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Zoom Integration on Upwork!

daryl_sando
Community Member

The Upwork Team is committed to making sure all our customers have the best experience possible on the Upwork platform. In order to make that happen, we’re constantly listening to your feedback and thinking of ways we can implement those suggestions and changes. 

 

We know that our customers have experienced challenges with Upwork’s video and call features, and we realized they wanted and needed a different resource that would allow them to conduct pre-contract conversations while still abiding by Upwork’s Terms of Service. 

 

In order to make having those pre-contract conversations easier, we’ve implemented a brand new integration with Zoom, a video calling platform, which we know many of our customers are already very familiar with.  

 

Why are we adding an option to make Zoom calls directly through Upwork?

 

In short, we want to help both clients and talent to succeed, and we want everyone to have a great experience when using Upwork. 

 

We recognize how important it is for talent and clients to have a way to communicate with each other for everything from contract negotiations to project feedback.

 

With the new Zoom integration, our goals are to:

 

  1. Decrease the number of calls with issues
  2. Increase the level of customer satisfaction with the calling feature 
  3. Give users an easy way to make calls on Upwork

 

How does the Zoom integration work? 

 

Both talent and clients can start Zoom calls directly through Upwork Messages. The calls will take place via a Zoom account hosted by Upwork, so there’s no need to start a new Zoom account or use a pre-existing one. 

 

All you have to do to start a Zoom call on Upwork is:

 

  1. Click on the call icon in the top right of a messaging room with at least two participants.
  2. Select the option to start a Zoom meeting.
  3. Click on the link to join the meeting.
  4. Open within your browser or download the Zoom app.

 

Again, you don’t need a personal Zoom account in order to start or join a meeting.

 

The option to start a Zoom call is available on both the Upwork website and the mobile app. All Upwork users who have access to Upwork messages can access the new Zoom feature.

 

Why do Upwork’s Terms of Service require pre-contract communications to stay on Upwork? 

 

Upwork considers the safety and protection of Upwork customers and the marketplace to be of utmost importance. Once you take your conversations somewhere other than Upwork, there is an increased risk of fraud, circumvention, and other behaviors that could harm the Upwork community. Essentially, you lose a great deal of security once you take a conversation off Upwork. 

 

When all communications and work stay on the Upwork platform, we’re able to track and address issues and harmful behaviors that may arise. 

 

You can read more about the TOS requirements regarding pre-contract communications here

 

What else are we doing to improve communication on Upwork? 

 

When using either the new Zoom integration or Upwork’s video and calling features, we always encourage you to provide feedback. We’re constantly reviewing this feedback and using it to make improvements.

 

We’ve already heard lots of great feedback from the Upwork community, and we’re currently researching and looking for ways to help users:

 

  • Easily schedule meetings on a calendar, particularly between timezones
  • Bring non-Upwork team members into the interview process
  • Ensure clear communication on the Upwork platform

 

As always, we’d love to hear your suggestions on how we can make Upwork even better! Keep an eye out for new capabilities and features we’ll be rolling out in the future. 



Daryl Sando

Sr. Manager

Upwork Trust & Safety 

28 Comments
BojanS
Community Manager

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback with us, Laurie. I'll be sure to share it with our team.

 

Currently, non-Upwork account holders can join a Zoom call once the call has started. You can share the meeting link with anyone involved in the project so they can join. We have included a few more details here.

f811e406
Community Member

HeartHeart Cat Very Happy Can't thank the Upwork Team enough for doing this.  Cat TongueHeart

 

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the Zoom Meeting option today, while attempting to setup a Pre-Contract meeting with a freelancer. 

 

This was/is much needed, as I could never get the "Upwork Meeting" feature in the messaging to work. 

 

I was wary of using Zoom outside of Upwork for the same reason's you've mentioned, about the TOS and resolving disputes.

 

Thanks again!

kbadeau
Community Member

Robert H wrote:

Today a potential client asked that I setup a Zoom interview. Knowing that Upwork is now mandating that we use Zoom on the Upwork platform, I proceeded to setup the call.  In doing so, when I clicked on the Zoom feature, it sent an invitation to the client on the spot when the intent was to setup for another day. What is the current scheduling protocol for this?  There seems to be a missing link or something that allows to call up a calendar to schedule.  If this is not available then what is the alternative if we are not allowed to have interviews with current Upwork clients outside the platform?  


I did the same thing, and it was really embarrassing since my message right before that was that I didn't have time for a zoom call today. I forget, are we allowed to use calendly or share our email to schedule a zoom meeting/

noureddinex0
Community Member
So - correct me if I am wrong - Zoom meetings initiated from Upwork chat button is allowed for pre-contract communication.
AleksandarD
Community Manager

Hi NourEddine,

 

You are correct. We added Zoom to Upwork Messages so you will have another option for video and voice calls within our platform.

 

When you want to start a call, select the call button in Upwork Messages (look in the upper, right-hand corner) and choose “Zoom.” This will initiate the call and post the link in the Messages room so everyone in the room can click and join the call. 

 

Thank you.

 

Thank you.

salima-noorani
Community Member
Hi,

Today, me and my potential client tried to have a meeting on zoom but when he placed the call we could not hear each other properly. Then he asked me to try it. I clicked on the zoom call option but nothing happened. I was unable to initiate the call.

Then the client tried to call through upwork call option still we had no luck. Finally when he was about to give up I tried dial in by phone option. After three attempts of dialing and inserting pin code we were able to have our meeting.

Meanwhile there was this constant pop up from UW
"you can use start a new upwork call or dial in by phone:

My questions

Why is it so hard to place a call?

Why the sound quality is so poor?

Why was I not able to initiate the zoom call?

When I use the dial in by phone option I saw a phone number I got confused whether I was calling their direct number but I was led to this option via UW . I was wondering if it is against TOS to contact the client this way?

Please confirm Is this dial in by phone option free or there is a charge for it?

Is there a way to turn off the pop ups which serves no purpose?
JoanneP
Moderator

Hi Salima,

 

I'm really sorry to hear about the trouble you had. You may want to check the pro tips shared here for tips to fix audio issues. As for the pop notification, could you please check if using a different browser helps resolve it? Please let us know if you still encounter any issues.

salima-noorani
Community Member

Hi Joanne,

 

Thank you for responding to 2 of my questions related to audio and pop-up. 

 


Joanne Marie P wrote:

You may want to check the pro tips shared here for tips to fix audio issues.


I read the pro tips. It says to update my audio permission. Well, I was only able to hear one sentence once which is "Can you hear me" so It means my audio permission was updated but the sound quality was poor. 

 


Joanne Marie P wrote:

As for the pop notification, could you please check if using a different browser helps resolve it? Please let us know if you still encounter any issues.


I will only be able to check it in real-time. So I have to wait until I face the same scenario.

 

I am still waiting for answers to my remaining questions. 

 

Why was I not able to initiate the zoom call? 

When I use the dial-in by phone option I saw a phone number I got confused about whether I was calling their direct number but I was led to this option via UW. I was wondering if it is against TOS to contact the client this way?

Please confirm Is this dial-in by phone option free or there is a charge for it?

JoanneP
Moderator

Hi Salima,

 

I'm sorry that this happened during the most crucial part of the interview process. You should have been able to initiate a Zoom call with your client as this feature is already supported. Could you please let us know if there was any specific error? If you can share a screenshot, I'd be more than willing to share that with the team for further investigation. Please know that using the dial-in option is not a violation of Upwork TOS. The option to dial-in is also provided in this help article

salima-noorani
Community Member

Joanne Marie P wrote:

You should have been able to initiate a Zoom call with your client as this feature is already supported. Could you please let us know if there was any specific error? If you can share a screenshot, I'd be more than willing to share that with the team for further investigation. 


There was no specific error. When I clicked on the option nothing happened. I was using my mobile phone. Here is a screenshot.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**