforts and policies are toward "protecting" those posting jobs, not freelancers. Even your rehtoric talks like we are chattel and Upwork is a pimp.

You and any representative from Upwork have YET to address any of these concerns and issues that many people are voicing. This is probably my fifth or sixth post and multiple others have posted about our concerns. Yet, no one from Upwork has addressed a single one of those comments. 

What's up Upwork people? You know you're out of line when you can't address the criticism. Come to the table like responsible adults and companies. Or are you indeed a scam operation, like the other lady claims?

[Karen B]

Indeed -- the silence from Upwork regard valid concerns of freelancers is deafening!

[Rene K]

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Carolyn F wrote:

Bojan, by "protecting users" you mean those posting jobs. All your efforts and policies are toward "protecting" those posting jobs, not freelancers. 

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Of course they want to protect clients. While they have a payment protection program for freelancers (which works fine for hourly jobs, not that much for fixed rate jobs), their efforts are obviously aimed at making clients happy and to make them feel safe.

Unhappy freelancers and clients will ditch Upwork and move onto a different platform. It would be silly indeed not to like Upwork and to remain here. Since they have way, way, more freelancers than needed and they need more clients, you bet they try to retain the later ones and not the former ones.

[Jennifer M]

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Richard C wrote:

What sort of identification/security issues is Upwork Having? We had to do this in 2018. Having to to this more than once is time consuming. I have no other memberships to sites which requires doing this more than once.

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Thank the freelancers "renting" out their profiles to some dude in China for this fun process.