Cloudworkers

What it is

Cloudworkers is a chat moderation company that hires freelance text chat moderators to work on online chat platforms run by its clients, and the contact address on its pages is that of Cloudworkers AG in Altendorf, Switzerland. It recruits adults aged 18 and over who can write well in one of the languages on its application list, which runs from German, Swedish, Polish and Dutch through Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Ukrainian and many more, plus English at native level. The work is text only, it includes dialogues "of an adult nature", and the FAQ says the company has never charged and never will charge fees to the moderators on its team. Pay arrives monthly.

The homepage says Cloudworkers was founded in 2015 and calls itself "one of the largest, most successful and thriving chat moderation companies operating worldwide". That is the company's own description of itself.

How earning works

Cloudworkers does not run a chat site for the public. It supplies moderators to other companies. The text chat operator article on its blog says so directly: "Good personnel is regarded as the foundation of the companies that our clients run that run online fantasy chat platforms," and it says those platforms' operators "provide thousands of lonely people with a more fulfilling daily existence by expressing themselves online through fictional, anonymous identities." The homepage describes the job the same way: moderators chat in text on "one or more online social community platforms", where their task is to animate those communities, stimulate conversations and build lasting relationships with customers. A moderator logs in through the company's chat interface from anywhere and talks to customers straight away, and the homepage says moderators "should be open to engaging in high quality dialogues of an adult nature".

The blog article describes the range of topics as running "from regular subjects like sports or the weather to more intimate subjects like dreams and desires", and says an open mind is needed. It says the operator can work as much or as little as they want, and that "How many texts you manage determines your salary." The homepage, for its part, lists among what moderators can expect a "Salary that is above average and performance orientated", which is the company's own wording. So pay on the Cloudworkers pages follows the volume of work, and the company does not print a rate.

Hours are flexible but organized. The homepage says moderators decide their own working hours around their own schedules, while the FAQ explains how that works in practice: each moderator fills in a wish list of the shifts they can and cannot work, and the weekly shift schedule is built from it. The stated minimum is "The ability and willingness to work just 12 hours per week." Holidays can be taken whenever the freelancer wants, as long as the team is told shortly before so the shift plan can allow for it. A moderator with competent skills in more than one language can work in different chats.

Support is built into the setup. Each language team has a dedicated team leader who can be reached by phone, e-mail and Skype, according to the homepage, and the FAQ says correspondence runs by e-mail and Microsoft Teams, with phone calls only in an extremely urgent case. Training is mandatory before a moderator may start to work and earn; the FAQ says it takes about an hour and is run by a team leader over Skype or telephone. Regular training and performance feedback follow, and the homepage says experience helps an application but is not required.

Applying is done on the website. The form asks for first name, last name, e-mail address and date of birth, plus a phone number and a Microsoft Teams contact on the main page (a Skype name on the /sg version), the chat language, the times the applicant can be reached by phone, whether they have chat moderation experience, and a short note on why they should be hired. The site sends an automated e-mail with a confirmation link a few minutes after an application arrives and warns that it can land in the spam folder. Its terms add that submitting an application does not guarantee recruitment, and that successful candidates must complete a final training course and sign agreements on confidentiality and professional conduct. A separate link on the homepage leads to a different job, German-speaking call center agents.

The homepage testimonials are the freelancers' own words, chosen by the company. One parent says the job lets her work during school hours. Another, a former web developer, says "Cloudworkers always pay" and calls the moderators "digital actors playing the role of different characters we create." A third describes chatting from a beach in a warm country.

Money and rules

• Basis of pay: the volume of texts handled, in the blog's words, "How many texts you manage determines your salary." The site does not publish the rate.
• Schedule: "Payments are made within the first 10 business days of the month for the work done in the prior month." The homepage calls it "Fast and reliable payment on a monthly basis."
• Methods: bank transfer or PayPal transfer, per the FAQ.
• Invoices: moderators are freelancers, so an invoice is required each month to release payment. The FAQ says team leaders will help with it.
• Fees: none. "We never have or ever will charge fees to the moderators on our team!"
• Status: freelance only. The FAQ says a permanent employee position is not possible for the chat projects.
• Minimum workload: 12 hours per week.
• Age and ID: at least 18. The FAQ says a copy of an identity card or passport is required to confirm identity and that the moderator is over 18.
• Anonymity: moderators do not reveal their true identity to anyone and stay "completely anonymous to the customers".
• Notice: either side can cancel the contract with notice given by the 15th of the month at the latest, effective at the end of that month. Contracts are countersigned, stamped and sent as a scanned copy by e-mail.
• Location: the FAQ says applicants living abroad can work from anywhere in the world with a PC or laptop and a stable internet connection.
• Requirements: competent spelling and grammar, openness to adult dialogues, a good sense of humor and an open-minded, relaxed approach.
• Gender: "of no relevance to the selection of applicants".

The homepage also says "We guarantee you a regular income", which is the company's claim and comes with no figure attached.

Who it suits and who it does not

Cloudworkers suits a fluent writer in one of its many listed languages who wants remote text work, is comfortable with adult conversations and with writing in character, and wants the structure of an employer behind a freelance arrangement: a team leader per language, set shifts built from the moderator's own wish list, an hour of training before the first shift, and a fixed monthly pay date. The list of languages is long enough that speakers of smaller languages, from Icelandic and Maltese to Macedonian and Albanian, are directly addressed. Moderators who want to stay out of sight remain anonymous to customers, and the work involves no camera and no audience of their own.

It suits less well someone who wants weekly or instant pay: money for a month's work arrives within the first 10 business days of the next month, and only after the moderator invoices it. The 12-hour weekly minimum rules out a person who can chat only an evening here and there. The work happens on clients' platforms under invented characters, so nothing builds a following or a catalog the moderator owns, and it is no route for a cam model or a creator selling their own content. A reader who needs the per-text rate before committing time will only learn it after applying.