Upwork Human Rights Commitment

‍Introduction 

Human rights are fundamental to making work work for everyone. As the world’s work marketplace, Upwork is building a platform where companies can connect with talent from around the globe and independent talent can pursue work on their own terms. We do this by leading with our values and pursuing our mission to create economic opportunity so that people can have better lives.

Upwork is committed to supporting internationally recognized human rights, as outlined in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as well as the treaties and covenants included in the International Bill of Human Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). Upwork complies with all applicable human rights laws in the countries where we operate, and should differences arise between local laws and our commitment, we will follow the law and honor our commitment wherever possible.

This document reflects the input of internal and external stakeholders, and we are committed to consulting our stakeholders on the principles included in this document moving forward. 

Human Rights at Upwork

Our commitment to human rights applies to Upwork’s entire operations, including our work marketplace. This document outlines how Upwork aims to protect and support human rights within our workforce, on our work marketplace, across our supply chain, and in the communities where Upwork team members and customers live and work, where applicable. 

Our Team Members

We require our employees, members of our contingent workforce, officers, and members of the Board of Directors of Upwork Inc. and its subsidiaries to respect and uphold the human rights principles included in this document in all of their day to day work. We require our team members to adhere to the commitments outlined in this document as well as Upwork’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and, where relevant, our Employee Handbook. 

We offer an annual voluntary training program, Speak Up, that complements our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. The training guides team members in embodying Upwork’s core values and defines expectations for behavior and our responsibility to the platform’s community. Employees are also required to take Sexual Harassment Compliance training. New team members are assigned these trainings on their first day and have 30 days to complete them, after which they remain compliant for the rest of the calendar year.

Our Customers

We expect our customers, both the clients who use Upwork to find talent and the independent talent who use Upwork to find work, to respect human rights and fair labor practices when engaging one another on Upwork’s work marketplace. In addition to respecting the human rights principles outlined in this document, we require all customers to adhere to the guidelines included in our site’s Terms of Service, which include our Nondiscrimination Statement.

Our Suppliers

We strive to avoid complicity in any harmful or abusive labor practices within our supply chain. Our suppliers include the businesses, consultants, agents, and subcontractors that provide products or services to Upwork. As our Supplier Code of Conduct states, Upwork expects our suppliers to uphold human rights and fair labor practices within their own operations and to do their best to manage human rights risks within their supply chains. We expect all our direct suppliers to respect and uphold the principles included in this document.

Our Communities

Upwork seeks to promote human rights in the communities where we provide humanitarian support and non-profit donations, and where we may have a political or cultural influence on work and workplace issues. This includes the communities we reach through our Upwork Research Institute thought leadership, as well as the philanthropic contributions we give through The Upwork Foundation and Upwork’s other corporate giving. 

Governance and Implementation

Upwork strives to assess any human rights risks and impacts across our value chain, which includes our internal operations, supply chain, and the use of our products and services, in line with OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 

Upwork’s Sustainability and Impact Task Force, a cross-functional team made up of business leaders from across the company, is responsible for assessing and mitigating human rights risks across Upwork’s value chain. The Sustainability and Impact Task Force is managed by Upwork’s Sustainability and Impact team, which reports salient sustainability risks and opportunities to the Nominating and Governance Committee of Upwork’s Board of Directors on a biannual basis. 

The Sustainability and Impact Task Force cooperates with other cross-functional committees and working groups to assess, escalate, and respond to relevant risks and impacts, including human rights risks and impacts. Upwork’s Ethics Task Force regularly monitors reports made through Upwork’s Ethics Reporting Platform and other reporting mechanisms and shares any reports related to human rights with Upwork’s Sustainability and Impact Task Force. In addition, Upwork’s Human Resources team regularly surveys our workforce to gather feedback on their wellbeing at work and the safety of our workplace. Should our workforce surveys illuminate any human rights risks or issues, this is brought to the attention of our Sustainability and Impact Task Force.

To assess and manage human rights risks across our supply chain, Upwork evaluates the human rights commitments and employment practices of our suppliers. We do this through our Request for Proposal (RFP) exercises and through an annual supply chain risk assessment led by our Sustainability and Impact team. 

Upwork’s Trust and Safety team is dedicated to assessing and mitigating illegal activity, including human rights abuses, on our work marketplace. They do so by regularly reviewing high risk and/or suspicious user activity, suspending or closing accounts that do not adhere to our Terms of Service and related Trust and Safety policies, and engaging local law enforcement, or other third party agencies when necessary. To help ensure that we are cognizant of and prepared to address specific human rights risks, Upwork’s Trust and Safety team maintains a set of relevant enforcement areas that define and outline response protocols for topics such as child exploitation.

Our Human Rights Principles

We Do Not Tolerate Human Trafficking, Forced Labor, or Child Labor

Upwork is unequivocally opposed to all forms of human trafficking, slavery, servitude, child labor, forced or compulsory labor, and all other trafficking-related activities. We are committed to fully complying with all applicable labor and employment laws, rules, and regulations and strive to mitigate the risk of human trafficking and other human rights abuses across our value chain. 

We respect the rights of our team members to agree, voluntarily and without coercion, to the terms and conditions of their work engagements and to freely terminate their work engagements with Upwork. We will ensure that any mandated working hours are reasonable and provide fair and equitable compensation to our employees and contingent workforce for time worked in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Upwork ensures that its team members are of legal working age. 

Where necessary, Upwork will comply with all applicable laws concerning the retention of, and workers’ access to, employment documentation relating to immigration or work authorization. Upwork always seeks to support workers in understanding the terms of their employment. 

Upwork does not permit activities that support or enable human trafficking, forced labor, or child labor on its work marketplace or within its supply chain. Based on Upwork’s Terms of Service and internal Trust and Safety policies, Upwork customers must be 18 years of age to create a profile and participate in work secured through the platform. Similarly, customers cannot use Upwork services to offer, request, engage in, or in any way support activities that exploit children, including the creation or distribution of content that depicts the exploitation of children. Upwork’s suppliers must comply with Upwork’s Supplier Code of Conduct and any evidence of human trafficking, forced labor, or child labor within the operations of any of Upwork’s suppliers is grounds for immediate  

For definitions of human trafficking, forced labor, child labor, and modern slavery, visit the International Labor Organization website at https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/definition/lang--en/index.htm. 

We Support Workers’ Health and Safety

Upwork’s remote-first model and the nature of our business, which relies primarily on knowledge workers, decreases workplace health and safety risks. Nonetheless, we’ve taken steps to safeguard the well-being of our workforce. 

We strictly prohibit violence and threats of violence. This prohibition covers physical violence, threats or aggressive statements, stalking, and intentionally destroying personal and/or Upwork property. We have zero tolerance for possessing dangerous items such as weapons, explosives, or firearms while working or attending any Upwork function, whether in our facilities or off-site. Per our Physical Security Policy, we expect all team members who work in or visit our offices to maintain the safety and security of our offices and care for our shared assets. 

We support the health and well-being of our team members and believe that enabling them to work remotely and manage flexible work schedules is crucial. In addition to comprehensive health benefits, we provide employees with guidance on ergonomic practices and workstations. To avoid and respond effectively to workplace illness and injuries, we maintain an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) and emergency preparedness plans. Although we try to identify and correct every potential workplace hazard, we rely on employees to alert us to dangers and report any workplace health or safety issue, concern, or incident. 

Upwork’s platform enables companies and independent talent to engage one another and conduct work remotely. In this way, health and safety concerns related to the use of Upwork’s platform are low. To further minimize health and safety risks, Upwork’s Trust and Safety team is dedicated to enforcing Upwork’s Terms of Service and removing bad actors from the platform, when necessary. 

We Do Not Tolerate Discrimination or Harassment

Upwork provides equal opportunities without regard to characteristics and statuses protected by applicable law. Upwork does not permit unlawful discrimination against anyone based on nationality, race, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, marital status, or other similarly protected characteristics. We do not permit any language or conduct that is illegal, threatening, prejudiced, hateful, or unlawfully discriminatory or harassing. 

Upwork does not condone any form of harassment, including but not limited to verbal, physical, or visual harassment or bullying. Harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, is not only incompatible with our values but is also illegal. We are committed to investigating reports of harassment or bullying to help us maintain a healthy, inclusive work environment. 

As the Nondiscrimination Statement within our Terms of Service states, users of Upwork’s work marketplace are prohibited from engaging in any unlawful discrimination or harassing conduct. Such conduct is not permitted on Upwork and users engaging in this activity are subject to account closure.

We Support Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging

Upwork’s vision for diversity, inclusion, and belonging is dignity, purpose, community, and fairness at the center of every working moment. We strive to create a safe and supportive environment for all people, including women, minority groups, and any other marginalized communities. To learn more about how we champion diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Upwork, visit our website. 

Our work marketplace enables independent talent from over 180 countries to find work on their terms. The geographic and cultural diversity of the talent who use Upwork is critical to our business model and to the success of the clients who hire on Upwork. To see how we’re connecting a global talent pool with clients looking to build diverse teams, read about Our Impact. 

We Recognize the Right to Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining 

Upwork respects the rights of workers to freely associate, organize, and bargain collectively in accordance with applicable laws and customs of the countries in which they are employed. Upwork encourages our team members to communicate openly with management regarding working conditions without fear of retaliation, harassment, intimidation, penalty, or interference. As stated in our Supplier Code of Conduct, Upwork requires our suppliers to comply with the obligation to permit their workers to freely associate.

We Respect People’s Right to Privacy 

Protecting customer data is Upwork’s top priority. Upwork follows cutting-edge security and privacy best practices designed to provide a secure, reliable, and compliant talent marketplace for businesses of all sizes. Upwork seeks to provide information about the data we collect in the clearest terms possible and only collect and retain the data we need to operate our platform. We enable our customers to exercise control over the data they provide, and to request access to their personal data. Depending on location, users can request their personal data in a portable format, and restrict or object to certain processing of their personal data. We do not “sell” personal information as that word is traditionally defined, and we use fundamental principles in global data protection laws as our guide to remaining good stewards of our users’ personal data. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. 

We Develop and Use Technology Responsibly 

Upwork is committed to leveraging technology in a way that supports human productivity, well-being and economic opportunity. This is true for how we’re building our online work marketplace and the ways in which we enable our customers to work smarter. We recognize that technological tools such as machine learning, large language models, and artificial intelligence have the potential to fundamentally shift how work fits into our lives and strive to research, develop, and implement new technologies responsibly. 

Upwork’s Mindful AI Principles provide a foundation for trustworthy, ethical, and effective AI development and deployment at Upwork. These principles help us prevent bias, deliver ethical solutions, and find the right balance between AI automation and human expertise. Our internal Generative AI Use Policy establishes clear guidelines surrounding company usage of Generative AI tools and applications. As part of our ongoing platform due diligence, Upwork’s Trust and Safety team regularly evaluates user activity that may adversely impact human rights, such as sharing AI-generated content that may be exploitative.

We Enable Stakeholders to Raise Concerns and Do Not Tolerate Retaliation 

Upwork values transparency and we encourage our team members and business partners to report violations of this Policy and/or unlawful or unethical behavior. Reports can be made confidentially or anonymously through Upwork’s Ethics Reporting Platform, which is administered through a third party and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Upwork employees and members of our contingent workforce may also report concerns to their manager, their Human Resources business partner, a member of the Legal team, or an Ethics Advisor, all of whom have an obligation to report to the Compliance Officer (or their designee) any suspected violations they are informed of or witness directly. Learn more about Upwork’s Speak Up program in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.

We will take all necessary steps to investigate and rectify any known breach of this Policy. If warranted by the nature of the suspected allegation, Upwork will conduct a prompt, impartial investigation by qualified personnel. When suspected violations are substantiated, we will take appropriate action, which can include mandatory training, warnings, or termination of employment or any other business relationship. 

Upwork does not permit retaliation. Retaliation occurs when an adverse action is taken against someone for (i) reporting a concern about a violation or suspected violation of Upwork policy or applicable law, (ii) assisting someone else in reporting such a concern, or (iii) participating in an investigation. Some examples of retaliation include being denied a promotion because of reporting an ethical violation or suspected violation, and being terminated or demoted for assisting someone else in reporting a concern. Upwork team members may find additional information in our Whistleblower Policy. 

For more information about our efforts to support human rights, visit Upwork’s Reports Hub at www.upwork.com/about/our-impact/reports-hub.