When I worked Elance, there was no five-day hold period after the client released the funds. There was a 30 day security period while the funds were in Escrow, but that wasn't a problem for me since I worked on projects that would take that long to complete.
The problem is this. For many freelancers, the jobs here are below market value. For instance, the professional rate for freelance writing outside Upwork at the bottom tier for fiction writing is 7.5 cents per word and goes up from there. On Upwork, the rate has just edged up to 2 cents a word. Both pay tiers take just as long to produce the same work. When you are writing, there are no corners to cut to bring the job in faster. There is a big difference between scoring a job at professional rates, and working at that level, turning in work regularly, and making that money stretch from one month to the next when you work professional rate. That is the difference. Many freelancers on Upwork need a quicker turnaround to make it viable.
Look guys, I'm saying this for the company's good. I've been freelancing fiction for 8 years here. Right now, during the slowest period for securing work, I'm slammed by offers to bid at the rate of 10 per day or more for 2 cents a word. (This is NOT normal.) I cannot take these jobs. My writing schedule is jammed packed through February at higher rates of pay and they are willing to wait to get on my schedule. They tell me they cannot find reliable freelancers. They ask me if I know people who can work for them, and I don't. The ones I'd recommend are too busy too. I kid you not. This not bragging. When so many potential clients get frustrated in securing freelancers to work for them, this is money that Upwork is losing. This tells me that freelancers who would work at lower rates have peeled away.
Sometimes clients, have life happen to them. Rarely, some are playing games. Some are too inexperienced in the market to know what it takes to keep and retain freelancers.
Also, I would suggest a voluntary mentoring program matching top-rated freelancers to new ones to help the new ones succeed. Upwork would toss a few bucks to the top-rated freelancer for doing this. Or you could allow agency status without fees to allow a top-rated freelancer develop new talent as apprentices. Something like, give them 6 months to turn new freelancers into productive freelancers, and if the Top-Rated freelancer can't, they's lose agency status, or must start paying the fee.
Upwork's problem from my perspective is that you don't have a problem securing new freelancers. You have a challenge in turning them into productive freelancers.
My point is this. If you want to help clients get onboard with Upwork, then you need to help your freelancers make it viable to stay with Upwork. Along with developing talent properly, these two different security periods are an impediment to retaining good freelancers. Revising that would make the company more profitable.
If I didn't have two different income streams outside of Upwork. I couldn't stay here.
Thanks,
