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oDesk Payroll

Verified hours for all your workers, even W-2 employees

  • Manage and pay W-2 workers via oDesk as easily as managing 1099-classified workers
  • Keep worker classification in compliance with IRS regulations
  • Offer workers access to affordable benefits

Without increasing overall costs!

Staff better through oDesk

oDesk is the premier place to hire, manage and pay freelancers online. With oDesk Payroll, we now support W-2 classified workers as well:

  • Pay only for hours actually worked
  • Retain and motivate talent with access to great benefits
  • Hire talent anywhere in the US or Canada

Businesses that bring their workers to oDesk Payroll typically see costs fall 20% to 40% by leveraging oDesk's time and billing verification capabilities. Not only do you keep all the advantages of employing workers through a staffing agency, with oDesk Payroll you spend less and gain all the benefits of working through oDesk — increased productivity, visibility and collaboration.

Staffing agencies traditionally charge up to 26% of your costs to cover fees, payroll and taxes. Compare that to oDesk Payroll, where only 20% is spent on those charges and 80% goes to the contractor.

Assume that your contractor earns $20 per hour:

staffing agency
W-2 through
oDesk Payroll
You pay $27 /hr $25 /hr
Taxes and fees $7 (26%) $5 (20%)
Worker gets $20 $20
Verified work? No Yes

Ensure IRS Compliance

With oDesk's staffing agency as the employer of record, you:

  • Reduce or eliminate the risk of fines, penalties and interest accrual due to misclassification of contract workers
  • Reduce the risk of legal disputes and negative publicity from worker misclassification

Existing oDesk client? Get more value for the same cost

We designed oDesk Payroll so that transitioning workers from 1099 to W-2 classification costs you nothing — and at most costs your workers only pennies — while giving them access to affordable benefits options.

Assume that your contractor earns $20 per hour:

through oDesk
W-2 with
oDesk Payroll
You pay $25 /hr $25 /hr
Taxes and fees $5
10% oDesk fee and
~10% self-employment tax
20% fee includes
payroll taxes
Worker gets ~ $20 $20
Verified work? Yes Yes


Who determines if the worker should be classified as 1099 or W-2?

You will need to determine the worker classification based on the IRS guidelines (located here) and other federal, state and local regulations. oDesk Payroll is only available for workers based in the US and Canada.

Some workers may prefer to work via oDesk Payroll on their own, so they can access group health and dental benefits, as well as a 401(k) savings plan. Discuss with your workers their classification status to prevent confusion.

What is the cost of oDesk Payroll?

What you see is what you pay.

The oDesk fee to you for hiring a worker via oDesk Payroll is the same as if you hired them as a 1099 contractor on oDesk — assuming their gross pay meets minimum wage requirements — and is still less than what you would typically pay a staffing agency. 20% of the rate you pay is divided for fees (10% oDesk + 10% payrolling costs), and the contractor receives the remaining 80%. The payrolling costs are about the same as what the worker would pay in self-employment taxes, so the net after-tax impact to the contractor is negligible in most cases.

What is the difference between oDesk Payroll and a traditional staffing firm?

With oDesk Payroll, you get the payroll and IRS compliance benefits of working through a staffing firm and the productivity and accountability of oDesk's high-visibility management tools. oDesk Payroll does not manage the workers as some staffing relationships do — you still manage your own oDesk Payroll team with the same level of interaction as you have with your independent contractors on oDesk.

Does oDesk Payroll screen and qualify its workers?

oDesk Payroll does not do incremental vetting beyond what oDesk normally does for other oDesk freelancers. All oDesk and oDesk Payroll workers have a freelancer profile that, in addition to a resume, includes work history, feedback from past clients, skill test scores and portfolio.

How do I get started?

Contact us and we will call you to discuss the program and get you started.