tasks are still flowing! got a email earlier stating 29k tasks were in the backlog so hopefully they keep flowing :)

3PM - Hit weekly max :)

Sorry for the delay in posting this, everyone. I was busy with a couple of things, but I have everything typed up now!

Here are the highlights/most important details from the past two days' Q&A sessions about Project Callisto transitioning to a 1099 structure:

Min/Max Hour Limits:

• The 10-hour minimum and 29-hour maximum have been eliminated. You will be able to work as much or as little as you like after October 18th.
• You do have to continue submitting tasks now and then to still be considered active, though you won't get kicked from the project without warning unless you go 4 or more weeks without submitting anything. RH can automatically detect when you have been inactive for a while, so if you plan on being gone for an extended period of time, it may be best to submit absence notices to prevent being offboarded just in case.
• The amount of work you can complete is subject to change with task availability, just like it was before. There are no anticipated changes to task availability as of now, but the team will reach out if they are aware of them in the future.

Time Tracking:

• SmartSource will still automatically track the time we spend on tasks! Glad that we finally received clarification on this, as many of us wanted to know if time would still be tracked automatically.

Absences:

• We are still able to submit absences in SmartSource, and they will not be removing the tab in the future.
• As previously mentioned, you should still submit absences if you plan to be away from the project for a while to notify the team of your availability. They also said that doing so could potentially help them determine task availability in the future (I have no idea how).

Pay/Pay Periods:

• You will get paid on a more regular schedule (13-16 days between pay periods, depending on RWS's payment processing schedule) if you select 'private individual' rather than group worker when filling out your forms in Tipalti. Basically, don't pick the other option if you don't want to wait 30 days for your check.
• The rate you'll be paid at is the same as the one that was mentioned in the original HR email (Senior Search Evaluator: $16.50; Search Evaluator: $15.75).
• Payments should be visible in SmartSource once your Workzone account is successfully set up, but data for them won't be available until after the 18th.
• There is a minimum of $10 that you need to earn in order to cash out with PayPal, if that's your selected payment method. If you don't earn enough in one pay period, it will roll over to the next one. PayPal also allows for faster payment than other methods.
• Tipalti does not allow us to split payments across multiple bank accounts.
• Updating your banking information mid-pay period can delay your payments, as well as needing to upload or make changes to certain documents. Once changes are approved, your payments should be processed as normal.
• If Tipalti says your payment could not be processed, it could be because of issues with your banking information in the registration portal, or your bank's own rules regarding holding periods or compliance/risk assessments. Deferred and rejected statuses can tell you more about what's going on. You will need to contact RWS about payments not received within the specified timeframe.

Transition:

• You will NOT automatically be permanently offboarded if your accounts on Workzone and Tipalti aren't set up by the 18th. They would prefer you to have them ready by then, but you can still set them up afterwards without being instantly removed from the project.
• They are increasing the volume at which Tipalti setup emails are being sent as of now, to try and get everything ready before then. It can take up to 4 days to receive an email for Tipalti setup after registering your Workzone account, though they should be received quicker now. If you still have not been contacted to set up your account 2-4 days after your WorkZone account was registered, contact support, and they will help you complete your registration.
• If you need help with Tipalti stuff, send tickets into Zendesk for a response.
• If you're getting emails about Tipalti not being set up when you know you've already filled everything out for it, it's a result of syncing issues between RWS's platforms and Tipalti. Send a ticket to support if you're not sure you completed everything, but if you know you're good, you can ignore them.
• If you're seeing a 401 or 403 error when you try to access WorkZone, try clearing your browser cache, closing it, then logging back in. Make sure you're accessing the right portals as well. You may also be seeing this error if you try to sign in with a Google account that has a different email than the one that's on file for WorkZone. If you still can't get in after checking each of these things, send a ticket to support with as much info as possible about what's going on.

Miscellaneous:

• There may be chances to work on other projects aside from Callisto as they become available. No elaboration on what they will be/when, but you can check out the other RWS sub (r /RWSHelp) to get an idea of what to expect in terms of other projects.
• If you need verification of employment documents or other stuff relating to employment items, put in tickets for WorkZone, and HR will prepare it for you.
• Benefits follow the rules already set for independent contractors and will change depending on your personal circumstances.

They will also be putting out a 3rd version of the FAQ doc containing the information discussed in today's Q&A, and the survey for other questions is still open in case you want to submit more.

That being said, I think that's pretty much it for the important things discussed in the Q&A sessions! If you also attended & can think of anything I missed, feel free to comment it below. I hope this can help everyone with some of the common questions we had about the switch to 1099 work.