Time tracker.

[m_terrazas]

Lately I have seen several posts about the protection of payments, of (serious) problems due to the misuse of Upwork.
Among them is the issue of hourly contracts, in which you are not protected if you add hours manually (well, this is warned) and if you do not write a description of the work you are doing.
We agree that, before working on Upwork, we should read, see and hear all the help that exists, in addition to the forums. But, when you are not an English speaker, this can be arduous (I say this from experience).

I wrote this question to the moderators in "New in Upwork" in a post from a freelance who had badly registered the hours by not writing anything in the "memo" during some hours.

Since, it seems that not writing something in the "memo" (time tracker) is a way that your payment is not guaranteed, instead of just appearing the phrase "What are you working on?", could not you add a warning that it is "IMPORTANT" or "MANDATORY" fill in this information?
Or do that, when you try to start recording time, don't let you do it until this section has some information written.

Maybe it's silly but I think it would help.

[joanbonjoc]

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your message.

We see how emphasizing importance of adding memos can be helpful and we will share suggestion with the team.

[m_terrazas]

Thanks Jo-An

[reinierb]

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@Jo-An B wrote:

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your message.

We see how emphasizing importance of adding memos can be helpful and we will share suggestion with the team.

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 I have not checked recently, but do the ToS still state that adding written memos to screenshots on hourly jobs is optional? If it does, it may be a good idea to have the team review and change this section of the ToS forthwith to avoid further confusion and unhappiness among newcomers to the site.  

[m_terrazas]

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@Reinier B wrote:

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@Jo-An B wrote:

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your message.

We see how emphasizing importance of adding memos can be helpful and we will share suggestion with the team.

---

 I have not checked recently, but do the ToS still state that adding written memos to screenshots on hourly jobs is optional? If it does, it may be a good idea to have the team review and change this section of the ToS forthwith to avoid further confusion and unhappiness among newcomers to the site.  

In the "Help" this appears:

To qualify for Upwork Hourly Protection a freelancer needs:
- An hourly contract
- A client with a verified billing method
- An account in good standing
- To log your hours with the Upwork Desktop App
- To be visibly working on a contract-related activity in your Work Diary
- To annotate your Work Diary with memos or activities labels that adequately describes the activity performed
- To maintain adequate and fair activity levels
- To stay within the contract's weekly limit

So it's clear that you have to describe down the work you're doing. But, even so, it seems better to be warned in a more forceful way.
Even having worked "hourly", there have been times when I forgot to write the details and I realized this when reviewing the work schedule.

[petra_r]

A similar "warning" already exists where clients require activity codes - in this case the memo is optional and in my case even discouraged. All I do is pick the appropriate activity code and make sure I change when I change what I am doing.

[m_terrazas]

I have never had to use "Activity Code".
I even I didn't know it existed! I'll have to look at "Help" again (sigh).

I suppose it will be easy to add a similar warning for the "memo".

[petra_r]

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@Maria T wrote:

1) I have never had to use "Activity Code".
2) I even I didn't know it existed! I'll have to look at "Help" again (sigh).

3) I suppose it will be easy to add a similar warning for the "memo".

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1) We only use activity codes (no memos at all) in my main contract.

2) Find it here

3) It should be. Just a "To qualify for hourly payment protection a memo is required" would do the trick...

[m_terrazas]

Thank you very much Petra, you are a charm 

Every time I have to look for something concrete in the help I go crazy!