When hiring, if you determine that talent will be best classified as an employee rather than an independent contractor, we offer Upwork Payroll service through a trusted, third-party Employer of Record (EOR). In such cases, the talent becomes an employee of the EOR assigned to you for the purposes of the project.
Hourly and salaried assignments are available through Upwork Payroll — fixed-price contracts are not supported through this service. This article refers to Upwork Payroll hiring in the U.S. Learn more about international hiring with Upwork Payroll.
Our EOR service providers will employ the talent in compliance with country or locale-specific laws and handle the administration of the talent’s employment.
When hiring U.S.-based talent as employees, the EOR will:
- Enter into an employment agreement with the talent
- Manage the talent’s pay
- Maintain workers’ compensation insurance coverage for the talent
- Administer payroll taxes
- Provide legally mandated benefits (e.g., as required by the Affordable Care Act) as well as voluntary benefit offerings
As the client working with talent employed by an EOR, you will be responsible for:
- Directing the talent’s day-to-day work on your project
- Complying with laws prohibiting workplace discrimination and harassment
- Providing a physically safe and harassment-free working environment
- Allowing the talent to take legally-required breaks or leave
Important:
You must not start work until the talent completes onboarding with their employer (the EOR service provider). This can include background checks and other steps required by law or by the employer. The EOR will also provide the talent with any legally required notices or benefits information and help the talent set up their account for timekeeping and pay. On average, the onboarding process for U.S. based talent takes 3-5 business days to complete. Legal compliance and payments to talent for any work that happens before that process is finished will be your company’s responsibility.
We will notify you once onboarding is complete. You can then seamlessly communicate with the talent through the Upwork platform to share details about the work to be done and align on scheduling, timelines, and work product expectations.
Timekeeping will occur between the employee and their employer on the employer’s timekeeping tools where applicable. The contract on Upwork will be "paused" to prevent duplicate reporting.
Upwork Payroll is generally available for engagements involving administrative or professional work or responsibilities but cannot be used to support engagements requiring talent to perform more physical or dangerous duties like manual labor, operating heavy equipment, or driving. Learn more about how Upwork Payroll can help your business here. Enterprise clients can also contact their account representatives for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
As an Enterprise client, you'll pay the rate outlined in your Master Subscription Agreement (MSA). Your Upwork program partner can review the Order Form attached to your MSA with you to clarify costs. For Enterprise clients with Compliance WPP subscriptions who have contracts with U.S.-based talent, an estimated total fee (excluding taxes) will appear on the offer page when finalizing offers, including for BYO talent and for talent you found on Upwork.
An Employer of Record (EOR) is an organization that legally employs workers on behalf of another business, taking on the responsibility for all legal and administrative employment tasks. This includes handling paying workers, payroll taxes, benefits, and compliance with local labor laws. The EOR provides a comprehensive, compliant solution that allows businesses to hire and manage workers in different regions without the need to set up a local entity or navigate complex employment regulations directly.
Unless you are notified otherwise before work starts, talent employed by an EOR will be eligible for overtime pay. Overtime varies by location, but in most U.S. states it applies to hours worked over 40 in a week. Should you have questions regarding overtime in Upwork Payroll engagements, please contact upworkpayroll@upwork.com.
For contracts where talent is U.S. based, you can view the hours worked and payments from your Upwork account by going to Manage Work > Timesheet and choosing a date range to see entries.
Upwork is here to help you resolve issues. Please contact Upwork immediately if:
- You’re concerned with the talent’s work performance, so we can help facilitate a resolution between you and the employer
- Your talent alerts you (or you become aware) of a need for a leave of absence or disability accommodation so we can be a conduit of a compliant reasonable accommodation process as directed by the employer
For U.S.-based contracts, contact us at upworkpayroll-us-specialist@upwork.com
For international contracts, contact us at upworkpayroll-intl-specialist@upwork.com
All requests related to Upwork Payroll assignments, including ending or modifying an assignment, should be emailed to Upwork Payroll. For U.S. offboarding requests, email your request to upworkpayroll-us-offboarding@upwork.com. For international offboarding requests, send your request to upworkpayroll-intl-offboarding@upwork.com.
Typically, to end a U.S.-based Upwork Payroll assignment, you’ll need to provide at least 72 hours’ notice. This allows the EOR to comply with any legal requirements related to ending the assignment, such as state laws governing final paychecks or legal notices. The notice period for assignments outside the U.S. varies from country to country and will be communicated to you in the quoting process before the engagement begins.
You can see your Upwork Payroll Service Fee as a line item on your invoices and in your transaction history.
For Enterprise clients with Compliance WPP subscriptions, an estimated total fee (excluding taxes) for contracts with U.S.-based talent will appear on the offer page when finalizing offers for both BYO talent and for talent you found on Upwork.