Frustrating delays when beginning Enterprise projects

[feed_my_eyes]

I received a great offer from an Upwork Enterprise client on Friday and cleared my schedule to work on it today. Frustratingly, I've been at my desk twiddling my thumbs for the past 5 hours because Upwork has not yet "approved" me to work on the project; they need to "confirm my status as an independent business" first. I have already been through this rigmarole at least a dozen times, and you've had my W-9/W8-8BN information on file ever since I joined this website - how many more times do you need me to supply this information?

I also got an email last month asking me a whole bunch of questions and requiring me to supply things like tax returns, invoices to non-Upwork clients, etc. etc., in order to confirm that I'm an independent business, and saying that it would speed up the process the next time I applied for an Enterprise job. So why hasn't it sped up, then? I've been expert-vetted, interviewed, skill certified, identity verified. Why do you keep asking me for the same information over and over and over again, causing delays to projects for your important Fortune 500 clients? If this had been just an ordinary client who wasn't paying Upwork any money to "manage" their projects, I would have finished the job by now. 

I've done at least 10 jobs for one of my Enterprise clients, but every time they want to re-hire me, I have to complete the same tasks again. At one point, there was a 5-day delay to an urgent project while Upwork dragged their feet on the approval process. It seems like Enterprise clients are paying Upwork a lot of money just to get their projects delayed. Why can't you streamline the process so that once a freelancer is part of an Enterprise talent cloud, we don't have to keep going through the exact same onboarding tasks each time we're re-hired?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Christine,

First of all, I've checked on your case and it looks like the contract was accepted a couple of hours ago and you should be all set now. In general, requirements for Enterprise offers may differ and will depend the internal needs of each specific client, legal requirements, the type of engagement and other factors. That said, we definitely want to make the process as smooth as possible for all parties involved and not cause any delays. Your feedback about the process is very valuable and I'll be sharing it with the team that's working on improving it. 

[feed_my_eyes]

Thanks Valeria. Yes, I'm working on the project now, but I still lost half a day and will now need to work late into the evening in order to meet the deadline. I don't understand why this process needs to be so cumbersome, and especially why I need to go through the process over and over again when I've already done multiple projects with some of my clients. I would appreciate it if you do pass on my comments.

[gilbert-phyllis]

I'd like to second Christine's feedback, along with appreciation to Valeria for relaying it to the appropriate team. I have fewer experiences working with Enterprise clients (so far) but have encountered the same thing: seemingly redundant onboarding processes that UW handles so slowly, valuable time is lost. Once, by the time UW approved the contract, the end date was no longer viable. Another thing I've encountered is when an Enterprise client and I mutually agree that a project requires more time, we have to get UW involved to extend the end date. Since I have been so thoroughly vetted as a FL who can be relied upon to handle big, high-stakes projects successfully (Expert Vetted, Top Rated Plus, admitted to various Enterprise Talent Clouds), why does UW insist on micromanaging to this extent? It seems backwards to me -- FLs like Christine and me are the ones who can be relied on to deliver for big, important clients without UW trying to baby-sit.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Phyllis G wrote:

Another thing I've encountered is when an Enterprise client and I mutually agree that a project requires more time, we have to get UW involved to extend the end date.

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I've found that you actually don't need to request an extension, so I don't know why they say that. On my two most recent projects, Upwork has emailed me to say that the end date is coming up and that the project will be automatically closed... but then it doesn't close. I closed the first one, but with the most recent one, I've left it open just to see what would happen. The project is still open more than a month after Upwork emailed me to say that they'd be closing it (the client didn't request an extension). Why say that it'll be automatically closed, if this isn't true?

[gilbert-phyllis]

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Christine A wrote:

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Phyllis G wrote:

Another thing I've encountered is when an Enterprise client and I mutually agree that a project requires more time, we have to get UW involved to extend the end date.

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I've found that you actually don't need to request an extension, so I don't know why they say that. On my two most recent projects, Upwork has emailed me to say that the end date is coming up and that the project will be automatically closed... but then it doesn't close. I closed the first one, but with the most recent one, I've left it open just to see what would happen. The project is still open more than a month after Upwork emailed me to say that they'd be closing it (the client didn't request an extension). Why say that it'll be automatically closed, if this isn't true?

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Interesting. I had the opposite thing happen -- project closed automatically with no notice. The work had been completed but the client wound up not leaving any fb (and it was quite a large job), and it was never clear to me how the fb prompting worked in that instance (if there was any).

[moonraker]

I recently had one close automatically about 6 months after the supposed end date. 

[f447fac9]

I am also facing another issue with enterprise clients. The onboarding tasks that need to be finished before I can start working are assigned to a client coordinator from Upwork. They're overdue to finish those tasks. So, I can't start working, because they're overdue. This is very frustrating. 

[LuiggiR]

Hi MD,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ve escalated your community post to a support ticket. One of our agents will be in touch with you soon to assist.