**Any Hire

Types of Contracts:

• Single Payment: Best for clearly defined short-term projects. A client pays a lump sum at the end of successful completion of a clearly defined project.
• Milestone Payment: Best for projects with more than one phase. A client pays lump sums at the end of each successfully completed phase of a multi-phase project.
• Hourly Rate: Best for ongoing or fast-changing projects. A client pays based on how many hours the freelancer works in a given week, and based on an hourly rate for that work. (Freelancer will need to log their hours with Upwork.)
• Fixed Rate: Best for paying talent a fixed amount every week or two. Internally known as Salaried Contract, fixed fee paid by clients to freelancer without the requirement to log hours, similar to marketplace “stipend” or “weekly retainer”
  
  • Ability to set a weekly payment for a freelancer
  • Weekly Hour Limit set to 0 hours, can be changed
  • Weekly rate defaults to $6.00
  • Hours can be logged but need to be approved by the client

 

 

Any Hire Contract Fees: 

• Includes costs for all active Any Hire contracts, billed every one or two weeks depending on the contract’s cadence. See billing cadence screenshots below.
  
  • Contracts on bi-weekly cadence are billed every other Monday.
  • Contracts on weekly cadence are billed every Monday.
• Any Hire independent contractor contracts costs $49/month billed $22.62 every two weeks. We invoice those fees on the Monday after the biweekly period. We also charge applicable taxes. 
• For United States based talent hired as an employee, Any Hire costs $199 plus 15.5% for Payroll & Benefits (including: tax filings, expenses and all localized benefits such as health insurance, pension contributions and more). For international based talent, fees are variable based on local compliance laws with an estimated fee of $799 plus Payroll & Benefits costs which range to 5-70% of the contract value.
• If the client is eligible for ACH - there is no payment processing fee
• If any Any Hire contracts are employment contracts, the client will also be charged the EOR’s vendor fees. These fees may include additional taxes, fees for benefits, and other costs, as required by labor law in the freelancer’s country.

   

 

Billing Cadence screenshots:

Where to manage billing cadence:

 

 

Weekly cadence:

 

Bi-weekly cadence:

 

 

 

 

 

Pricing per Talent’s Location

 

 

When funds are available

• We pay the freelancer after the client is successfully charged and a four day security period has passed. Once a client is charged, the freelancer will see the payment as pending, and after the hold period is over they will see the funds as available. See payment schedule screenshot below.
• For example, if the client payment method is successfully charged on Monday, the freelancer will see the funds the same day and will be able to withdraw them by that Friday. Any delay in charging the client payment method delays the freelancer’s payment by the same amount.
• If the freelancer has automatic payout set-up within Upwork they will receive their funds on Wednesdays - note this would be 1.5 weeks after the work was completed
  • Eg. Client pays on Mondays for the prior period, funds are not available until Friday, automatic withdrawal will come on the next Wednesday
• If the freelancer is working as a payrolled employee with an EOR (Employer of Record), the EOR may have to follow specific labor laws about how they can pay you. For example, some countries or regions may require that the EOR pay the freelancer monthly. Upwork will let the freelancer know if this situation arises so that the freelancer knows when to expect payment.

 

Any Hire provides several benefits:

• Work with talent from anywhere, easily: We determine your professional’s worker classification for you. Every country has different laws that say whether you can work with a professional as an employee or as independent talent, and these laws can change regularly. We keep track of these requirements and use them when we classify your contracts.
• Hire payrolled employees through an Employer of Record: If needed, we’ll arrange an Employer of Record (EOR) for the contract. The EOR will take care of things like paychecks, taxes, benefits, and other legal concerns. These costs are billed to you in simple bi-weekly payments.
• Enjoy convenient self-service features: Create contracts. Set up reports. And welcome new people to your team with just a few clicks, 24/7.
• Manage pay and benefits from one place: Pay any number of people, in any number of countries, with a single click. Any Hire is also your hub for organizing key information, like tax documents — all on a single dashboard.
• Enjoy peace of mind: Any Hire includes $50,000 in legal protection per client against the risks of misclassification.

For Clients:

Any Hire is a standalone, self-serve product for small/medium companies that addresses their needs across classification of IC vs. payroll, international hiring compliance, onboarding, and paying remote talent. This product addresses companies’ concerns around navigating international compliance, their desire to have a seamless and centralized tool for onboarding and paying talent, at a price that is aligned with Upwork’s value in providing these services separate from talent sourcing.

For Freelancers:

Any hire addresses freelancers’ desires for a smooth onboarding and payments experience when working with a pre-identified client, and their expectation to not pay fees when being BYO’d (Bring Your Own program) by their client.

 

 

 

Any Hire Features:

• First-time login for existing Upwork customer
• directed to agree to the Any Hire TOS before being able to access the Any Hire experience, since this is a one time legal requirement for all users
• Invite a coworker
• existing Any Hire customers can invite coworkers to join the Any Hire experience using the coworkers’ email addresses, an optional message and their admin level (None, Finance, Full), so that coworkers can help create contracts and pay for our remote team.
• Permissions
  • Hiring: Manager
  • View Work Diaries: Team
  • Can Chat With: Team
• Power customers will have the ability to set advanced permissions for use on the Marketplace
• Contract Creation
• Ability to select a Team to hire within when creating a contract (via a dropdown) so that their Teams stay consistent across multiple Upwork DMs

 

 

Any Hire vs. BYO

 

Any Hire is an upgraded version of BYO, with all the same great features, and then some. 

• Worker Classification: Any Hire supports hiring either Independent Contractors or Payroll Employees. We recommend the best type for each of your hires so you can stay legally compliant, though you get to make the final decision on how you would like to hire each person.
• Transparent Pricing: On Any Hire, talent pays no fees and client pays $49/month per hire plus 3% (or 0% with ACH) payment processing fees. Additional costs apply if hiring as a Payroll Employee. On BYO, talent pays up to 20% of their earnings, and clients pay 3% payment processing fees.
• Legal protection for classification: For contracts where you follow our legal recommendation on classification, you receive $50,000 in legal protection from Upwork for any issues you face with that classification.
• Billing Periods: Any Hire will bill you for all Any Hire contracts every 1 or 2 weeks, on a Monday or every other Monday, and your talent will be paid for their work every 2 weeks as well. This is more consolidated than on BYO, where payments are processed individually for each contract.

Any Hire is intended for clients who are bringing their own talent to Upwork or have already paid the Upwork Conversion fee. Some clients may try to bypass the conversion process, and hire freelancers that they’ve met through the Upwork marketplace.

• Clients will be permitted to send offers, even if the relationship has been flagged, but the Trust & Safety team will be reviewing each instance to make a determination. 
• If T&S find that the offer is “improper use”, the client will be asked to complete the Conversion process (including paying the applicable fee) or else the contract will be cancelled. 
• If a client repeatedly “improperly uses” Any Hire, their account may be suspended.

 

 

If a client reaches out unsure how to proceed with this popup, look to gain more information - asking the client if they met this freelancer on or off Upwork. 

• If they met the FL on Upwork, the conversion fee applies
• If they met off Upwork, they can proceed with sending the offer (but T&S will review this case still and will be in touch if they learn otherwise as they did receive that popup)
• If they are unsure / can't recall, share we are able to look into this for them and have our partner team review. You can transfer the ticket to Circumvention team for review. Be sure to include detailed internal notes on your request.
• Clicking “Submit offer” does not charge the client the conversion fee. This only put the contract on T&S’s radar for review:
  • If they determine this relationship was founded on Upwork, they’ll email the customer next steps; either pay the conversion fee OR end the contract and create a marketplace contract. If they determine
  • If they determine this relationship was founded outside of Upwork, they will take no actions

 

FAQs

 

FL and CL - public facing - to be published on Help:

 

Are there any exceptions for paying the conversion fee to move existing Upwork contracts to Any Hire?

There are some exceptions to the conversion fee. If you have worked together on Upwork through a BYO (Bring Your Own) contract, or through Upwork Payroll, you can transition to Any Hire without paying the conversion fee.

 

 

FL - reactive/internal use:

 

I met the client outside of Upwork. Why did you flag my Any Hire contract as possible circumvention?

There may be times when clients and freelancers have met outside of Upwork even though you both have Upwork accounts. However, this could flag a possible concern if it looks like you possibly met on Upwork. We will review each situation individually.

 

Why did you let the client invite me to Any Hire even though we met on Upwork?

There may be times when clients and freelancers have met outside of Upwork even though they are both already on Upwork. We do not want to block Any Hire contracts unnecessarily while we determine whether the contract should proceed on Any Hire.

 

If you feel that a client has invited you to Any Hire and you met the client on Upwork, you should determine whether the conversion fee has been paid before proceeding.

 

Can clients invite me to Any Hire from my project on Project Catalog without paying the conversion fee?

No, Project Catalog is not exempt. Clients who find you on Project Catalog need to go through the conversion process and a conversion fee must be paid to work with you on Any Hire. 

 

CL - reactive/internal:

 

I met the freelancer outside of Upwork. Why are you asking me to pay the conversion fee?

There may be times when a client and freelancer have met outside of Upwork even though you both have Upwork accounts. However, this could flag a possible concern if it looks like you possibly met on Upwork, which would require payment of the conversion fee. We will review each situation individually. 

 

Why did you let me invite talent to Any Hire even though we met on Upwork? I made an honest mistake because I didn’t understand the process.

There may be times when clients and freelancers have met outside of Upwork even though they are both already on Upwork. We do not want to block Any Hire contracts unnecessarily while we determine whether the contract should proceed on Any Hire.

 

If you invited talent to Any Hire by mistake, we’ll work with you to help you understand the process. However, the conversion fee must still be paid to work with the freelancer.

 

Can I invite freelancers from Project Catalog without paying the conversion fee?

No, Project Catalog is not exempt. If you find a freelancer on Project Catalog, you’ll need to go through the conversion process and a conversion fee must be paid to work with them on Any Hire. 

 

 

When to Offer Any Hire

• client is worried about worker classification (Any Hire will handle that for them!) 

• client has built a trusting relationship with a freelancer they met on Upwork. They're looking to go through the conversion fee process as Upwork marketplace no longer works within the confines of their working relationship (after following the conversion process, Any Hire can help handle worker classification / invoices / billing so they don't have to)

• client has an established, trusted relationship with a freelancer outside of Upwork. They're looking to see if Upwork can benefit them in any way (Any Hire can help handle worker classification / invoices / billing so they don't have to)

When NOT to Offer Any Hire

• client is looking for a different billing schedule

• client found a freelancer on Upwork, but they wouldn't be comfortable enough to work with them outside of the marketplace as they just recently met 

• client and/or freelancer really value escrow, guaranteed payments, and dispute & mediation services

Any Hire International Payroll will enable clients to receive self-service automated cost ESTIMATES for international payroll in approximately 20 countries within the Any Hire offering. This feature enables, for the first time, a way for clients to understand the costs associated with international payroll and express interest in proceeding (or choose to revert to an IC contract) all in a self-service way.

How clients obtain a quote:

• The ability to obtain a quote is embedded in the Any Hire ‘offer creation' flow such that as a client enters the details of the job they pay to hire for, and after an employment classification decision is made, if the classification is payroll - the client can proceed with obtaining a quote. Each country has various ‘employee burden' amounts (ex. local taxes, mandatory employer contributions, etc)
• For many countries, the client will be prompted to provide responses to one or a few multiple choice questions pertaining to the engagement. These questions are country specific and are used to generate more accurate cost estimates.
• After responses to the questions are submitted the client will be presented with a cost estimate, which includes a detailed breakdown of all associated costs.
• As this feature is strictly a cost ESTIMATION - the client is presented with the option to ‘proceed with the quote’ if they find the amount to be within their budget. If they proceed - a member of our international payroll ops team will be notified and they will get in touch with the client to review or confirm more details about the intended engagement to help solidify a formal quote and commitment from the client.
• After a client submits intent to ‘proceed with quote’ it may take up to 4 weeks for a contract to be active and ready for work to begin. There will be various quote finalization and talent onboarding steps which will occur after the client expresses interest in proceeding. During this time communication will occur directly with the international payroll team outside of any hire (primarily via email)

 

Screenshots:

 

Please use these categories for Any Hire inquiries: Recent Launches > Any Hire

Pricing & Getting Started

 

What is Any Hire? 

In today’s world, being able to hire talent from nearly any country or region can help your business be competitive and successful, but hiring around the world can be hard. We designed Upwork Any Hire to help make it easier.

 

Any Hire helps you hire, onboard, and pay professionals from other countries, regions, or states where you don’t have a business entity. Any Hire also helps you classify professionals and meet each country’s legal requirements — such as whether you can work with your talent as an independent contractor or as a payrolled employee. In the case of payrolled employee, Any Hire arranges an Employer of Record (EOR) in the talent’s country to handle paychecks, taxes, benefits and other legal concerns.

What are the benefits of Any Hire? 

Any Hire provides several benefits:

• Work with talent from nearly anywhere, easily: We help you determine your professional’s worker classification. Every country has different laws that say whether you can work with a professional as an employee or as an independent contractor, and these laws can change regularly. We keep track of these requirements and use them when we help you classify your talent.
• Enjoy peace of mind: We are so confident in the classification recommendation provided by Any Hire that we will indemnify you up to $50,000 against misclassification claims to the extent caused by our classification determination.
• Enjoy convenient self-service features: Create contracts. Set up reports. And welcome new people to your team with just a few clicks, 24/7.
• Manage pay and benefits from one place: Pay any number of people, in any number of countries, with a single click. Any Hire is also your hub for organizing key information— all on a single platform.
• Work with payrolled employees through an Employer of Record: If needed, we’ll arrange an Employer of Record (EOR) for the contract. The EOR will take care of things like paychecks, taxes, benefits, and other legal concerns. These costs are billed to you in simple bi-weekly payments. The classification recommendation will let you know if this applies to you as you enter information into Any Hire for each offer.

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

How much does it cost to use Any Hire? 

For talent classified as Independent Contractor, each active contract on Any Hire costs $49/month. You will be charged bi-weekly for each active contract that bills hours during that bi-weekly cycle.

 

For United States based talent hired as an employee by an EOR, Any Hire costs $199 plus 15.5% of the contract value for Payroll & Benefits (including: tax filings, expenses and all localized benefits such as health insurance, pension contributions and more). 

 

For talent outside the US hired as an employee by an EOR, fees are variable based on local compliance laws with an estimated fee of $799 plus Payroll & Benefits costs which range to 5-70% of the contract value depending on local regulations and laws. 

 

No fees are charged to talent.

 

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

When am I billed for Any Hire? 

Any Hire fees are billed bi-weekly on Mondays for all contracts which were active for any period of time during the billing cycle. Contract amounts are billed based on the cadence that is set at the time the contract is created. 

 

How is Any Hire Different From Other Upwork Offerings for Clients & Talent?:

What is the difference between Any Hire and Upwork BYO? 

Feel free to review this handy Comparison chart 

 

Why should I migrate my existing Upwork BYO contract over to Any Hire?

Any Hire has all the same great features from BYO, plus a handful of new features that make it more powerful and efficient for your hiring needs.

• More-efficient pricing - New, flat-rate pricing of $49/month per freelancer means an average cost savings of over 40% per contract. You can take advantage of this right away by migrating your BYO contract over to Any Hire. (Watch the 3 step how-to guide here, OR Let us migrate your contract)
• No talent service fees - Due to the new pricing, your talent pays no service fees, meaning more take-home pay for them.
• More-efficient payments - You pay per contract in one consolidated bill every two weeks.
• A vastly improved design - Purpose-built for speed and self-service.
• Compliance & indemnification - A built in classification system that indicates if a professional should be an independent contractor or employee based on work details, plus up to $50,000 in indemnification in case of a misclassification claim to the extent caused by Upwork’s classification determination.

How to Migrate from BYO to Any Hire (3 step how-to-guide here)

 

Will Any Hire help me find talent?

Any Hire does not directly provide services to source talent. You should use Any Hire when you have identified talent without Upwork’s help.

 

When you do want to use Upwork to find talent, you can leverage the following:

• Post jobs to attract proposals to find the right freelancer for your need
• Get help from a Talent Scout recruiter to help source marketplace talent
• Search, browse and buy fixed projects that freelancers have created with Project Catalog
• Large organizations looking to hire and manage talent at scale are encouraged to leverage Upwork Enterprise.

 

Are there payment guarantees from Upwork for professionals using Any Hire?

No, this benefit is only available through Upwork’s marketplace offerings. Any Hire does not offer payment guarantees.

 

If there is a payment dispute between the client and professional, is there mediation offered when using Any Hire?

No, this benefit is only available through our marketplace offering. Any Hire does not offer dispute mediation, we hope that Clients and Professions using Any Hire are able to work together directly to resolve any issues that may arise during their relationship.

 

I am an existing Upwork BYO Client, what should I know about Any Hire?How long does the process of migrating existing BYO contracts take?

Migration of independent contractor contracts are typically completed within a few business days. 

 

Please note that timing may be impacted based on how quickly talent accepts their contracts and if the engagement is supported through the Upwork Payroll solution. Upwork Payroll engagements in the US can typically become active within roughly 7 business days while Upwork Payroll engagements outside the US can take longer.

 

I am an existing Upwork BYO customer, what will my talent need to do to start on Any Hire?

To get started, your talent will simply need to accept the new Any Hire offer you send.

 

Your talent will continue to use their existing Upwork account and Independent Contractors can continue to use the platform to manage their work with you, including logging hours on Upwork’s time tracker (if hourly) and submitting completed milestones (if fixed price). Additionally, if desired, Job Success Scores can still be submitted to help build their work history.

 

What changes for my talent if I migrate my contracts from BYO to Any Hire?

Your talent is no longer charged a service fee once you move to Any Hire, so they take home more pay. Any Hire does not offer dispute mediation nor payment protection — both features are exclusively available in our BYO and marketplace service offerings.

 

Will my talent still be paid on the same schedule as they are for BYO?

Independent contractors will continue to have funds available weekly so long as you select that option when setting the payment frequency.

 

Additionally, independent contractors can still use the Upwork platform to manage their work with you, including logging hours (if hourly) and submitting completed milestones (if fixed price). They can continue to use Upwork’s time tracker if they want and can continue to use the preferred payout method they have already selected.

 

What changes for me if I migrate my contracts from BYO to Any Hire?

Upon creating your contract in Any Hire, you will receive a classification recommendation - if the contract is classified as Independent Contractor there is a $49/month flat fee per contract and payment processing fee of 3% for credit/debit/paypal and 0% for ACH. Your talent is charged no fees on Any Hire.

 

You still use your existing Upwork account to manage your Any Hire contracts at upwork.com/remote/client, and you still have access to all the Upwork features you used for BYO (reports, transactions, work diary, teams) on upwork.com, since your Any Hire contracts are still part of your Upwork account.

 

What should professionals know about Any Hire?:How do talent get paid through Any Hire?

For independent contractors, If they have not already added their payment information in Upwork, we will ask them to provide their information for a preferred payment method (such as bank account, Paypal, or debit card) which will be stored on their Upwork profile.

 

Funds will be made available on Fridays, following successful client payment to Upwork on Mondays. Frequency of payment will vary based on the type of contract that is set — and can be weekly, bi-weekly milestone based or monthly. 

 

When you hire talent as an employee, they will need to provide their payment information to the Employer of Record and will be paid according to the EOR’s payment schedule

 

Both clients and talent will have additional clarity regarding the frequency and timing of payouts once contract details are entered into Any Hire and an offer is created for review.

 

When do hourly talent need to log hours? #what should professionals know about anyhire?

Independent contractors with hourly contracts have the same weekly deadlines as any other hourly contract on Marketplace. The billing period ends at 12AM UTC each Monday morning, Talent must have all of their hours properly logged by no later than 12 pm UTC Monday.

 

For talent working as a payrolled employee through an EOR, they will need to log hours according to the EOR’s schedule.

 

When will talent receive payment?

For independent contractors, funds will be available in the talent’s Upwork account on a Friday, following successful client payment on that Monday. For talent hired through an EOR, funds will be available according to the EOR’s payment schedule. For both independent contractors and employees, frequency will be determined based on the client’s setting and contract type.

 

How does talent learn about getting set up on Any Hire?

Once a client decides to proceed with using Any Hire, talent will be emailed instructions on how to complete the set-up process, accept contracts and start work.

 

We do strongly encourage clients to provide direct advance notice of the intent to use Any Hire — this helps avoid confusion and streamline onboarding.

 

How does using Any Hire impact talent’s rating/ranking on Upwork?

The talent’s earnings on Any Hire still contribute to their overall Upwork earnings, and therefore positively impact their rating on Upwork. While Any Hire currently does not support clients providing a rating to talent, clients can choose to provide Job Success Scores through the marketplace experience just as it is done today.

 

How does using Any Hire impact the talent’s Connects on Upwork?

Using Any Hire does not impact the talent’s Connects on Upwork.

 

Getting Started Guide: Creating (or logging into) an account

If you already have an Upwork account, you can login to Any Hire with your existing Upwork credentials here

If you don’t have an Upwork account, you can sign up for Any Hire here 

 

How do I create my first contract?

The Any Hire dashboard is simple and easy to use. To onboard talent and start a contract with them:

1. Go to the contracts page and select Start contract
2. Select contract type
3. Enter the contract details, your professional’s information, and the information requested for classification
4. Review the contract terms and send the invite

Important Note: For us to make an accurate classification determination the information requested for classification needs to be accurate. If you have any doubts, confirm with your professional or contact Upwork support if it’s a question about Any Hire functionality.

 

Does it matter if the individual I intend to hire already has an Upwork account?

No. You can hire your talent on Any Hire regardless of whether they have an existing Upwork account or not so long as you did not initially find the individual on the Upwork platform.

 

If you found talent on the Upwork marketplace, the Upwork conversion process must be completed prior to bringing the relationship to Any Hire.

 

How do I pay my Any Hire talent?

To add a payment method, go to the settings page and enter your information. That’s all you have to do — you’ll automatically be billed and charged on either a weekly or bi-weekly basis (depending on which preference you set). We bill for any contract that is active during any portion of each billing period.

 

To keep things simple for you, we combine all costs into one single payment. This includes the talent’s payment, the Any Hire per-contract and payment processing fees, any EOR charges, and applicable taxes. Invoices have a clear, easy-to-read, per-contract breakdown of all fees and costs that were charged in the payment.

 

How do I set my payment frequency?

When creating each independent contractor contract you will be presented with the option to set the payment frequency. 

 

Domestic engagements supported through the Upwork Payroll solution are automatically set to weekly billing, international Upwork Payroll billing is determined based on local regulations and will be provided following a formal pricing quote.

 

I started to create a contract and was prompted to send a questionnaire to my talent, what is this?

Often we are able to classify contracts based solely on input from clients, however, in some instances we must collect additional business information directly from the talent in order to make a confident classification recommendation for the contract.

 

Any Hire will email your talent a request to provide the required additional information which will be used by Upwork to provide a classification recommendation. Talent will not see the outcome of this classification determination.

 

Clients will then be notified with a classification recommendation and prompted to return to the contract draft to proceed with finalizing your contract offer.

 

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

How do I access Any Hire? 

Signing up for Any Hire is simple and free. 

 

Enter your email and preferred password, or sign up via your Google or Apple account, or use your existing login if you already have an Upwork account. You can find the link to sign up here. 

How do I navigate to Any Hire?

• Go directly to https://www.upwork.com/remote/client/
• Or from upwork.com, navigate to Jobs → Any Hire

Can I use my existing Upwork account?

Yes, you can use your existing Upwork account. You will keep all of your history, payment methods and preferences from Upwork when you use Any Hire.

Will the teams I have already set-up on Upwork work on Any Hire?

Yes, Any Hire works with your existing teams, if you are using teams on Upwork to organize your work. When you create a new offer on Any Hire, you will be able to select which of your existing teams you want to create the offer in.

 

Billing, Payments & Reporting Questions:

What payment methods are supported?

Any Hire currently supports payment by major credit or debit card, and by PayPal. ACH payment (payment through a U.S. bank account) is also available for eligible clients who will be notified via email to set up ACH as a payment method. You can set up your primary payment method on your client dashboard.

 

How will I be billed?

For independent contractor engagements, Any Hire amounts are billed and paid to talent weekly or bi-weekly based on your preference — regardless of whether they are hourly or project-based contracts. 

 

For Upwork Payroll engagements in the US, Any Hire amounts are billed and paid to talent weekly while Upwork Payroll engagements outside the US will be billed and paid to talent according to local regulations (more details will be provided during the international payroll quoting process, before a contract is sent to your talent).

 

Additionally, Any Hire fees will be billed bi-weekly for all active Any Hire contracts. The billing cycle ends every other Sunday, and we invoice and charge your payment method on the following Monday.

 

When will I see my invoices on the site?

We will post invoices on the day after the billing cycle, the same day that you are charged. The exception is refunds, which can be invoiced at any time during a billing cycle. Any Hire refund processes are exactly the same as for any other Upwork contracts, with the exception that the Any Hire fee cannot be refunded.

 

Is there payment protection for talent?

We do not provide payment protection for Any Hire contracts. If a client’s payment method fails, we cannot pay the talent until funds are received.

 

Is there a dispute process?

There is no formal dispute process currently in place for Any Hire contracts. Since you have a preexisting relationship with the talent, we encourage clients and talent to address any disputes directly with each other.

 

Will funds be released to talent as soon as I pay?

We pay talent after you are successfully charged and a four-day security period has passed. Once you are charged, talent will see the payment as pending, and after the hold period is over they will see the funds as available.

 

For example, if your payment method is successfully charged on Monday, your talent will see the funds the same day and will be able to withdraw them by that Friday. Any delay in charging your payment method delays your talent’s payment by the same amount.

 

When am I invoiced for talent engaged as an employee for the EOR (Upwork Payroll)?

We invoice and bill your Upwork Payroll engagements on a weekly basis, as long as the EOR submits their own invoice within that period. For some Upwork Payroll engagements outside the US, EORs are legally required to pay on a different cadence (for example, monthly). In these cases, we will bill and invoice you once a month, in the weekly billing period that we received the EOR invoice. 

 

We charge the Any Hire service fee bi-weekly for all active contracts regardless of the EOR billing cycle.

 

Can I add a bonus for my talent?

Absolutely! To give a bonus:

1. Go to Jobs > All Contracts
2. Find the freelancer name/contract
3. Select Give Bonus
4. Fill out the form (you can add a private note and other details)
5. Choose Make Payment

Note: Bonuses, depending upon their purpose and amount, can affect worker classification, and in turn, eligibility for the up to $50,000 in indemnification related to the Any Hire classification recommendation.

 

Are refunds available?

Refunds are not available directly in the Any Hire experience, but can be processed through the standard Upwork Marketplace or with the assistance of a customer support agent.

 

Can I pay talent using a stipend?

Any Hire does not currently support stipends.

 

Do I need to pre-fund my fixed-price contracts?

No. With Any Hire, you do not have to pre-fund fixed-price contracts — we invoice and bill contracts following the cadence set during offer creation. You can approve completed work at any time. Like other Upwork fixed-price contracts, if your talent requests approval and you do not respond within 14 days, we assume that you approve and process the payment. 

 

Reporting Questions:

What types of reporting options are available? 

Any Hire contracts will be part of your overall Upwork reports, such as the Weekly Summary, Transactions, Work Diary, Timesheet, Time by Freelancer, and Time by Activity reports that are available at upwork.com/reports/company/dashboard. In addition to Upwork reports, you can view your Any Hire timesheets for individual talent (https://www.upwork.com/remote/client/talent) and billing history (https://www.upwork.com/remote/client/billing-history) directly on Any Hire. 

 

Will my Any Hire contracts be included in my overall Upwork reports?

Yes!

 

How do I manage reports?

You can use Upwork’s various reports (Weekly Summary, Transactions, Work Diary, Timesheet, Time by Freelancer, and Time by Activity) to stay abreast of all your Upwork activity, or go into Any Hire to see Any Hire specific timesheets and billing.

 

Can I get reports emailed to me? 

Account admins receive a copy of the Weekly Summary via email, which includes details such as the hours logged by your talent and talent’s completed deliverables across all Upwork products.

 

Contract Questions:

What are the types of contracts I can create (What do they mean)?

• Single Payment: You want to pay your talent a lump sum at the end of successful completion of a single, clearly-defined project.
• Milestone Payment: You want to pay your talent lump sums at the end of each successfully completed phase of a multi-phase project.
• Hourly Rate: You want to pay your talent based on how many hours they work in a given week, and based on an hourly rate for that work. (Your talent will need to log hours to get paid.)
• Fixed Rate: You want to pay your talent a fixed amount each week or bi-weekly.

 

What information do I need to provide to start a contract?

You will need to provide information about:

• The work that will be done by your talent. For example, what deliverables are expected? What does success look like for this role?
• How much you will pay for the work.
• How many hours can be worked per week (if you choose Hourly Rate).
• The preferred contract start date and estimated end date, if you know it.
• Information about the talent you intend to hire.

 

You may be asked a few additional questions, around how this person will work with your company.  If we need additional information from your talent to properly classify the contract, you will have the option for us to send these additional questions to your talent, or to proceed without it by hiring your talent as an independent contractor (but without the indemnification from Upwork for the classification determination - note indemnification cannot be added to the contract at a later date).

 

While creating an Any Hire contract I received a notification to pay a conversion fee, what is this?

In accordance with Upwork’s Terms of Service, in order for relationships to move off the Upwork marketplace (including to Any Hire) the Upwork Conversion process must be followed. This applies if you found talent on Upwork’s platform. If you received this notification, it means we have reason to believe that you and the individual you are intending to hire may have found each other on Upwork.

 

In the Any Hire notification, you will notice that we have included a link to pay the conversion fee. By following this link you will be able to review more details about the conversion process and view the total Upwork Conversion fee amount owed. You can also access this information by visiting the client dashboard and following the steps below

1. Go to Jobs > All Contracts
2. Choose a specific contract under All contracts and select the (…) menu
3. Select the Move Outside Upwork button to start the conversion process
4. Follow the steps outlined and send the conversion request. The other party will be notified and must accept the request. 
5. We’ll then process the payment and you’ll be approved to take your work relationship to Any Hire.

If you have further questions about the Upwork Conversion fee, please reach out to  support-responses@upwork.com

 

What will my talent see if I create a contract with them?

Your talent will see the contract details (how much you are paying them, the scope of the work, start date, estimated end date) and how they are classified (independent contractor or payrolled employee).

 

Talent will not see the recommended classification from Any Hire, only the classification you chose.

 

Can I pause contracts?

We do not support pausing contracts on Any Hire. 

 

How do I extend a contract?

You can end the expiring contract and create a new one to extend your work with your talent. We are working on building a more seamless feature for contract extensions.

 

How do I end a contract?

To end a contract, navigate to the contract’s page inside your Hired Talent tab and select on ‘End Contract’.

 

Can I set up a contract that pays a fixed amount every period?

We are currently building a feature to allow this. In the meantime, you can set up the contract as hourly (your talent will need to log hours each week to get paid) or as a milestone based contract (you will need to approve a milestone each period for your talent to get paid).

 

Can I set minimum weekly hours?

No. Any Hire does not support weekly hour minimums.

 

I received a notification indicating that a contract is going to expire. I want to keep working with this talent, why did I receive this and what should I do?

You have received one of our reminders to let you know that an existing contract is reaching its end date. The contract end date was set when you created the contract offer (reminder: Any Hire contracts currently permit a maximum length of 6 months - this helps ensure engagements receive a classification review at a reasonable cadence).

 

Recommended action: To maintain eligibility for up to $50,000 of indemnification against misclassification claims offered by Upwork - we recommend that clients create a new contract with talent and end the expiring contract once the new one has been accepted and started. In the near future we will release enhancements to the renewal process to make this even easier.

 

*Note: You may continue to complete work on an expired Any Hire contract, however it will no longer be eligible for any indemnification against misclassification claims.

 

How can I view my Any Hire talent?

Through Any Hire, professionals are organized much like they are in the rest of Upwork. On the Hired Talent page, there are “Active” and “Inactive” tabs. Talent are listed by end of contract date, and overview information — such as work type and contract name. Select the talent you are interested in for more details.

 

If you have hired talent on the Upwork marketplace and would like to see those contracts alongside your Any Hire contracts - visit  upwork.com → All Contracts. This view will include both talent you’ve found via Upwork and your Any Hire talent.

 

Classification & Misclassification Protection:

Classification

How do you determine if I should hire someone as an independent contractor or as an employee?This is a key feature of Any Hire - the classification recommendation of independent contractor or employee is determined on a case by case basis by analyzing business details and the nature of the work. The classification recommendation provided by Upwork is intended to provide you with peace-of-mind that the classification is legally sound — to express our confidence in our recommendation we offer up to $50,000 in indemnification against misclassification claims if you choose to follow our recommended classification.You are not required to follow Upwork’s classification recommendation, but if you choose not to do so, Upwork cannot offer the indemnification against misclassification claims.

 

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

What does the classification service include? 

The classification service provides our recommendation on whether the particular talent should be classified as an independent contractor or employee. You can always choose not to wait for our recommendation or not to go with our recommendation, though this forgoes our  protection against misclassification if you hire as an independent contractor.

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

What countries are supported?

We can classify talent in 165+ countries.

 

What happens if employment laws change?

We stay up-to-date with legal requirements around the globe. If there are legal changes that impact your engagements, we will address them as appropriate.

 

Protection against Misclassification Questions:

What do you mean by protection against misclassification?

When we provide and you accept a classification recommendation, we stand behind it if you face a  misclassification claim related to that engagement. We will indemnify up to $50,000 in costs from claims of misclassification to the extent caused by our classification recommendation including; losses, costs, damages, liabilities, judgments, or settlements.

 

Related Content: Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

Talent Sourcing:

Does Any Hire help me with finding talent?

Any Hire does not directly provide services to source talent. You should use Any Hire when you have identified talent without Upwork’s help.

 

When you do want to use Upwork to find talent, you can leverage the Upwork marketplace:

• Post jobs to attract proposals to find the right freelancer for your need
• Get help from Talent Scout recruiter to help source marketplace talent
• Search, browse and buy fixed projects that freelancers have created in Project Catalog™
• Large organizations looking to hire and manage talent at scale are encouraged to leverage Upwork Enterprise.

 

Upwork makes it easy to manage both your marketplace-sourced talent and Any Hire contracts in one central location on your client dashboard.

 

Does Any Hire screen and qualify workers?

No. Any Hire is for working with talent that you have already screened for the project. If you need help finding talent, Talent Scout can help!

Can I find talent on the marketplace and then use Any Hire to set up the contract?

Any Hire is primarily for contracting professionals that you found outside of Upwork. For talent you find on Upwork, you can work with them via the Upwork Marketplace. 

 

If you wish to bring talent found on the marketplace to Any Hire, you must first complete the conversion process. Once the conversion process is complete you can create an Any Hire contract and continue using the Upwork tools you are familiar with.

 

Independent Contractor Questions:

What is an independent contractor?Worker Classification: Employee vs Independent Contractor

 

Will Any Hire determine which of my talent can be classified as independent contractors?

Yes, Any Hire will determine whether independent contractor classification is appropriate for each of your engagements. You are not required to follow Upwork’s classification recommendation, but if you choose not to do so, Upwork cannot offer the indemnification against misclassification claims. 

 

Can I hire someone as an independent contractor even if Any Hire recommends that I classify them as an employee?

Yes. You are not required to follow Upwork’s classification recommendation, but if you choose not to do so, Upwork cannot offer the indemnification against misclassification claims and will not act as agent of record for those engagements.

 

What is the cost to hire independent contractors on Any Hire?

$49/month per active hire, plus 3% payment processing fees on credit/debit/paypal.

 

Will I need to file Form 1099 for my Any Hire talent?

While we can't provide tax or legal advice, our licensed escrow agent, Upwork Escrow Inc., will issue a 1099-K to a freelancer who meets the minimum of $600 payments threshold.

 

United States Upwork Payroll Questions:

Will Any Hire determine which of my U.S. talent should be classified as employees?

Yes, Any Hire will determine when US-based talent should be classified as an employee. You are not required to follow Upwork’s classification recommendation, but if you choose not to do so, Upwork cannot offer the indemnification against misclassification claims.

 

What is the cost to engage U.S.-based talent as an employee?

$199/month per active hire, plus a fee equivalent to 15.5% of the talent pay (which goes towards payroll taxes and localized benefits), and 3% payment processing fees on credit/debit/paypal.

 

What are the benefits of engaging my U.S.-based talent as an employee?

In cases where Any Hire recommends classifying talent as an employee, following our recommendation helps avoid legal risk around worker misclassification. Other benefits include more control over the work being done, such as which hours are being worked. 

 

What are the taxes that will be covered as an employee?

Payroll taxes and mandatory employment taxes that fund things like social benefits.

 

Who will be the employer for my talent?

We provide the trusted, third-party  EOR partner for you, who will be the employer of the talent in the talent’s country.

 

What does the employer burden cover?

Employer contributions include mandatory taxes that fund things like social benefits. The costs of employee benefits like additional paid time off, retirement contributions and bonuses are also rolled up into employer burden.

 

Can I hire my talent as an independent contractor even if Any Hire classifies as employee?

Yes. If we recommend employment, you can always override our recommendation, however doing so will make the contract ineligible for indemnification of up to $50,000 in costs from claims of misclassification that comes as a cost free benefit to abiding by our independent contractor/employee classification recommendation.

 

Questions about Employer of Record Services (EOR)

What is an Employer of Record or EOR? 

An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that takes legal responsibility for employing people — taking on the responsibility for things like paying employees internationally, organizing taxes, and handling benefits and insurance — on your behalf.

 

What are the benefits of using an EOR?

An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that takes legal responsibility for employing people — taking on the responsibility for things like paying employees internationally, organizing taxes, and handling benefits and insurance — on your behalf. The EOR has expertise, legal standing and staffing in place to maintain compliant working relationships in the location where they employ.

 

When do I need an EOR?

An EOR is typically needed when a client has not directly completed necessary compliance steps, often including maintaining a physical presence, within a specified jurisdiction.  The EOR also provides the up-to-date expertise necessary to be able to take on the legal responsibility for employing people in the locations where they operate.

 

What are the costs associated with an EOR for domestic payroll?

Please see "What is the cost to engage US-based talent as an employee?" Or "What is the cost to hire an international (non-US) Employee?"

 

What changes for my talent under an EOR relationship?

The talent will be an employee of the EOR partner, and the EOR partner will assign the employee to provide services to you. The talent will need to log their hours with the EOR partner. They will receive employment benefits based on their local requirements.

 

How do I manage taxes?

The EOR partner will handle all of the withholding and payment of taxes, and they will provide the worker with a Form W-2.

 

How do I manage benefits? #Questions about employer of record intl

The EOR partner will provide required benefits to your talent. They will work with you if you want to provide any benefits beyond what is required in your talent’s locale.

 

When am I invoiced for Employment (Upwork Payroll) contracts?

We invoice and bill your United States payroll contracts on a weekly basis, as long as the EOR submits their own invoice within that period.

 

For non-United States payroll contracts,  EORs are legally required to pay talent on a frequency determined by local regulations - these may be weekly, bi-weeky or monthly. In these cases, we will bill you based on the legal required cadence. Additional billing details will be provided before you start a contract.

 

Note: The Any Hire monthly fees are billed bi-weekly, regardless of payroll billing cadence.

 

INTL Payroll Questions:

Will Any Hire determine which of my non-U.S. talent should be classified as employees?

Yes, Any Hire will determine when a non-U.S. talent should be classified as an employee. And if we recommend employment, you can always override our recommendation (in which case we cannot legally protect the classification).

 

What are the benefits of hiring my international talent as an employee?

In cases where Any Hire recommends hiring as employment, following our recommendation helps avoid legal risk around worker misclassification. Other benefits include: less risk around intellectual property, and more control over the work being done, such as which hours are being worked. Your talent also benefits from receiving employment benefits, such as health insurance.

 

Keep in mind, International laws and regulations can be quite different than your native country - our team will help you navigate all of the complexity.

 

What is the cost to hire an international (non-US) employee?

$799/month Any Hire fee per active hire, plus an Employer Burden, which is a fee equivalent to a percentage of the talent pay ranging from 5% - 70% (which goes towards payroll taxes and localized benefits) and 3% payment processing fees on credit/debit/paypal.

 

Why does Any Hire show such a large range on the employer burden costs?

Each country, and in many cases regions within a country, have their own laws and regulations which influences the employer burden for payroll contracts. Since Any Hire is a global product offering, it is difficult for us to provide a more detailed estimate until you provide Any Hire with more details.

 

What does the employer burden cover for international payroll?

The specifics of the employer burden vary by location, however it will include items such as: payroll taxes, benefits and insurance. Details will be made available should you choose to proceed with an international payroll quote.

 

Who will be the employer for my talent?

The Employer of Record (EOR) will be the legal employer for your talent on your behalf.

 

What is an Employer of Record (EOR)? #Questions about employer of record services

An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that takes legal responsibility for employing people — taking on the responsibility for things like paying employees internationally, organizing taxes, and handling benefits and insurance — on your behalf.

 

When do I need an EOR?

An EOR is needed when a client has not directly completed necessary compliance steps, often including maintaining a physical presence, within a specified jurisdiction.  The EOR also provides the up-to-date expertise necessary to be able to take on the legal responsibility for employing people across the globe.

 

What are the benefits of using an EOR?

An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that takes legal responsibility for employing people — taking on the responsibility for things like paying employees internationally, organizing taxes, and handling benefits and insurance — on your behalf. The EOR has expertise, legal standing and staffing in place to maintain compliant working relationships across the globe.

 

Does Upwork act as the EOR for my international employees?

No. When you sign up with Any Hire, you’ll give us information about your business and how you work. If you need an EOR, we’ll work with one of our third-party vendors.

 

Can I hire my talent as an independent contractor even if Any Hire classifies as an employee?

You are not required to follow Upwork’s classification recommendation, but if you choose not to do so, Upwork cannot offer the indemnification against misclassification claims.

 

What changes for my talent under an EOR relationship?

The talent will be an employee of the EOR partner, and the EOR partner will assign the employee to provide services to you. The talent will need to log their hours with the EOR partner. They will receive employment benefits based on their local requirements.

 

How do I manage taxes?

The EOR partner will handle all of the withholding and payment of employment taxes, and they will provide the worker with required forms. We are unable to provide tax advice to clients. 

 

How do I manage benefits?

The EOR partner will provide required benefits to your talent. They will generally work with you if you want to provide any benefits beyond the required ones in your talent’s locale.

 

Logging Hours & Completed Work:

When does hourly talent need to log hours?

Independent contractors with hourly contracts have the same weekly deadlines as any other hourly contract on Upwork Marketplace, even though the invoice will be biweekly. They must log their hours weekly before the end of the billing period. The billing period ends at the end of Sunday, at 12 am Monday morning UTC. Talent has 12 hours to finish logging and reviewing their hours, which ends at 12 pm UTC on Monday.

Can my talent use Upwork’s Time Tracker feature to bill their time?

Yes, independent contractors are eligible to use Upwork’s Time Tracker feature. Your talent can use this feature to automatically bill their time.

How can my talent use Upwork’s Time Tracker feature?

Talent will need the Upwork Desktop app (instructions to install: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211064088-Install-the-Desktop-App). To use the Time Tracker feature, your talent should log into the Upwork desktop app with their Upwork account, select the correct contract, toggle the On/Off switch to turn on, and enter a note about what they are working on in the memo box. You can find the full instructions here: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211064098-Log-Time-with-Time-TrackerWill I be able to view my talent’s Work Diary screenshots?

Yes, if your talent is using the Time Tracker feature, then you can view their work diary in Work Diary tab on Upwork, at upwork.com/ab/workdiary/client

Will my talent receive payment protection if using Upwork’s Time Tracker?

No. Your talent will not get paid until we successfully receive payment from you.

 

When does a client get charged when issuing a bonus?

They're charged bi-weekly with the rest of their charges and not charged right when they issue it (like how we do with marketplace contracts). e.g. if a contract started on 6/5/2022, their first bi-weekly charge will be on 6/20/2022, which also means any bonuses the CL sends to the FL before 6/20, they'll be charged for those on 6/20.

 

Reactive (Internal-only) FAQs:

Pending Issues 

These are FAQs related to current open cases with Any Hire that will be removed from the KB once we receive confirmation they are fixed. This section has agent-facing FAQs vs. verbiage specific for our customers, unless otherwise stated.

 

Client is in Upwork Workroom trying to approve release of funds in a milestone contract for Any Hire, but unable to due to an error message: "Milestone Activation Failed. Please contact customer support". No issues with billing method present.

 

This is likely an issue where the client has released milestones for this contract within the Marketplace workroom previously, but since then, an adjustment was made to the site where this is no longer able to occur. If a client reaches out about this, please do the following:

 

1. Walk the client to their Any Hire page and try to activate the funds from there (in the actual Any Hire experience and not the Marketplace workroom)
2. A refund or service credit (to be applied for the next payment) for fees paid relating to periods after the contract was supposed to be completed can be issued in this case, if needed
3. Link this case to our current open PT here (customer ticket can be solved since they’ve been helped, but we’re looking to continue tracking these requests)

 

If the above steps do not work for the customer, please see a lead / SA so they can reach out to #ask-anyhire for additional support.

 

What can be shared with the customer (please reword as necessary!):

 

As a result of a recent release, the ability to activate and approve milestones for Any Hire contracts from the Upwork Workroom was impacted. Milestone contracts can instead be  managed within the Any Hire experience. 

 

We apologize for the confusion as we realize this wasn’t clear within the Upwork Workroom today. We’re currently working on an update to make this very clear within the experience until we resolve the issue and, longer term, we hope to restore the ability to manage contracts from the workroom. To help get you restarted with your current Any Contract… [see steps above]

How much is the processing fee for payments on Any Hire?

For Any Hire, processing fees are 0% for ACH payments and 3% for other billing methods. It will show as a line item on your invoice, and on your transaction history report, it will show as a marketplace fee transaction. 

(Note that if you engage in an Upwork Marketplace contract that isn’t through Any Hire, the marketplace fee is 3% for ACH payments and 5% for other billing methods.)

 

How long does it take to onboard a payrolled employee outside of the United States through Any Hire?

It can take up to 4 weeks to finalize costs and finish the onboarding process when you are hiring internationally, and in some cases could take longer than 4 weeks.