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Job size will now be factored into your JSS

lenaellis
Community Member

UPDATE: The JSS Metric has been updated to reflect the changes that were announced below. As of today, March 1st, all Job Success Scores are now displaying the updated value.


We will soon update JSS metrics to reflect job value in the calculation. Today, a one-week $20 job typically carries the same weight as a one-week $1,000 job in JSS. Soon, JSS will be weighted by job earnings. For example, a one-week $1,000 job will be weighted more than a one-week $20 job. JSS will also exclude contracts with $0 earned and positive feedback. All other JSS policies will remain unchanged.



What does this mean?

We are making this change so a freelancer’s Job Success Score will display a more comprehensive representation of their freelancer workWe understand not all jobs are equal. We know higher budget contracts require more work and freelancers who complete these more complex contracts successfully should get credit for them. Just as longer-term contracts hold more weight in JSS calculations than shorter ones, we believe contract value should also hold significance in the calculation. By giving these jobs more weight, these jobs will have a greater influence on a JSS. 

 

Many freelancers will see an increase in their scores if they’ve successfully completed higher budget contracts in the past. At the same time, a small percentage of freelancers may lose their JSS, see a drop in their scores, or lose their Top Rated badge. Today, we are emailing freelancers whose JSS will see a decline of 5% or more, to let them know they will be affected.  Freelancers that see a drop in their score can improve their JSS by completing more jobs with positive feedback, as it works today. Larger budget contracts with positive feedback will result in a higher increase in JSS, however, all great feedback contributes to JSS and whether you work on large or small contracts you can still reach 100% JSS.

 

This change will take effect in March, at which time all Job Success Scores will be updated retroactively. We know many of you will have questions about this update. We won’t be able to discuss your individual score or outcomes of specific contracts. We have listed some anticipated questions below, let us know if you have any additional questions.



FAQS:

 

Can I know what my new JSS is now before this launches?

We will not be able to provide you with your updated score until the JSS calculation refreshes at launch, in March.

 

Does this mean if I don’t get big contracts I’ll never be able to get a JSS of 100%?

Receiving stellar feedback on smaller budget jobs can still get you to a JSS of 100%. We are only changing the impact of jobs based on earnings. This means that strong client feedback on a higher-budget job could boost your score more than a lower-budget job. All other aspects of JSS will remain the same.

 

How will I know if it affects me?

The majority of freelancers will be affected positively by this change and will see an increase in their scores. We are sending out emails to those who will likely see a drop in their score once the new JSS calculation goes into effect in March. 

 

Can this affect me positively, will my JSS go up?

Yes! The vast majority of freelancers on the platform will see an increase or very little change in their scores. This is because you may have worked on one or more higher paying contracts in the past, and because you received great feedback that great feedback is being weighted more. 

 

Can I lose my JSS?

A small percentage of freelancers may lose their JSS. This is because they had one or more jobs with no earnings. Positive feedback on contracts with no earnings will not be factored into JSS once we move to the new calculation. As a result, some freelancers won’t have enough outcomes to be eligible for a JSS until they successfully complete more jobs. Nearly all freelancers have scores after completing eight projects. 

 

How does weighting work specifically? 

To ensure fairness and avoid manipulation, we don’t share the specifics about how we calculate the Job Success Score. Thanks for your understanding.

 

So if I take a bigger job and get negative feedback that counts more than positive feedback on smaller jobs?
Yes. A job with higher earnings will always impact your Job Success Score (JSS) more than a smaller job. For example, feedback on a $1,000 job carries more weight on your JSS compared to a $20 job. However, receiving poor feedback on a job with more earnings can be balanced out by doing well on a job of the same size in the future or on a number of smaller jobs. 

 

Can I lose my Top Rated badge?

Yes, a small percentage of freelancers who see a decline in their JSS may drop below 90% and lose their Top Rated badge. This is because they received less-than-positive public or private feedback on one or more of their higher-paying contracts. Feedback on contracts with higher earnings will affect JSS more after this new change.

925 Comments
richard_wein
Community Member

Baris A wrote:

Vijayvithal J wrote:

Will ongoing projects/earnings also be factored into JSS at a later date?

I have jobs which are running for more than a year. The very fact that the client is still paying me every week is an indication that they are satisfied with my work. But since the Job is not completed it is not impacting my JSS.


I second that also what Javed asks.

I have clients working with me for more than 2 years. If I get a bad rating shall I ask them to close the contract and start a new one?


Hi Baris. I'm pretty sure that doing so would help your JSS, providing those clients give you good private feedback.

 

While I can't be certain, I think that there is no special long-contract bonus. When moderators say that you benefit from a long-running open contract, I think they are just referring to the long-term client bonus, which I believe is independent of how your work for the client is divided into jobs. (I believe it's just based on when you've earned money from that client.) So, if you close one of those jobs and start a new one, you will carry on getting the same long-term client bonus, but you will also get the JSS benefit of a job closed with good feedback.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Wendy,

 

We don’t have an exact date to share but the update to JSS will occur in the next few weeks and we will update the Announcement thread when it’s live.

mozalas
Community Member

I don't understand. What client in their right mind would want to rely on some algorithm, which they don't even know how it is calculated, to determine their hiring decisions?

 

Why even have the JSS at all if that is the case? Why not just get rid of it altogether? It kind of seems worthless anyway. Clients should just read the individual reviews and feedback scores rather than letting Upwork say "Trust us this is the person you want to hire. We can't tell you why or how we got to that, but trust us."

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Michael,

 

The JSS is primarily a marketing tool to provide relief to clients who feel overwhelmed by the number of proposals they receive from freelancers for a new project and don't want to have to do all the work it would take to winnow those many proposals down to just one hire.

 

I accept that a freelancer with a JSS of 75 has probably not performed excellently on previous projects and a freelancer with a JSS of 95 has a higher likelihood of doing good work. However, as far as know, Upwork has never provided any proof that a person with a JSS of 89 is in any consistently predictable way likely to be inferior in their future performance to another freelancer with a JSS of 90. Setting 90 as a sort of minimum target JSS for "the best" freelancers is an arbitrary decision.

dreamingfilms
Community Member

Another real good implementation! I like this. Keep it up Upwork!

javimoregarc
Community Member

Hi there,

 

I'd like to make 2 points about this:

 

1) I think it's a step in the right direction in the sense that Upwork should go out of their way to reward freelancers that contribute the most. It makes no sense that a guy paying lots of fees gets eventually the same JSS than somebody on 5 USD jobs (don't roast me yet, more on this on point 2).

 

It makes no sense either that a client that is going to pay a bit for a job can have such a dramatic impact on the JSS of a freelancer without many but well-paid jobs. I've declined a number of jobs myself for this very reason.

 

It's beyond my understanding that you haven't thought about these issues before...

 

2) The main problem I've always seen with JSS stems from the fact that you've come up with some sort of obscure metric and have named it "Job Success Score".

 

A guy who's doing 5 USD jobs and is doing them successfully should still have a high Job Success Score, the contrary would be untrue and a lack of respect towards him. I'm afraid that JSS is not reflecting what you're measuring and the more you try to patch it the worse it'll be. 

 

My opinion is that you should replace the term JSS by another one that is not misleading and reflects what you're measuring. Either that or drop it altogether.

 

Kind regards,

 

Javier

ff594628
Community Member

Make it impossible to get 5 stars when private feedback is negative.
Otherwise, it's a schizophrenic system.

kbadeau
Community Member

Jennifer M wrote:

Andrew R wrote:

 

 

What Upwork should be doing is allowing clients with very long running and high-volume contracts the ability to provide reviews and feedback every month or every quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4), instead of having to close a contract completely to leave a review. Upwork has vested interest financially in folks like me working with very long-term clients with the Upwork platform as the intermediary. Almost like an employee. They are now incentivizing contractors to engage in opening/closing/opening/closing contracts for the sake of upping the JSS, which puts awkwardness on client relationships. Why they haven’t addressed this issue years ago is beyond me… It should be a no-brainer.


They do. Longterm contracts count positively towards your JSS. If you're getting paid regularly every week or month, it helps. You don't need to close/re-open a contract. Just leave it open and keep earning. I've found these contracts are better than just having 1 contract that turned out well.


While those jobs may be good for our overall JSS, I think they can look sketchy on my profile. Which is to say, a prospective client just sees "XX Jobs in progress," so he might just think that I am absurdly busy or that I never actually finish jobs, and that could scare them off. If those jobs had quarterly reviews attached to them, prospective clients would see that we just continue to lump new work onto the original contract, as that's easier for many clients.

mistrenko_sergey
Community Member

Yes, oDesk is destroyed at the root.
I have been working here since 2008.
The first three years were fruitful, a lot of good work.
The more you work, the higher the rating. I remember how customers found me and I had a queue, I fed my family and enjoyed life.
**edited for Community Guidelines** who worked for $ 2 / hr - more than 200 applications for 1 job.
These were difficult times. All good customers have left oDesk. And it turned into an upwork. no work, no customers.
My rating is in the ass. For your connections, I can’t find a job for 3 months already, I have to pay $ 10 to look for a job, but I can’t find a job, the feeling that 90% of the job is just fake.
For the last half a year I’ve been in the ass, with a huge amount of skills and experience.
As at that time, new freelancers were the first in the search.
I do not understand.
Gonna leave Upwork, or my family will starve to death.

Vlad ...
**edited for Community Guidelines**

lysis10
Community Member

Kelly B wrote:


While those jobs may be good for our overall JSS, I think they can look sketchy on my profile. Which is to say, a prospective client just sees "XX Jobs in progress," so he might just think that I am absurdly busy or that I never actually finish jobs, and that could scare them off. If those jobs had quarterly reviews attached to them, prospective clients would see that we just continue to lump new work onto the original contract, as that's easier for many clients.


Maybe. I don't really feel like that's an issue though tbh. Being busy looks good.