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haydenb
Community Member

We are here for you- COVID-19 Update

In troubling and uncertain times like these, we find more meaning than ever in our company mission, which is to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. It is through this lens that we are responding to the current COVID-19 crisis.

 

There is no higher value than the well-being of our team members, our customers, and our global community. Upwork is monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and taking the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our team members, while proactively driving business continuity plans to ensure that we continue to deliver for our customers. 

 

To ensure the safety of our team members as well as our business continuity, we’ve moved from a hybrid to a fully remote model. Upwork was built on a strong distributed team model, with the majority of our 1,700 team members already working remotely from their home offices in more than 800 cities before this crisis. Those who regularly work in one of our three corporate offices have shifted to working remotely as well. 

 

As Upwork’s CEO, I’m very aware that self-employed individuals and small-business entrepreneurs often face heightened risks in economic downturns. Upwork is committed to supporting you through this trying time, and we are working hard to ensure that clients know that your skills and talent may be exactly the thing they need to get through the current crisis. 

 

We have received some questions about Upwork’s approach and want to keep all our customers equally informed, so in addition to sending out emails, we are sharing information here in the Community forums on the steps we are taking and the ways we can help you.

 

The ways we are all connected have never been clearer, and Upwork remains committed to helping all our community members however we can. In particular, we are working to:

 

  1. Help you maintain business continuity. We are working hard with our clients around the world to ensure that their changing business needs are translating into work opportunities for all of you—particularly in this time when the need for work done remotely is at an all-time high. We are investing in developing new job pipelines for you so that you can find meaningful work opportunities on our platform even as this crisis unfolds. We are also helping our clients successfully adapt to remote work.

  2. Support freelancers in a time of need. We are a Founding Partner of the Freelancers Relief Fund, established this week by the Freelancers Union to assist independent workers in the United States who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For more information, visit here.

  3. Facilitate your earnings from non-Upwork clients. We are testing a program that gives you the ability to leverage our escrow services and directly invoice your non-Upwork clients. We are here to help you get paid at a time when prior solutions such as cash and checks may not be viable. If you are interested, please sign up here.

  4. Accelerate receipt of payments. We have heard from many of you a heightened desire to expedite payments from your Upwork clients. We have established an internal task force that is working on how we might do this, and we will keep you posted on these efforts here in the forums.

 

Our team is working around the clock to develop new resources for our customers and community, and we will continue to share more as the situation evolves. In the meantime, our thoughts continue to be with each of you during this challenging time. Please stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected—and let us know how we can help.

 

Sincerely,

 

Hayden Brown

President and CEO, Upwork

173 REPLIES 173
frank-g7
Community Member

A step in the right direction.  Thank you for the update.

One policy that would make a huge difference would be to reduce the wait time from the time funds are released and when they are available for withdrawal.

It can make a huge difference for a freelancer who made $500 for a project, to get his/her $400 deposit in less than 8 days as it is the average now.

Also, the Instant Pay never worked for me (it keeps failing) so looking int this would be highly appreciated now more than ever.

w62n
Community Member


Frank G wrote:

Also, the Instant Pay never worked for me (it keeps failing) so looking int this would be highly appreciated now more than ever.


I had the same problem with my instant pay. Upwork blamed my bank. My bank had no idea of it. But they said id need to get on the phone with customer service while (shortly before) i was trying to activate it so they could see it and manually approve it.

 

I never did that. but one day, a few days later, it just suddenly started working.

ieshab
Community Member

One thing that would help as well would be if upwork would impose some type of minimum payment for their freelancers. I see clients asking for books to be written for PENNIES and it's hard not to accept such low jobs if you need the money even if you've been doing this (like I have) for five years. Shorter payment times would be nice as well as not letting clients hold onto work for DAYS AND DAYS before they release payment. 

carmenkerne
Community Member

Hello, 

 

About this topic: 4. Accelerate receipt of payments, I want to give a suggestion, Hayden B.

 

I work for a client, who only pays to upwork after the work is delivered and approved, so for me this 5 days of pending payment is unfair.

You could give for the client the option to choose if they need this 5 days of confirmation or if they do not.

When they do not, upwork could set the money available.

Sincerely,

 

Carmen Jacob Kerne

 

Ms. Brown, I appreciate the expression of concern and look forward to expedited payments.
__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
directorjl
Community Member

Thank you for considering all options during this distressing time. Like many have said, I too have money sitting in escrow that I could really use now instead of next week. 

 

Also, lowering the fees would be amazing as well. I sure most people plan to use the platform more now that they are at home. A lower fee would help everyone. 

hv2292015
Community Member

Hi... Thanks for the info.. Due to Corona effect I'm away from my home and can't work from my own laptop. Can I login from another laptop and start working?? Please help and let me know.. Thanks.
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ms, 

I would like to confirm that this should be fine, and will not be an issue. Please make sure that you are logging in to your account, and you and your friend are not sharing each other's account information, and logging/using each other's account as this is a violation of the Upwork Terms of Service. 

 


Ms S wrote:
Hi... Thanks for the info.. Due to Corona effect I'm away from my home and can't work from my own laptop. Can I login from another laptop and start working?? Please help and let me know.. Thanks.

 


~ Avery
Upwork
khayyam123
Community Member

Dear Upwork Service

thanks for providing thats offer it is good if upwork provide free coonects cycle as the previusly changed becuase some freelancers have done very low projects so kindly it is request

likekirito
Community Member

Thank you for considering decreasing the time for funds to be released, it would really be appreciated in these difficult times.

I hope you will come to the decision sooner rather than later.

 

It's always been really frustrating to wait for money to be realesed for 10 days on hourly contracts(5 workdays+5 security period). Removal of a few days there or here would be most appreciated!

 

Do clients really need all 5 days to review our work? And does security period has to be this long... At least during COVID-19 it would be cool to decrease this time as much as possible for the sake of freelancers.

f92ebbb3
Community Member

We are servive a lockdown by coronavirus how we are earn in this moment i am also face amount reversed problem i wast my 1st $200 dolor to lost by the clint was returned... Way that amount is too for me and my famly to purchase groucry but i realy disappointed for this

Sorry to hear your payment was reversed, Sajjad. Unfortunately, we won't be able to share details here for privacy reasons but, please, refer to the ticket here where a support agent provided more information. 

~ Valeria
Upwork

You should make freelancer plus free during covid 19 outbreak

AleksandarD
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Mihai,

 

Thanks for the question. The safety and well-being of the Upwork community is our number one priority. At the moment, we aren't aware of any plans to make Freelancer Plus membership free. We'll continue to monitor developments with COVID-19 closely and certainly notify our users if there are any changes. Stay safe!

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork
brittanyag
Community Member

Can you temporarily lift the credits requirement for applying to jobs or refund them more quickly when we're not hired? This would be an immense help as with the lower volume of jobs, there are more appliants per job and I'm applying to a lot more, including ones that are much lower than my usual range  to try to even get a single job. 

Same here. There are fewer jobs, more applicants competing for those jobs,
and what I'm seeing as a lowballing trend that makes it impossible to
compete given the current job fees. Provide extra connects to at least help
struggling freelancers.

I'm in the same situation. I'm seeing a lot more jobs posted for as little as $5 or $6. By the time you subtract 20%, it's a lost cause. If there's anyone here from Elance days, didn't the job minimum used to be $20?

you must negotiate price. client does not have budget when they post $5. 

02548175
Community Member

Can you lessen the days for processing the billing report?.. like can you make it 3days in review-3days pending?..
hase45789
Community Member

I think in the current situation when people are looking to work more from home, upwork should make connects free for 2 months. So freelancers can bid more and earn more. For 2 months give 60 connects free like before.


Haseeb M wrote:

I think in the current situation when people are looking to work more from home, upwork should make connects free for 2 months. So freelancers can bid more and earn more. For 2 months give 60 connects free like before.


No. Upwork already has too many freelancers. They need to cater to the ones who actually make them money.

I understand! But right now many clients are leaving and companies are down. So we need to find new clients. So in order to earn more, I think it's good just to flee the fees off from the connects for about one month or 2. After this, they can make the connects paid again.

Its just a suggestion if Upwork authorities can take a look at it and just for some time, change it. It will help us to earn more and accommodate our families more. By bidding more and earning more projects. Thanks!

alexs09
Community Member

does Upwork plan to decrease commission to help freelancers for this not-easy time?
or, for example, to propose a lower commission who earned more than 50K, more than 100K with the same client. >50K - 4%, >100K - 3%, >300K - 2%

lysis10
Community Member


Aleksandr S wrote:

does Upwork plan to decrease commission to help freelancers for this not-easy time?
or, for example, to propose a lower commission who earned more than 50K, more than 100K with the same client. >50K - 4%, >100K - 3%, >300K - 2%


It's decreased at $10k to 5%.

alexs09
Community Member

I already have 5%
and already paid to Upwork a lot of commissions
I just want to propose to take care of keeping very long term projects on Upwork.
Flexible commission under 10K can help with this and prevent any thinkings to go on direct work

I would like to strongly urge that you stop penalizing people for "not earning enough money" by suspending their profile - my profile was suspended out of nowhere today, and while I understand this is your normal policy, please consider waiving this penalty considering we are in the midst of a global pandemic and for many of us, working freelance from home is the only option we have right now. It also tells me it will take three business days for my profile to be reactivated which, in my opinion, is unacceptable when many of us need all the income we can get right now. Many of the jobs posted for my industry are listed with very insulting rates (5-10% of industry standard) which is why I submit sparingly to only the jobs that pay fairly - I don't feel I should be punished for this by having my profile deactivated.

Hi Kira, 

 

I understand how this is important for everyone and please know that your sentiments about this will be shared with the team. 

I would like to clarify that your profile is not suspended, nor is it deactivated. I’ve reset your profile visibility back to public. Just so that you are aware, profiles of freelancers with a history of earnings on the platform will remain public unless they have not earned in more than 2 years. Profiles of new freelancers who haven’t earned on Upwork will be set to private after 90 days. To avoid this, you can resume earnings on a new contract or upgrade your membership to the Plus plan. You can check out more info about this here.


~ Avery
Upwork
petra_r
Community Member


Avery O wrote:

I would like to clarify that your profile is not suspended, nor is it deactivated. Your profile was set to private since you haven't earned in the past 30-days. If an established freelancer doesn't earn money on Upwork for 30 days, their profile visibility will automatically change to private.  


Huh? Wasn't that discontinued a few weeks ago and changed to 2 years? 

 


Avery O wrote:

You may read more about this in this help article.


Nothing found under this help article.

VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Petra,

 

You are correct, the 30-day time-frame for setting profiles to private has been recently extended to two years, thanks for flagging. That time- frame is also noted in the Help article Avery linked in her response. We apologize for the confusion, we'll update the post in order to ensure the correct time-frame is referenced.

~ Vladimir
Upwork
90ad35d8
Community Member

I love the switch to an all-remote model. I would love to see a temporary drop in Upwork percentage fees for freelancers!

nevenamiju
Community Member

Dear customer support, a

 

big help would be to stop charging application fees for jobs while the pandemic lasts, as many bank accounts are blocked and people en masse cannot access their money.

 

Thank you in advance,

Nevena


Nevena M wrote:

Dear customer support, a

 

big help would be to stop charging application fees for jobs while the pandemic lasts, as many bank accounts are blocked and people en masse cannot access their money.

 

Thank you in advance,

Nevena


wait wut? Is this a country thing? Nobody here is getting their charge cards blocked.  All my charge card banks keep telling me they will be so kind to me and give me a 0% interest on transfers but you know after 6 months or whatever it'll go to 27%. So kind of them in these hard times. 

 

So for real, I keep getting offers not the other way around where they are blocking charges. What bank is doing this?

cvanem
Community Member

Can anything done with the payment protection plan to put more money in freelancer's pockets?  Maybe allow individual freelancers to opt out of this feature for a reduced job rate?  Not sure what the numbers are, but I never use payment protection and never will.  I'm sure there are others in the same boat.


Chris V wrote:

Can anything done with the payment protection plan to put more money in freelancer's pockets?  Maybe allow individual freelancers to opt out of this feature for a reduced job rate?  Not sure what the numbers are, but I never use payment protection and never will.  I'm sure there are others in the same boat.


If you want to forgo payment protection, all you have to do is leave the platform and offer to work for free.

I don't follow your logic.  I am not asking if we can forgo payment protection, I can already do that by not utilizing it.  I am asking if it is possible to allow freelancers to opt out of payment protection in exchange for a reduced job rate.  I'm not sure how the numbers are set up, but it appears that payment protection is subsidized by all users.  If there is a smaller user base covered by payment protection insurance then maybe Upwork could pay less and be able to pass the savings on to freelancers?  Why should some freelancers have to pay an insurance premium for something they don't need and will never use?  It was just a thought and I would be surpised if it amounted to any significant $ amounts anyway.


Chris V wrote:

I don't follow your logic.  I am not asking if we can forgo payment protection, I can already do that by not utilizing it.  I am asking if it is possible to allow freelancers to opt out of payment protection in exchange for a reduced job rate.  I'm not sure how the numbers are set up, but it appears that payment protection is subsidized by all users.  If there is a smaller user base covered by payment protection insurance then maybe Upwork could pay less and be able to pass the savings on to freelancers?  Why should some freelancers have to pay an insurance premium for something they don't need and will never use?  It was just a thought and I would be surpised if it amounted to any significant $ amounts anyway.


How will you get paid more just by omitting payment protection? You agree on a rate with the client. Upwork will not increase this rate just because you do not care whether you get paid in the end nor will the service fees be reduced. Feel free to work for clients with an unverified payment method at a higher rate and on unfunded milestones but please do not come back complaining you got scammed.

I don't think you are getting the bigger picture and how payment protection works as a group insurance plan.  Have you ever paid for any other type of insurance?  If you do not buy the insurance, you don't get coverage but you save money.  Payment protection is essentially a forced insurance plan subsidized by all users, even those that do not wish to purchase it.  I wouldn't be surprised if Upwork outsources this plan to an underwriter.

 

To answer your question, you would (theoretically) get paid more by being excluded from this insurance plan.  

 

Each of us has different clients and different relationships with them.  I trust mine to pay me and not scam me due to their reviews and past dealings.  If one of them does not pay me, then that is a risk I take.  I refuse to use the time tracking desktop app, due to privacy concerns, which automatically disqualifies me from payment protection.  There is no reason I should have to contribute to the insurance plan if I don't want the insurance other than to benefit other freelancers that actually utilize the insurance.

 

As far as what Upwork can and will do was the question I was asking.  You are probably correct that they won't implement anything like this, but I would prefer to hear it from someone that has knowledge of the inner workings and actual accounting numbers.

Payment protection is not insurance. It is not provided by a third party. Escrow provides a degree of protection because it is escrow: contracts are funded until their terms are met and then the funds are released. Hourly contracts are protected, I assume, by basic contract law and by the paper trail of work performed, which the buyer is given a week to review.

Neither system is perfect, as people periodically attest. They work for most users, and for Upwork, most of the time. Upwork is known to defend against chargebacks by clients, and under certain circumstances to make up small failures of payment out of its own pocket. Payment protection is not a cost that is separable from Upwork’s core business model and operations.

I'm not sure you can correctly argue that payment protection is not insurance in some form or another.  You do point out a lot of advantages and I agree with you that it isn't setup or marketed to be separable from their core business model, but by no means would it be impossible.  I would be curious to know what percent of the service fees go to covering the costs of payment protection.

 

Definition of Insurance: a practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium.

 

Company = Upwork

Guarantee of Compenensation for specified loss = Payment Protection (i.e Re-imbursement for not getting paid on hourly contracts)

Payment of Premium = Service Fees

 

 

 

 

 

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