Upwork now focuses on hiring corporate employees, beyond freelancers
Upwork will help recruit not only freelancers, but also permanent or contract employees. The company is moving towards expanding its income field.
Upwork, a platform that creates job opportunities between freelancers and companies, has surprised everyone with a new decision. They are not only freelancing, but are now also going to work in the manpower management of large companies.
To this end, Upwork has acquired two companies, one is 'Babti', which makes software for employee management, and the other is 'Essen', which looks after employee recruitment and regulations around the world.
These two companies will be merged to create a new business unit under Upwork that will work with large organizations and companies. From now on, Upwork will help recruit not only freelancers, but also permanent or contract employees.
This change means that Upwork will now compete not only for small jobs, but also for the supply of manpower to large companies.
Upwork CEO Hayden Brown said, “Now is the time because large companies are now demanding not only freelancers, but also a wider and more diverse range of talents.
In an interview with the technology site TechCrunch, Brown said, “Currently, the organizations that exist force clients to choose between flexibility or compliance, speed or scale, digital tools or powerful enterprise solutions. But we are not compromising there. We are offering everything together.”
He also said, “We clearly understand that large companies want a solution that has all the benefits together. That demand is addressed by this new step.
It's important too note that Upwork's enterprise clients contribute roughly $100 million of its $750 million yearly revenue. This time, Upwork is moving towards expanding that revenue area even further.
The company has decided to separate its enterprise business from the main unit and develop it as a separate company. Because the needs of large companies, especially in terms of compliance and software integration, are completely different from those of small businesses.
AAccording to Upwork CEO Hayden Brown, "separation also brings clarity and focus to branding."
For this initiative, they evaluated over 100 businesses, according to Brown. Ultimately, Upwork depended on global compliance and "employer of record" service provider "Essen" as well as workforce management platform "Bobti."
But not only separately, Upwork has also tested the two companies together in a pilot program. And that’s where new possibilities are emerging.
“In the pilot, we understood how effective their technology is and how easy it is to create something completely new with us,” said Brown.
The branding and full service details of the new enterprise unit will be announced by the end of this year.
