How Upwork centralized device logistics across 30+ countries with GroWrk

 The challenge

Upwork has long been a pioneer in remote work, but as the company grew its hybrid workforce across more than 30 countries, its small IT team began to feel the strain. Shipping equipment from the U.S. to global hires was slow and costly, while managing multiple regional vendors proved inefficient and difficult to scale.

We spoke with Shauna MacMillan, an IT Specialist at Upwork, about the roadblocks her team encountered as they looked for a better way to manage global device logistics.

Upwork’s main challenges in supporting its international workforce included:

• Shipping devices from the U.S. involved customs delays and paperwork.
• Managing country-specific vendors meant scattered communication and no standardization.
• Inventory tracking relied on spreadsheets and manual updates.
• Offboarding and device collection were labor-intensive and often missed SLA deadlines.

These issues caused daily friction for Upwork’s nine-person IT team. Employees were often left waiting for devices, and offboarding required hours of follow-up. Without a centralized platform or real-time inventory visibility, the team relied on spreadsheets and vendor email threads to get things done, leading to SLA breaches and operational stress.

 The solution

To overcome these logistical and operational challenges, Upwork partnered with GroWrk to simplify device provisioning, tracking, and retrieval for its global workforce. The goal was to centralize all device management, eliminating manual processes and fragmented vendor relationships.

Shauna and her team rolled out GroWrk across more than 30 countries, allowing them to support a growing international team without adding headcount or overhead.

GroWrk helped Upwork address its most significant operational gaps by:

• Access to GroWrk’s global vendor network in 30+ countries
• Seamless device provisioning using Autopilot and JAMF zero-touch setup
• Real-time asset visibility and inventory reporting
• Two-click collections for offboarding, fully managed by GroWrk
• Okta integration for easy employee login and address confirmation

Instead of managing devices with separate workflows for each country, Upwork handles everything from the GroWrk platform. New hires log in through Okta, confirm their address,  and track their shipment without needing to open a ticket. Devices arrive fully preconfigured, and offboarding takes just a few clicks—no back-and-forth emails required.

GroWrk also became a de facto asset manager for Upwork’s international fleet. With real-time updates and full visibility, the IT team can now generate compliance reports instantly—something that previously required manual audits.

 The results

GroWrk allowed Upwork to standardize global IT operations, improve the employee experience, and reclaim valuable time for the IT team.

Since implementing GroWrk, Shauna and her team have:

• Onboarded over 230 employees globally (with 60+ more in progress)
• Reduced time spent managing device logistics by more than two hours per IT shift
• Achieved 100% SLA compliance for device returns in GroWrk-supported countries
• Delivered fully configured laptops within days, even in remote locations like India
• Eliminated lost or unreturned devices thanks to automated collections

The time savings and consistency have allowed the IT team to focus on security, automation, and strategic initiatives, even as the team faced downsizing.

Looking ahead, Upwork plans to expand GroWrk’s role to include U.S.-based employees. The goal is to manage the entire device lifecycle—globally and locally—from a single source of truth.