What do you think of the recent UpWork updates?

Freelancing is becoming extremely popular all over the world. One of the primary reason why people are choosing self-employment over a full-time job is the lack of jobs and opportunities.

Third world countries are directly affected by the global recession and financial depression. In such circumstances, the Gig economy has not only empowered people but it also contributes substantially to the country’s economy by bringing in the foreign remittance.

Upwork is the world’s largest freelance marketplace and arguably the best too. In the summer, the company decided to bring a huge change in its system affecting millions of freelancers. While the debate carries on about the repercussions of this huge change, the new system is going to help everybody involved in the match-making.

Now the clients will receive proposals from the freelancers who are serious in bidding on the jobs and. From freelancers perspective, since they pay money for every connect, they will use their bids wisely and only go for the jobs that match their expertise and skill.

Started from May 2019, the price of each Upwork Connect is 15 cents (US$0.15).

The paid bidding system is introduced after the company initially started declining new freelancers registrations on their marketplace. The reason for rejection was pointed to the huge number of freelancers already offering their services on the marketplace and company aims to promote quality over facilitating quantity.

In the long run, the system benefits the clients as they will only get quality proposals for serious freelancers. In the past, every freelancer used to get “free” 60 connects (Upwork bids) as a basic member.

The results of allowing every freelancer to bid on projects were turning out to be a problem for clients and qualified freelancers too.

From the client’s point of view, they had to scramble through hundreds of thousands of bids only to find out that handful quantity of freelancers understood the requirements laid out in a project placement.

On the other hand, good freelancers with diversified skillset were un-necessary pushed into the competition with newcomers, non-qualified freelancers who would bid on the project with hope against a hope to win it.

With the new system in place, now the UpWork provides a levelled playing field for every qualified freelancer who pays for the connects and bids on the project. Freelancers are competing with each other based on their skills sets and experience.

Another benefit of introducing a paid bidding system points out to freelancers charging a true price for a project. Earlier, they were forced to reduce the price of their services because of huge (unwanted) competition and non-qualified freelancers lowering their charge to win projects. Now the freelancers do not have to worry about compromising on their value proposition. They can charge the price that truly reflects their skill and services.

Do you think UpWork new system will benefit you as a client or freelancer? Write in comments.