How it works

You should be able to provide a welcoming, friendly environment for Workawayers.

Workaway is primarily about cultural exchange and learning opportunities so it’s important that you interact with your visitors as much as you can and make them feel part of the family, community or team. Hosts generally are asked to provide accommodation and food in exchange for help from Workawayers of around 4-5 hours per day 5 days a week.

For hosts who are businesses (or asking for help with a business activity) free accommodation plus at least minimum wage should be offered for each hour worked.

No, to register as a host is totally free. Though we do encourage hosts to make a donation to charity.

When creating your profile, include plenty of info about the people involved, your place, the local area and the activities that Workawayers could do in their spare time. It's a great idea to include a description of how you will interact with your Workawayers, what you can teach them and what you hope to learn from hosting. The cultural exchange aspect is an important part of how we decide the suitability of a new host profile.

Make sure the help you need is clearly described and what the accommodation offered will be so that your visitors know what to expect. Adding photos to your profile really makes it stand out.

You can add up to 15 photos to your profile once online. It's best to show unique images (i.e images not online elsewhere). These can be of your place, family, project or area.

If you are looking for more than volunteer help you should ensure that you include info about how you are meeting the minimum wage requirements of your country.

No, we provide a way so that they can contact you via the website. Your messages will be delivered to your registered email address as well as appearing in your Workaway inbox. After you have established contact you can choose if you would like to reveal your email address.

As a listing site, we provide the opportunity for hosts who are businesses (or asking for some help with a business activity) to offer a wage to Workawayers and be listed as a paying host. This is to help hosts comply with any relevant laws in their own country regarding labour and workers.

When calculating payment, we ask hosts to ensure that at least the minimum wage is offered and that this is for every hour worked. Accommodation should be provided for free. 

Although we still encourage shared meals as a way to enjoy a cultural exchange, if you pay a wage, you can ask helpers to be responsible for their own food expenses.