Hourly Contracts: Can the payment method be improved?

[#1]

Hello guys,

I don't know how many freelancers are affected by this but I think it's something Upwork needs to review.

Scenario:

I get an hourly contract job on Monday. I work on the job and finish it successfully on the same day, submit the job, client is happy with the results and ends the contract.

I think it's unfair to have to wait the entire week for the timelog to be up for review and then wait some more for billing. I feel that clients should be billed immediately they end the contract. Not all hourly contracts run for weeks or months, some just run for a few hours and that's it.

Even from a client's point of view, why do I have to review a weekly timelog on Sunday when the contract ended on Monday, accepted the work and moved on?

I would love to hear from other freelancers as well.

[#2]

Personally I love the system. I don't know any other platform that offers payment protection. I don't mind at all waiting a couple of weeks to get paid. It would be two weeks, a month, or more in the "real world."

[#3]

Hi Sarah,

I acknowledge the payment protection and that is understandable but my issue here is the review period. You finish working on a project early on in the week, final files are submitted and even the client ends the contract. Shouldn't the timelog review be done then rather have to wait a week? 

If it's done this way, the freelancer wait time is shortened much like a fixed price contract. The client too doesn't have to wait all week to review.

[#4]

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Dennis M wrote:

The client too doesn't have to wait all week to review.

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The client never has to wait to review.

With the massive number of hourly contracts it makes sense to have a unified charging and dispersing cycle from an accounting point of view. All clients are charged on Monday for the hours logged the week before.

This is most unlikely to change any time soon, so you can either get used to it or stick to fixed rate contracts.

[#5]

Well, if freelancers don't raise the issue then it will never change. But if many of us do ask, Upwork may review the system. 

[#6]

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Dennis M wrote:

Well, if freelancers don't raise the issue then it will never change. But if many of us do ask, Upwork may review the system. 

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Why should they when it works for them and their clients? It's been raised frequesntly over the years.

I don't understand why, I like the regularily of the cashflow.

[#7]

If it has been raised frequently over the years, then clearly there are people bothered by it.

But based on your answers, it's also clear there are those who don't mind it.

[#8]

Dennis,

I doubt any freelancer would refuse to get paid quicker, all other things being equal, but Upwork has its processes in place for a reason.

Banks process their daily deposits each night, not immedately, because that's how long they need to dot the i's and cross the t's and avoid losses to fraud. Upwork has a lot more work to do to keep its losses from fraudulent activity to a minimum, and that work takes time. And if the trade-off for waiting longer to get paid is having what I have found to be a very real assurance of payment from fraudulent clients, that's a trade-off I can live with.

As you may know, Upwork did recently accelerate the weekly payment schedule for some freelancers, so management obviously knows the payment waiting period is an issue. Only time will tell whether Upwork does more in this regard.

[#9]

Hi Dennis, I am with you on the review waiting time. It has affected me in so many ways. I had couple of clientsthat loved the work I did but never got to end the contracted and leave a review. I still cannot explain why.