Type
|
Private |
Founded
|
1999
|
Headquarters
|
Mountain View,
California,U.S.A
|
Key people
|
Fabio Rosati CEO
|
Industry
|
Internet
Online employment platform Freelance marketplace |
Website
|
|
Registration
|
Required
|
Available in
|
English
|
Current status
|
Active
|
Background
Elance
was first launched in 1999, its name inspired by a 1998 Harvard Business Review article titled "The Dawn of the
E-Lance Economy".It was initially developed as a technology for supporting
virtual work. Two years later Elance introduced a vendor management system (VMS)
for contractors and third-party services used by large enterprises. In 2006 Elance sold its enterprise
software division and developed instead its current web-based platform for online,
contingent work.
As of
February 2013, Elance is used by approximately 500,000 businesses and 2 million
registered freelance professionals, who have collectively earned nearly $850
million to date.
A
merger with oDesk, another online staffing platform, was confirmed in December
2013. The deal is expected to be finalized in April 2014 and the two companies
will create a resource that consists of 8 million freelancers and 2 million
businesses.
Clients
The
Elance website allows businesses to post jobs, search for freelance
professionals, and solicit proposals. They can evaluate the contractors
applying for the job and, once a contractor is selected, communications and
files are exchanged through the Elance system. Payment for jobs, which can
either be hourly-rate or
project-based jobs, is made by the client through Elance's system, which
deducts a percentage of the fee, 8.75%, as a "commission. Elance's Work View tool provides an
official record of work completed. For project-based jobs statement of work or milestones are used to indicate
progress toward completion, and funds are held in escrow by Elance to ensure payment upon
completion of the milestone.
Freelancers
Freelancers
search Elance's website for jobs and can research clients' buying histories on
the system. Each freelancer can post a profile displaying past jobs and
feedback, a portfolio, and specific skill and educational-background
information. Registered free
users are allowed to submit a limited number of proposals each month while
those on paid membership plans can submit additional proposals. Elance offers
payment guarantee once work is done using the Elance system.
A 2012
survey of freelancers conducted by Elance indicated that freelancing was the
"sole source of income" for 48% of respondents and that 69% had at
least a bachelor's degree.
Skills
Information
technology jobs, such as web and mobile programming and development, account
for the majority of earnings on Elance (59%), followed by creative jobs (24%),
marketing (7%), and operations (7%).Jobs for writers and graphic designers are
also popular.Elance maintains a current list of their overall top 100 in-demand
skills, and in 2011, the most in-demand skills were PHP programming, WordPress programming, article writing, graphic
design, and HTML programming.Specific data, including
global job growth numbers and earnings on the most in-demand skills, is made available
on Elance's website.
Awards and recognition
Elance
has been cited as an example of the emerging paradigm of informal workplace
communication, employing social media tools and cloud-based applications to
drive productivity. Elance also
caters to the increasingly liquid labor market by facilitating direct contact
between contractors with specific skillsets and clients with specific needs.
This reduces search friction and benefits the economy as a whole.
According
to 2013 reports from Accenture and Deloitte that mention Elance, enterprises are
increasingly looking to supplement their permanent employee workforce with
flexible, extended workforces of project-based personnel. Business owners support the trend
because it lowers their payroll expenditures, and workers support it because
working for multiple clients results in increased job security. Project-based hiring also allows small
businesses access to highly skilled workers at a significantly lower cost as
compared to hiring full-time staff.
In
2009, Elance was selected as one of CNET's
Webware 100, an award recognizing products and services that embody Web 2.0 ideals of collaboration and cloud computing.In 2013, Elance was
selected as one of Red Herring's top 100 companies
Issues
While
Elance has received accolades by the technology industry and business community
and there are some good reviews by those who have obtained work through this
system, some of those people who actually compete for jobs using this social
media have been more critical. Some complain of competition in a global job
market with low rates and no benefits, work delivered but not paid for, job
descriptions that are not always accurate.
Merger
On
December 18, 2013, Elance announced that it would sign a definitive agreement
to merge with its competitor, oDesk to create an online workplace for a
combined total of 8 million registered individuals. A joint statement issued on
the same day stated that Fabio Rosati, chief executive officer of Elance, would
lead the combined company. The new entity’s name was to be announced after the
deal was closed. According to Rosati, the executive team and board will be
balanced with people from each company. Both websites would stay open, and the
company will keep both Silicon Valley headquarters, with ODesk in Redwood City,
California, and Elance in Mountain View, California.
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