The freelancer I hired didn't deliver as expected, what should I do?

[aebc03ed]

Hey,

I hired a freelancer who had less work on Upwork, but was highly communicative and pretty knowledgeable azar. Recently, two web development jobs came through my pipeline that were perfect for this freelancer's supposed skillset, so I gave them both to this person, thinking they would deliver beyond my expectations.

Now, we're two weeks overdue for the first milestones of each project (first draft), and the two websites I assigned them don't look at all like the mockups I provided. There's also a lot of work left on the table in terms of the  functionality.

For one of the two  sites, I really need this freelancer. It's a project I can't do on my own and it's too late to hire someone else. For the second site, I was able to build my own, better version in a day. Now that I have that, I almost want to tell the freelancer to stop working and figure out some fair compensation for their time (it's more than half done, based on what we agreed to, but far from fully complete). I don't want to offend them by throwing away one of the projects at this point in the game though, especially since I still need them to complete the other project.

How would you handle this situation?

[AleksandarD]

Hi Mt,

I'm sorry to hear about that. I checked your account but couldn't find the contract you are referring to. Did this happen on another account? Could you please send me a private message with the contract ID or the Upwork username or registered email address of the account in question so that I can check and assist you accordingly?

Thank you.

[prestonhunter]

I don't work for Upwork. But as a client, I have hired over 130 freelancers on Upwork. This is my opinion:

re: "The freelancer I hired didn't deliver as expected, what should I do?"

Yes.

That happens.

There is a statistically predictable failure rate for all job niche/pay level combinations.

For example, if you regularly hire freelancers who are specialists in using Hanover Data Express, to create MaxPlus 9 files, then if you hire enough freelancers in the same pay level, you would be able to predict the failure rate. For example, you might find that 30% of the freelancers you hire in the $10 to $20/hour pay range fail to deliver acceptable work.

Knowing ahead of time that not all hires are successful, and knowing roughly what percentage of hires will fail, provides YOU with POWER. You can adjust your hiring practices accordingly.

You asked: "The freelancer I hired didn't deliver as expected, what should I do?"

First of all:

You are a busy person who strives for effectiveness and efficiency. So plan now to become familiar with the client-side Upwork tools. These are very powerful. Plan to never contact Upwork Customer Support as a part of managing your freelancers or contracts. Why? Upwork Customer Support may indeed be helpful and polite. But you don't need them. If you create a support ticket and enlist their help, it may take many hours or days or weeks to resolve a matter that you could have otherwise resolved on your own in minutes. Obviously you don't want to wait on other people for hours or days or weeks to accomplish something you could have done on your own in a minute.

If you don't know how to do something, come to the Community Forum and ask questions. You will receive fast, informative advice.

So the basic answer to your question about what to do if a freelancer didn't deliver work as expected?

Don't worry about it! Like I said, this happens.

If you think that it is worth your time to continue working with that freelancer, training him, helping him do better, then you are welcome to do so. That is a choice that you can make.

But you don't have to do that!

You can simply stop working with that freelancer, and continue working with the freelancers on your team you provide you with the best work, and the best value.

You are a businessperson. You have goals that you want to accomplish. You are not here to be a trainer or mentor for any freelancer. So most of the time, the best option for you, when it comes to underperforming freelancers, is to just end the contract and stop working with them.

Think about what you did when you went to a restaurant and ordered the lasagna, and it really wasn't very good! You COULD ask if you could go back into the kitchen and spend some time training the chef or cook who made the lasagna, helping him improve his skills and do a better job. OR you could simply NOT ORDER the lasagna when you go to that restaurant. OR you could STOP GOING to that restaurant entirely. You have no more obligation to help improve an underperforming freelancer's skills than you do to help improve the skills of the cooks at a restaurant you go to.

[prestonhunter]

re: "so I gave them both to this person, thinking they would deliver beyond my expectations."

One might think that...

But an effective client knows that he can't predict the future.

What if a freelancer is a great communicator.

And has great skills.

And has delivered great work in the past.

But fails to do so this time?

So what.

As a client, I am not obligated to figure out why.

Maybe the freelancer is so great that he attracted a lot of attention from clients and he is now working on many projects... And (frankly) some of those projects are a lot more important to him at this time than yours is.

That doesn't mean you made a "mistake" in assigning him that task. But the reality is that if you wait on him, it's going to take a long time to get this work done.

So assign the work to other freelancers on your team.

The Springville Tigerhawks are a GREAT team.

Dan Jackson is a great player. He's a go-to performer.

But even he gets tired. So sometimes Coach pulls him off the field and puts other great players in.

This is a team effort. As a coach, I don't rely on just one, single member to win the game.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Now, we're two weeks overdue for the first milestones of each project (first draft), and the two websites I assigned them don't look at all like the mockups I provided. There's also a lot of work left on the table in terms of the functionality. For one of the two sites, I really need this freelancer."

No, you don't.

Other freelancers can do this work.

re: "It's a project I can't do on my own and it's too late to hire someone else."

No, it's not too late.

It's never too late to hire someone else.

What if that first freelancer isn't available?

What if he got married and moved to Australia to start a new life as a sheep rancher?

Or what if he won the lottery and now no longer works, because he is busy with his jetsetting life as a millionaire philanthropist?

The reality is that any member of your team may become unavailable at any time. As a project owner or project manager, it is your responsibility to roll with the punches and adjust.

It is not that freelancer's responsibility to see your project through to completion.

It is not Upwork's responsibility.

It is yours.

re: "For the second site, I was able to build my own, better version in a day. Now that I have that, I almost want to tell the freelancer to stop working and figure out some fair compensation for their time (it's more than half done, based on what we agreed to, but far from fully complete)."

If this is an hourly contract, you don't need to "figure out some fair compensation for their time".

That has already been figured out:

They are paid based on their hourly rate for the time that they logged.

If this is a fixed-price contract, then the simplest and easiest thing to do is for you to just release any remaining escrow money and close the contract. This lets you move forward without discussion. There is nothing the client can do about it. It is a very efficient technique for a client to use. It is what I would do.

If you don't want to release ALL escrow money, then you can tell the freelancer:

"Peter, I'm going in a different direction with the Grandview project. You don't need to work on this any more. Please tell me what percentage you are finished with this, and I can pay you an appropriate amount when I close the contract."

Then the freelancer will tell you that he is 50% done. The fixed-price milestone is $200. So you close the contract, while editing the amount of money to be released to 50% of $200: So you pay him $100.

Simple.

re: "I don't want to offend them by throwing away one of the projects at this point in the game though, especially since I still need them to complete the other project."

You are not going to offend him.

And if he is offended, who cares?

But in all seriousness, it is hard to imagine him being offended.
He has been doing this type of work for a long time.

Most of the work that he does, and most of the work that I do as a freelance developer, and most of the work that all developers do, is either never used at all, or is thrown away and abandoned soon after it is created.

[aebc03ed]

I appreciate your guidance. Thanks