Problem:
Clients do not have visibility in the product as to how much total spend has incurred (inclusive of fees) until the end of the month* . This prevents them from proper project budget planning to account for total costs out of pocket.
* Purchase orders report is the only in-product page that accurately reflects invoiced spend
Experience today:
As client users engage on the platform, they only have visibility into how much they are paying the freelancers. Service fees are not applied until the Enterprise client invoice is generated at the end of the month.
What’s new/different/better:
Clients will now see their service fees in the product, in addition to the existing freelancer payments, to understand the true total spend.
Service fees will available in the product in 2 phases:
- Phase 1: Reports available to Enterprise Program Owner (EPO)/Admin Users
- Phase 2: Reports available to Hiring Managers and the user experience (i.e. job post flow)
Other:
The addition of client service fees in the product will flow into downstream reporting tools, such as DOMO, giving sales reps visibility into accurate revenue reporting on a daily basis.
Goal:
Accurately reflect true spend (freelancer payments and client service fees) in the platform as payment transactions are incurred.
Launch Type: Feature roll out affecting Upwork Enterprise and Business accounts
Phase 1: (February 1, 2020)
EPO/Admin users will see a modal when they login indicating the following reports have been updated with client fees:
- Transaction Report
- Purchase Order Report
- Talent Cloud Report<
- Insights
- Health Check Email
For reports that aren’t updated until Phase 2 (below), an SMF will be displayed on those pages indicating this. The purpose is to reduce any confusion when there are discrepancies between reports that reflect client fees vs. do not reflect client fees.
Phase 2:
All affected users (EPO/Admin and Hiring Manager) will see a modal when they login indicating the following reports have been updated with client fees:
- Weekly Summary
- Weekly Billing Summary Email
- All Contracts
- Timesheet
- Time by Freelancer
- Time by Activity Custom Export
- Other UI experience (i.e job post flow)
Q: How do I know what my fees are?
A: Refer to your Upwork program admin for contract details.
Q: How does this affect my invoice?
A: No change to the invoice. We are only changing where we show the fees being calculated.
Q: What should I do if I disagree with a fee?
A: Contract your Program Success Manager.
Q: How are payroll contracts handled with fees?
A: No change as a result of this feature.
Q: Do fees reduce at any point in time? (Enterprise)
A: Refer to your Upwork program admin for contract details.
Q: Are there different fees depending on freelancer location and level of expertise?
A: Refer to your Upwork program admin for contract details.
Q: If there is a dispute, are fees refunded?
A: Yes, fees are refunded in proportion to the refunded payment amount.
Q; Does the freelancer or agency see the fee being charged to my company?
A: No.
Q: Is there a place where I can see a total of all fees charged to my company?
A: Admin users can see it in the “Transaction Report.”
Q: If I BYO a freelancer or agency, does the 0% fee apply to any engagement for that freelancer or just the engagements for my company? Is the 0% fee specific to the hiring manager that brought them on or is it across the entire company, regardless of the hiring manager?
A: The BYO fee applies to any engagement between the BYO freelancer and your company.
Q: Does the Upwork fee also include Upwork Professional fees?
A: Upwork Professional costs are excluded from any Upwork service fees. (This is the same behavior as pre-client fees roll out.)
Q; What is the difference between client service fees and freelancer service fees?
A: Client service fees are charged to the client per their Enterprise agreement. Freelancer service fees are charged to freelancers based on earnings and the Upwork Terms of Service.
Q: How will this affect my current reports/customized reports?
A: This depends on the design of your report. Please contact your Program Success Manager to review and ensure your reports include the data required for your business processes.
Affects Hiring Managers in Phase 2 rollout:
Q: How accurate are these fees if I am going to raise a PO to match the number that I see? (Assuming this question only applies for when a HM sees fees in the user experience as part of the job post or offer flow.)
A: In this case, the fees should be treated as estimates. The numbers are calculated based on the fees in the client contract, but for example, if the hiring manager is looking at fees in the job post, we don’t know who the freelancer is yet. So we can’t give accurate calculations because the fee is different if the freelancer is BYO.
Q: Will I be able to see the project fees at the time of a job post? If so, can you show me my project cost vs. my loaded cost with fees?
A: Not at this time (future product enhancement expected delivery in Q2