Employee Turnover at Upwork

3.7
yr
Mean employee tenure
27.3
%
Implied Annual Turnover
2.3
%
pp. higher than the industry average

Contributions to staff retention at Upwork

Company Age

7 yr

Company Size

86.9K empl.

Mean Seniority

2.4K days

Industry

Software / Tech

Country

US

Intrinsic

136.4 days

About Upwork

Upwork is the world’s work marketplace, connecting millions of businesses with independent talent around the globe. We serve everyone from one-person startups to 30%% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and freelancers to work together in new ways th...

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What is "Avoidable" turnover?

Employee retention at Upwork is unusually high compared to other similar companies. Employee turnover is normal. Employees come and go for many reasons, including personal reasons and reasons that have nothing to do with a specific company. That being said, Upwork seems to be doing better than most of their immediate competitors.

What is driving turnover at Upwork?

Employee turnover at Upwork is primarily driven by employee seniority and company size. The employees at this company are relatively early in their careers in comparison to the industry average. Junior employees tend to leave a company more frequently for higher-paying jobs with more prestige or for more congenial work environments. Upwork has a larger number of employees than average. Smaller businesses are more likely to keep their workers for a longer period of time. This is likely because they are able to provide a more supportive and accommodating work environment. Their employees are also more likely to feel appreciated and appreciated for their contributions. Smaller companies typically have a more informal atmosphere, which can be a draw for some workers. They may also be able to offer employees more autonomy and flexibility in how they work. This can lead to a more engaged, productive workforce. Large companies typically have more stringent culture and they may find it more difficult to keep employees.

Methodology

The numbers reported here are based on statistical analysis of publicly available employment data of current and past employees of the company. We determine mean tenure based on how long past employees have stayed at the company and how long current employees have been employed. We determine the annual turnover percentage as (1/tenure * 100). We analyse a sample of the employees at a company. We make an effort to sample in a representative way but some bias is unavoidable. Some types of employees may be overrepresented in our sample based on their job, their online activity, and their geographic location. We expect our number to have a confidence interval of approximately 1 year. In other words, if the mean tenure reported is 4 years, the true value lies between 3 and 5 with 98% confidence. Similarly if the average turnover reported is 20% we expect the true value to be between 15% and 25%.

Disclaimer

We make an effort to report accurate information and to be transparent regarding our methodology. However, we make no warranty of any kind as to the accuracy of these reports. Use at your own risk. If you feel that any of the information reported here is inaccurate for any reason, please let us know.