Client Location Information

[michaelsanders28]

Hello, Interested Parties,

Why does Upwork disclose the location information of clients to freelancers? As a paying client, I'm not totally comfortable with freelancers knowing my location. It's not like I won't pay them as Upwork requires payment information prior to hiring a freelancer. It's fine if Upwork knows my location, but is it really necessary for freelancers to know? I think it's a disadvantage to clients, who are the paying customers of Upwork and the creators of job opportunities for freelancers around the world. 

[prestonhunter]

You can assign hiring privileges to somebody else.

You can work with a project manager or hiring manager who lives in your preferred client location.

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063368-Add-or-Remove-Team-Members

As a freelancer, I have often been hired directly by people in one country, even though the actual project owner lives in a different country.

[michaelsanders28]

I like the idea but for the clients who are just getting started w/ limited resources that would not be ideal.

[gina-herrera]

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Michael S wrote:

As a paying client, I'm not totally comfortable with freelancers knowing my location.

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... You know our location as well? That's hardly fair to expect one side to keep their info confidential.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

I would be very happy to see Upwork offer clients a checkbox that they can click on to opt out of having their location displayed.

[a_lipsey]

Client location is actually imperative information for my line of work. I often get inquiries from clients outside the US, and it's very easy for me to be able to respond that I cannot actually help them due to their location. It saves many of us a lot of time to be able to help clients narrow down quickly what they actually need. 

[prestonhunter]

I think Amanda has provided valuable perspective. Clearly this can be an important factor for some freelancers. Are they in the majority? Or only a minority? I don't know.

Personally, I often have no idea where the clients who hire me live. It is not something that I typically check.

If some clients were able to block display of their location, I might not notice.

[michaelsanders28]

Upwork has a filter for clients that allows them to select where they are seeking freelancers, and they apparently offer the same feature to freelancers. Whether or not that's fair is a different question. I think the universal question is, what is the service that the freelancer is providing worth? The value of service shouldn't be based on location. I think that location is irrelevant, especially given that the business is conducted via the internet. That would benefit both freelancers and clients, in my opinion.

[mtngigi]

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Michael S wrote:

Upwork has a filter for clients that allows them to select where they are seeking freelancers, and they apparently offer the same feature to freelancers. Whether or not that's fair is a different question. I think the universal question is, what is the service that the freelancer is providing worth? The value of service shouldn't be based on location. I think that location is irrelevant, especially given that the business is conducted via the internet. That would benefit both freelancers and clients, in my opinion.

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One of the best reasons for this knowledge is time zones. Location is one of the first things I look at on a job post, for many reasons. If a rush job is posted by a client who is 12 hours ahead of, or behind me, I'm not going to bother. Even if it's not a rush job, inefficient communication because of someone in a far away time zone can be frustrating and extend a contract beyond the reasonable time it should take to complete. And as someone else mentioned, our location is freely available, and in some cases easy to pinpoint even more, once a client knows your full name.

[luce-neidert]

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Virginia F wrote:

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One of the best reasons for this knowledge is time zones. Location is one of the first things I look at on a job post, for many reasons. If a rush job is posted by a client who is 12 hours ahead of, or behind me, I'm not going to bother. Even if it's not a rush job, inefficient communication because of someone in a far away time zone can be frustrating and extend a contract beyond the reasonable time it should take to complete. And as someone else mentioned, our location is freely available, and in some cases easy to pinpoint even more, once a client knows your full name.

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Time zone is an important factor, as Virginia said, because it allows to see whether one will be able to meet a deadline. There's also a financial reason why it helps to know where a client is. It's not in my interest to apply to jobs from clients who are in countries where the cost of living is lower than in the country where I am, as they will reject my bid.

[gina-herrera]

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Michael S wrote:

The value of service shouldn't be based on location. I think that location is irrelevant, especially given that the business is conducted via the internet.

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I disagree, as a New Yorker I can honestly say I have not yet met anyone that is accustomed to the type of crushing pressure and hustle culture that I am and it is very much visible in my speed and quality of work 🙂 My location is actually a huge selling point with my clients. Conversely, a lot of my clients act differently towards me based on location as well - the ones which are from big cities expect a lot more from me most of the time (and are also willing to pay more).

If one was to go by your comment, you can expect to pay an entry-level freelancer in Malaysia about $25 an hour regardless of their caliber of skills / background education in comparison to other countries and their much lower cost of living... unless you are only talking about the US, which is a very egocentric point of view. Services are always going to be based on location, both domestically and globally, you think I can move to Iowa and charge almost $100 an hour? potential clients would laugh in my face.

[lysis10]

Count me in for requiring location. Time zone is important and I don't hop on the phone/zoom at all hours. It's hard enough trying to meet up with the Euros. The Russians are even harder. I'll do it but only if they have a contract already.

Also, I don't care about wokie fee fees. I'm going to reject certain countries because I'm not interested in arguing over my rates.

[dotticolvin]

Personally, I like to know where my client is. It can make a difference to my acceptance of the work. One important factor is the timezone if you require flowing communication. I illustrate books among other things and so the ability that my client can contact me or vice versa improves the quality of the experience at both ends. In the end, what do you have to hide? I would also like to see a client work history presented on Upwork ( experience from on and off Upwork)  to get rid of the jokers, and to make sure that the client is actually serious about the project, has basic social skills, and has some comprehension of the work involved.  

[mtngigi]

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Michael S wrote:

Hello, Interested Parties,

Why does Upwork disclose the location information of clients to freelancers? As a paying client, I'm not totally comfortable with freelancers knowing my location. It's not like I won't pay them as Upwork requires payment information prior to hiring a freelancer. It's fine if Upwork knows my location, but is it really necessary for freelancers to know? I think it's a disadvantage to clients, who are the paying customers of Upwork and the creators of job opportunities for freelancers around the world. 

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This illustrates another reason for the importance of knowing where a clients is located:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Client-location-for-engineering-work/td-p/861516