PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Upwork Inc. (Nasdaq: UPWK), the world’s human and AI-powered work marketplace, today released a study by the Upwork Research Institute revealing how small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) endured the geopolitical, labor market, and macroeconomic shocks of 2025, and, in doing so, ignited innovation and growth. To support SMBs through these challenges, the Upwork Marketplace introduced new features to its Business Plus offering, including exclusive access to Uma Recruiter, a new always-on, AI-powered hiring agent that reviews talent profiles and delivers top matches in under six hours, enabling faster, smarter hiring decisions for SMBs.

The research study, The Key to Growth: How Small Businesses Turn Disruption into an Edge, surveyed nearly 500 SMB C-level executives, vice presidents, and directors to examine how SMBs–those employing between 10 and 499 people–navigated the same market volatility as their larger peers.

“SMBs learned defensive strategies alone were not enough to withstand disruption,” said Dr. Gabby Burlacu, senior research manager of the Upwork Research Institute. “Our research shows the SMBs that played offense by embracing flexible talent, AI tools, and continuous experimentation have positioned themselves for adaptability and long-term growth in the face of whatever uncertainty and disruption comes next.”

Key findings from the report show that highly confident SMBs are:

• Innovating through disruption: Confidence among SMB leaders more sharply fluctuated throughout the year compared to leaders of other company sizes, dropping from 51% in Q1 2025 to 47% in Q2, then rebounding to 58% in Q3, mirroring similar swings in their willingness to innovate across talent models and technology. Yet for the 47% of leaders that maintained steady confidence throughout the year, commitment to AI, flexible talent, and bold experimentation never wavered.
• Harnessing AI to drive operational agility: SMBs that avoided the Q2 confidence dip were twice as likely to have fully implemented AI across front-office (27%) and back-office (23%) functions to optimize sales, marketing, finance, and operations. Thirty percent retooled operating models for AI, adopting an AI-first mindset when designing processes.
• Leveraging flexible, skilled talent: Thirty-one percent of SMB leaders relied on flexible talent to tap into specialized skills. Job posts from SMBs seeking AI expertise rose 44% on the Upwork Marketplace between January and July 2025, indicating strong demand for AI-proficient talent.
• Unlocking tangible value with AI: Supplemental research conducted in collaboration with Zoom found that when SMBs use AI to scale, 93% report an increase in revenue—in fact, 41% report increases exceeding 10%. Eighty-two percent report AI-related cost reductions, and 91% saw year-over-year ROI from their AI investments.
• Embedding experimentation: Twenty-three percent of SMB leaders designated innovation and experimentation as core organizational capabilities, approaching disruption and change as opportunities to try something new.
  

The research arrives alongside a refreshed version of Upwork Business Plus, the Upwork Marketplace’s premium offering designed to help SMBs scale faster. With Business Plus, clients now gain instant access to the top 1% of talent on the Upwork Marketplace across more than 125 categories of work, as well as built-in tools for performance tracking, contract management, and team collaboration. Business Plus clients also gain access to Uma Recruiter, an always-on hiring agent that understands business needs and provides AI-powered shortlisting to match clients with top expert talent.

“Most owners and operators at SMBs wear many hats, from strategist to marketer to the doer, to build and grow their businesses,” said Dave Bottoms, general manager of the Upwork Marketplace. “For growing teams, it’s no different—leaders are juggling priorities, patching process gaps, and trying to bring the right skills to bear on their business challenges. Business Plus gives them instant access to pre-vetted talent and an AI-guided hiring experience that matches top talent on the Upwork Marketplace with a client’s business objectives, so SMBs can hire faster and focus on innovating to drive business impact.”

For the full study and further insights from the Upwork Research Institute, visit: https://www.upwork.com/research.

To learn more about Upwork Business Plus, visit: https://www.upwork.com/business-plus.

About the Survey
The Upwork Research Institute conducted surveys in Q1 (January–February 2025), Q2 (April–May 2025), and Q3 (July–August 2025) with 1,500 U.S.-based business leaders representing the manufacturing, business and professional services, software and technology, retail and consumer goods, and healthcare and medical industries. 487 of the respondents represented SMB organizations, employing between 10 and 499 people.

About Upwork Inc.
Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.

Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at upwork.com and follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X; learn more about Lifted at go-lifted.com and follow on LinkedIn.

Contact
Zach Moses
press@upwork.com

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