Setup a retainer for my freelancer

[mattp42]

Hello,

I would like to setup a retainer for my freelancer to help even out their weekly payments. I would like to pay them for a minimum number of hours each week, regardless if I have that amount of work to send them. Then, if they complete more hours than that minimum threshold, they get paid for the total number hours they worked. 

For instance, say I set the retainer at 10 hours per week. The first week I only send them 2 hours of work, but they still get paid for 10 hours at their hourly rate. The next week I send them 15 hours of work, and they get paid for the full 15 at their hourly rate.

How do I set this up in Upwork, and how does my freelancer need to log their time?

I have been working with this freelancer for a few months now. Do I need to create a new contract to achieve this, or is there a way to modify the current one?

[LuiggiR]

Hi Matthew,

You have the ability to set a recurring weekly payment for the freelancer. Note that the way this works is that they'll receive the amount you specify, regardless of the hours logged, meaning that if they log 2 or 10 hours, they will still receive the amount you've set in addition to those hours. Also, this can only be set when you're making an offer to them, so you will have to close the current contract and start a new one to be able to set it up. You can check this help article to learn more.