Upwork vs. WorkMarket by ADP

I would recommend Upwork to a colleague as a solution to workplace issues. Our company has utilized Upwork to vet out potential competitors as well as partners in a lengthy data analysis project, as well as given our engineering team extra hands when implementing new products, projects, and features. This has allowed our company to stay on track with projects without in-house manpower.

Incentivized

In a pinch to cover a site a distance away, is it a simple service ticket such as reboot a station or test for dial tone? These type of tickets are well suited, also items such as large retail chain service tickets that fall in the low-tech/no-brainer category. The best advice I can give is, always realize and view the ticket as the tech. Meaning ensure all the necessary info is included especially multiple support sources and correct on-site contact information. Be clear what the scope is and don't use excessive acronyms especially if they are industry-specific. NSA MPOE- fine, however, TTU and HCL are ambiguous. Yes this is about software but you are only going to get out of the platform what you put in. The software supports your bookkeeping and management but it is a service and the key to this software's value is in its end result and the final product as shown or sold to your client or organization --this is why I am indepth about its human interface or human segment-ie the technicians("resources" as their called on the platform). I will say the software side of the product, the ability to track work, the financial accounting and the interface are all pretty good. The product has unlimited potential and I was its cheerleader for the first few years. However over time with broken promises as to issues we encountered and policies that leave many to feel as if the companies owners could not give a single rats### as to their effects on the people that rely on the service has left a truly sour taste in my mouth. While outages and data loss have been very minimal the times it has occurred it was a nightmare to get them to own up to their errors and no and I mean NO effort was made to notify or to mediate the issue on their side. It was literally wait two days and now its back but without allot of data feel free to use it we wont acknowledge anything happened. I was left dumbfounded and amazed. Their policies of shielding clients from resources efforts to collect on funds due is nearly criminal and I would venture will cause them some issue in the future. Personally it spoke to the lack of morality with the powers that be --This has been the primary reason we stopped using the platform as it facilitates immoral financial loss against those who are in dire financial straights to start with-- Most IT freelancers are filling a void between jobs or trying to cover expenses that were unexpected, They are in no position then to encounter non-payment and when they turn to the service that is the payee of record be stonewalled by the platform they had entrusted. This is not only our experience but was well documented in the forums as a regular occurrence.

• Allows us to filter freelancers by location. This is especially important when working across time zones.
• Upwork is one of the only freelancing websites that actually provides a filter for US based contractors; and they rigorously verify this.
• Huge candidate pool. You're almost guaranteed to find a few individuals who specialize in whatever you're looking for.
• Allows both fixed bid and hourly. Each one is useful for different kinds of projects.

Incentivized

• Have a problem? Click "chat" from the website and support is seconds away from answering your question(s).
• A intuitive website that is easy to find what you're looking for.
• Founder and co-founder of Work Market are from another well known platform that went off to create something very professional.

Incentivized

• In my opinion the worst customer service. It is impossible to contact them via phone, and they are not transparent about their decisions.
• I feel they don't have the freelance community's best interest in mind. Their focus is on the companies that pay. Freelancers are disposable.
• They charge ridiculous fees to the freelancers that are the ones that need the money the most because they are the ones starting their businesses. It is like if your employer charges you for coming to work.

Incentivized

• You don't really know who you are going to get
• There's not a lot of followthrough. This tech will act as an adjunct to your company, and you are left holding the bag for their work
• We had one bad experience, and decided to go a different route for growth

Incentivized

I have earned a lot on Upwork and I would always recommend it to my fellow peers and people who have skills and are looking independently and remotely from the comfort of their home. Once you get successful in developing a good profile on Upwork revenue target are more easier to achieve.

Incentivized

Support has been great. Rarely have I ever had an issue that has required support but when I have they have been great. I did have to interact with support to confirm my identity and the process was easy and quick and support was helpful to know what I needed to do to accomplish that task.

Incentivized

If I could drag that slider to a negative number it would be more accurate. There are several canned responses that all resources receive when contacting WM support that you are assured will leave you feeling crushed, disheartened and even as if you are dealing with a Bot. The responses to posts in the support forum were so egregious that unrelated parties would read the posts and feel compelled to chide the WM support rep for inhuman indifference that sickened them. The support by management to its users is comical at best and nearly criminal at worst. This is justified by their very upfront belief that WM is only software and nothing more. Its some misguided attempt to take a company to a purely 1 and 0 mentality that is backfiring on a massive scale. This will likely become the story of legend in business schools worldwide as its a thinking I have seen no other corporation embody so single mindedly that they refuse to view its carnage in its wake.

Upwork is better suited for finding contractors that you can have ongoing relationships. Compared to Fiverr, it's a much easier process to find qualified designers rather than one-time contractors to design simple things for you. The interface is easier to use as well and the billing management makes it so much cleaner and easier to know how much we're spending and how contractors are logging work hours.

Incentivized

I never found another service that also does this.

Incentivized

• We have gotten close to 50% of all of our clients through the platform.
• Upwork backs the work done through the platform, so no matter what the client or person you are working with does, you get paid for the work that you do. You aren't left hanging after doing hours of work for a client and then never getting paid for it.
• Made it easy to communicate with clients from different parts of the world and set up partnerships and agreements in an easier fashion. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a unique skill set.

Incentivized

• Positive--easy payment process (direct deposit) so I can keep working.
• Negative--need to make a mobile app to help reduce time I am waiting for web pages to load (sometimes I had to wait 30 minutes just to sign in).
• Postive--the buyer pays the fees, which means what I negotiate I get which makes it better to know how much I will actually get in the end.

Incentivized