Community Blog

The Loom recording integration in Upwork Messages is now available to all users! Earlier this month, Hailey Kilbarger, Upwork Education & Training Specialist, and Katrina Joerg, Upwork Customer Support Manager, hosted an event with Upwork’s Engineering Lead, Mike Maietta. Continue on to watch the video!

For the last month, we’ve celebrated International Coffee Day by partnering with Red Bay Coffee to craft a delicious coffee blend exclusive to Upwork, complete with packaging that features beautiful illustrations by artists commissioned from our own platform. So who are these artists whose work graces these exclusive bags of brew? Read on to learn about them and their freelancer journeys!

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and we are happy to celebrate the culture and contributions of our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) team and community members. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month we will highlight contributions of our AAPI team members . So, to get started, we wanted to start with why this matters. Simply put, having a deeper understanding of the experiences of others creates an opportunity for empathy and inclusion. 

It’s International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge, an effort to promote a gender equal world. This day has been celebrated for well over a century, with the first gatherings of over a million people occurring in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Today, International Women’s Day is celebrated all around the globe.

When asked to describe the past year in a single word, my top choice was exhausted. Like many of you, I was already working from home, but the pandemic and quarantining created a new reality. We were in Isolation (or some still are). We no longer have the outlet to interact at a local coffee shop or co-working space, visit friends and family, or enjoy our normal routines.

To celebrate Black History Month, we’re highlighting the work and careers of Black creatives on our platform, as well as our Black team members who exemplify dedication, originality, and excellence. Join us all month long for team member and talent spotlights plus expressive illustrations commissioned from independent artists—like the one below by illustrator Cymone Wilder. You can also find these spotlights on Upwork’s social spaces, as we tell their stories and perspectives through both words and art.

Upwork and Citrix are teaming up to bring Upwork’s flexible talent solution directly to the Citrix Workspace so that we can meet clients where they’re already working and help them find the talent they need. 

We’re excited to share that Upwork is launching two new initiatives, the “Voices of Authority” video series, and the “Back to Better” podcast, to give clients and freelancers insight from thought leaders on developments in 2020 and understand how companies are transforming themselves through the recent COVID-19 crisis.

The Upwork Team cares about your safety and success. We want freelancers to get contracts and build reputations without being interrupted, so we’re doing everything we can to stop it. One risk that we’re seeing right now concerns Paid and Leased account fraud.

Come explore Upwork events and webinars for freelancers in a whole new way! We have upgraded the events calendar that was previously housed on a thread here in the Community, to a new and improved version as its own stand-alone page https://www.upwork.com/community/events.

We are deeply saddened by the recent events of discrimination and violence against Black people in our communities. We acknowledge George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the many other Black people who have needlessly lost their lives due to racist violence and an inequitable justice system. We are outraged, and we are motivated to take action for the betterment of our communities. At Upwork, we do not condone any form of racism on our platform. Black Lives Matter and we stand with our Black community now and every day.  

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, one thing that has been noticeable here in the Community forums is the camaraderie and willingness to help one another. Whether you are sharing information about resources in your state or trying to help someone find the answers they need where they’re located. 

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.

Since releasing Upwork’s Android app for freelancers and agencies in April 2019, our community has reported issues with receiving notifications for  job invitations and new messages, or would only receive them once the app is launched.

This is because some Android device manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, One Plus, Vivo, Lenovo, Huawei, Samsung, and a few others, customize their operating systems (known as stock ROMs). When the app is cleared on such a device, it kills the app and its background services, which ultimately disables push notifications.  

With October being National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we at Upwork have created some new resources to help educate and keep your business safe on our platform. By educating and informing our users about ways they can keep themselves and their information safe online, we hope to better safeguard our community against those with malicious intent – either on Upwork or elsewhere.

UPDATE ON Jan 5th, 2017- Here is the updated Confirmation of Services form with font sizes that automatically adjust. 

Today, we’re proud to announce the launch of a new Business Resources section for independent professionals on our site. The resources section is designed to bring together a bevy of third-party resources for freelancers and other small business owners, providing you with ready access to resources to grow and protect your business.  

Many of you have been asking for a place to go for updates when there are site stability issues. Today our CEO Stephane Kasriel introduced our Status Update page at Status.Upwork.com, to share information on issues that may affect Upwork’s site performance. This page will be improved in the future to become a much more detailed status page reporting on key areas. Additionally, there is an option to subscribe to receive notifications for new updates.