Need advice regadring tracking meeting/calls time

[iasmaa]

Hello everyone,

I have some questions regarding the meetings and calls with our clients. I started an ongoing hourly contract three weeks ago, and I think it's a good idea to get advice so that I am not doing it wrongly.

* First of all, do you track work/tasks discussing meetings and calls with the clients or not? If you do, how do you do that?
* Do you track the actual time of the calls or just the time you're taking notes, typing, or checking anything related to work while talking to the client?

* Is it a good idea to add meeting time manually or not?

We have daily meetings that may take at least 3 hours a week. Please guide me as I am considering discussing this with the client soon.

Thank you!

[feed_my_eyes · Accepted solution]

I charge for every minute that I spend working on a project, and that includes meetings (especially if they're three hours long!). I turn on the tracker when the call starts, and type notes in Word so that the time qualifies for hourly payment protection; it also helps to have these written notes, which I then send to the client, so that there's a record of what's been discussed.

[iasmaa]

Thank you so much for your response! I think that is the right way to do it. Clients really need to know that our time is worth it, and I hope that Upwork will clearly state that to the clients in the future. Right now I think my client is not aware of that, and I have to discuss that with them first, or I might get into trouble.

Thank you for your time!

[wlyonsatl]

Don't be tempted to use manual hours; they are not going to be paid if the client disputes them.

If you are spending time on working for a client, track that time using TimeTracker.

To be fair and transparent, let the clients know you are using TimeTracker for phone calls and all other work on their behalf.

Upwork really should automatically make all time spent using Upwork's Zoom app to communicate with a client as billable work hours, The client can't dispute they participate in such calls, the time of which Upwork already tracks. And this would relieve the freelancer the stupidity of having to fiddle with their keyboard or mouse periodically during a client call in order for TimeTracker to know they are "busy" during that call. 

[iasmaa]

Yeah, or they, at least, make it clear to the clients that it's freelancers' right to track meetings/calls time so that we don't have to overthink that and maybe have disputes and hot discussions regarding that with the clients.

Thank you so much for your time!