PALO ALTO, Calif. – October 29, 2025 – 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 business (SMBs) organizations endured the geopolitical, labor market, and macro shocks of 2025 igniting innovation and growth. To support SMBs through these challenges, Upwork 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.
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 AI, flexible talent, 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 2025, 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 Upwork 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 of 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, Upwork’s premium offering designed to help SMBs scale faster. With Business Plus, clients gain instant access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork 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, SVP and general manager of the Upwork Marketplace. “For growing teams, it’s no different—leaders are juggling priorities, patching process gaps, and trying to keep hiring on track. Business Plus gives them instant access to pre-vetted talent and an AI-guided hiring experience that matches top talent on Upwork 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. Four hundred and eighty-seven of the respondents represented SMB organizations, employing between 10 and 499 people.
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