job, they hire that freelancer by sending a contract with set hours, pay rate, and a deadline for the work to be completed. The Upwork platform includes a real-time chat feature that either clients or freelancers can use to message prospects. The Upwork time tracking application records the freelancer's keystrokes and mouse movements and takes screenshots to be submitted to their client. Size, scope, and changes In March 2017, Upwork reported 14 million users in 180 countries with $1 billion USD in annual freelancer billings. In 2020, the company purged 1.8 million freelancers, possibly due to changes made under the leadership of new CEO Hayden Brown. In a 2019 call with investors, Brown said that Upwork would be focusing more on serving the needs of Fortune 500 companies rather than smaller companies just looking for a quick job with a single gig worker. During this call, Brown also spoke of a "skill gap" between what companies were looking for on the Upwork platform and what they were getting. Many of the freelancers purged were rated as "less skilled" or had lower rankings on the platform. Upwork has also made other changes under Brown's leadership. The platform adopted paid client subscription rates, increased client payment fees from 2.75% to 3%, raised the cost of "Connects" (virtual tokens used by freelancers to submit job proposals), and changed the number of "Connects" needed for freelancers to submit job proposals. Brown has said that these changes were made to improve the quality of freelancers and freelance work available on the platform, but they also led to increased financial gains for Upwork and its investors. In October 2020, Upwork launched a new feature called Project Catalog that allows freelancers and agencies to offer pre-scoped services at fixed prices, similar to Fiverr marketplace. In March 2021, Upwork released a report claiming that up to 25% of professionals expect to permanently work remotely. See also Behance Freelancer.com Guru.com PeoplePerHour Toptal References External links 2015 establishments in California 2018 initial public offerings American companies established in 2015 Business services companies established in 2015 Companies based in Santa Clara, California Companies listed on the Nasdaq Employment websites in the United States Freelance marketplace websites Online marketplaces of the United States Telecommuting