"Create Team" is here!
on Thu, 2008-04-24 06:45. News I am pleased to announce that the long-awaited "Create Team" feature is finally here.
All users (except for non-admin ACs) can now create as many teams as you want. Buyers can create multiple teams, Providers can create their own Company as well.
There are several reasons to create a new team:
Buyers
- Separate providers into Teams with separate SVN and Bugzilla instances
- Have providers work on different projects or for different clients, and generate financial reports divided by Team
- Separating billing, i.e. pay for different work with different credit cards
Providers
- Create your own Provider Company*
- Become a Buyer
No more signing up for new accounts and merging them - all is self-service now.
*If you are an independent contractor, you cannot have your active assignments added to your company. If you have active assignments, you will be made an non-exclusive affiliated contractor - existing assignments won't be affected, and you'll get to choose whether or not to apply to new jobs as part of your company. Or you can end your assignments, create your Provider Company, and then ask your buyers to rehire you. That way you can be an exclusive AC and all new assignments will automatically count on your company history.
If you have any questions or feedback at all, please post here! I hope you all will find creative (and lucrative) ways to take advantage of the new flexibility we are building.
Michael
oDesk
Use Payoneer
Hi Margie! Try using Payoneer card as your "credit card" if it is okay with you.
I was hired by another Filipino provider, he used Payoneer so that he could "buy" my services.
A pwede pala yun?? Thanks,
A pwede pala yun?? Thanks, Gem! 
New Teams
As a freelancer who switched over to an affiliate I really enjoy the flexibility of the overall team concept. I am looking forward to the new features you've added on which seem to add even more neat ways to work with teams. Thanks for all of your efforts. Doreen
Current Assignments
It will be nice when we can create a company without ending our current assignments.
Let us know when this is possible, as I do not want to end my current assignments.
Just to be clear - you only
on Sun, 2008-04-27 19:04.Just to be clear - you only need to end your assignments to create a Provider Company (ie - one that has Affiliated Contractors). If you want to create a company so that you can act as a buyer as well as a provider, there's no need to end your assignments.
If you want to have Affiliated Contractors, you will, unfortunately, have to wait a bit longer.
Paying using oDesk money
I think will be great if we can pay our ACs with our current oDesk balance without having to transfer it to a credit card. Would you think it will be possible anytime?
technically you can, but...
on Fri, 2008-05-02 05:17.You can hire your ACs and pay them using your oDesk balance, for example via bonus. However, you'll pay the 10% oDesk Service Fee. We are working on a solution for this, but it is two to three months away.
Michael
oDesk
I (as a Buyer) created 3
I (as a Buyer) created 3 teams. But when I log in I get to see the least important one (last team).
Is there the way to set a priority or change the order?
Thanks.
I am not too familiar with
I am not too familiar with this team and company concept yet. So lets say i am an individual contractor, i create a company and invite 2 of my friends to work with me.
Now xyz hires me. I do some work and 2 of my friends do some stuff. So some questions:
1 : Who does the buyer see? Does the buyer see my friends as well or he just sees me? For instance can the buyer identify who actually worked on his stuff?
2 : When the buyer leaves a feedback on the task. What happens to that feedback for the other 2 guys?
3 : Does my friends accounts get credited with their appropriate fee at the end of the week or do i have to pay them via a credit card?
4 : Even if i dont do any work , does the hours of my friends add up to my account? What happens when they leave etc?
teams answers
on Wed, 2008-05-07 15:29.To the question above: at the moment, there is no way to change the default team or team order. It is on our list, though, thanks for the suggestion.
Answers for sabeenmalik:
1 : Who does the buyer see? Does the buyer see my friends as well or he just sees me? For instance can the buyer identify who actually worked on his stuff?
The buyer must hire each individual person (we are working on some more flexible arrangements). Are your colleagues Affiliated Contractors in your team? If so, you can ask your buyer to hire each of them, or ask your buyer to give you Hiring Manager privileges in *his* team so you can hire them yourself.
2 : When the buyer leaves a feedback on the task. What happens to that feedback for the other 2 guys?
See above - the buyer hires each of them, so each gets specific feedback.
3 : Does my friends accounts get credited with their appropriate fee at the end of the week or do i have to pay them via a credit card?
This depends. If they are your affiliated contractors (ACs), then all of their earnings go to you, and you have to pay them outside the system (we are working on fixing this so you can transfer the funds inside). If they are not, then your buyer will pay them directly, but then of course you won't be able to "mark up" their work.
4 : Even if i dont do any work , does the hours of my friends add up to my account? What happens when they leave etc?
If they are your ACs, then your company will accrue hours and feedback, yes.
We have a lot more work to do, but I hope this helps you get started.
Michael
oDesk
Hello oDesk, Any idea when
Hello oDesk,
Any idea when could be an option will available to invite providers in my team if they have active assignments or candidacy ?
by the end of May
on Thu, 2008-05-08 16:59.This is in development - we expect it will be ready by the end of May.
Michael
oDesk
Creating teams for current providers
Actually we are on end of June, and there is nothing about creating teams without rehiring current providers. Any news about this?
By the end of?
can we have an estimate for this? I don't really want to disturb current assignments as well!
non-exclusivity
on Fri, 2008-06-20 21:58.Sorry all - this ended up being a lot more complex than anticipated. Expected launch date is 7/23, hoping for 7/16. The feature: enabling non-exclusive Affiliated Contractors, so you can create a Provider Company but not disturb your current assignments as an Independent Contractor.
Michael
oDesk
non-exclusivity is launched!
on Thu, 2008-07-17 22:12.We are not announcing it prominently yet, but non-exclusivity has launched. Create a Company or Team, go to Team Admin, and you can now control the affiliation status of your team members, including yourself.
Feedback welcome!
Michael
Hi Thanks for the reply,
Hi
Thanks for the reply, however
1 : Who does the buyer see? Does the buyer see my friends as
well or he just sees me? For instance can the buyer identify who
actually worked on his stuff?
The buyer must hire each individual person (we are working on some
more flexible arrangements). Are your colleagues Affiliated Contractors
in your team? If so, you can ask your buyer to hire each of them, or
ask your buyer to give you Hiring Manager privileges in *his* team so
you can hire them yourself.
2 : When the buyer leaves a feedback on the task. What happens to that feedback for the other 2 guys?
See above - the buyer hires each of them, so each gets specific feedback.
My questions were specifically targeted at companies. For instance i decide to become a company and invite my 2 friends to join/work under my company name. In that case.
1 : Does the buyer actually see who is working on their task
2 : What happens to the ratings. Lets say the buyer hires company xyz , but the company xyz has 3 ppl working on the job at the same time. When the buyer leaves a feedback , does he leave the feedback for the company and/or the 3 guys?
Sabeenmalik, 1) The buyer
on Fri, 2008-05-09 15:10.Sabeenmalik,
1) The buyer needs to hire all of the providers who will be working on their project, so yes they will see who is actually working. The difference between this arrangement and the providers working independently is that all the money they earn through oDesk will go to your company's account, not directly to them.
2) Because the Buyer hires each of the providers to work on their project, the Buyer leaves feedback for each provider. The feedback score is then also used to calculate the company's average feedback.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Olga
oDesk
Thank you , that clarifies
Thank you , that clarifies it. I just couldn't figure out how a provider company would work
Feedback suggestions to work on the concerned person
The feedback constructive suggestions to improve the effective
perforamance on the person suggested in particular and for
the company wellness as whole.
Thank you, Michael!!!
Thank you, Michael!!!
This is very helpful indeed.
Unfortunately, I have ongoing assignments right now and I don't want to bother my current buyers with the rehire so I guess I will still have to wait a while before I can form my own provider company. How soon do you think this will be resolved? Also, I don't have a credit card right now. Is there a way to work around this? Thanks again for all the wonderful things that you and your team have accomplished in order to provide better service to oDesk users.