Job size will now be factored into your JSS

lenaellis · ‎02-03-2020

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 work. We 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.

dyumnin · ‎02-23-2020

Interesting. Last week I had a client quiz me about the two open jobs open on my profile since 2018.
Till then I did not realize that these long term jobs were costing me new contacts...

richard_wein · ‎02-24-2020

Sergey M wrote:
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.

I love hearing about the old days, when the land of Odesk flowed with milk and money. I wish I'd been there to see it.

barada00 · ‎02-24-2020

Sergey M wrote:

For the last half a year I’ve been in the ass, with a huge amount of skills and experience.

Sergey, look "to" yourself. If what you used to do to apply to new jobs doesn't work, change your MO. If I were you, I would change my hourly rate to something around $35-40 after "Over 90 successful jobs". If you are an expert, charge expert prices. Apply only to countries that can pay that price unless you are invited. Apply to high budget fixed price jobs with their budget price. I got some very good jobs by doing the latter. Look what you have as good samples and search for jobs that are perfect fits to those samples and apply only to those jobs. Check what the latest trends are. You can search some keywords and see which ones are higher than others or you can see them from your job feed. Strengthen that side of your knowledge.

You are an old hand here so you probably don't need my advice in that but I'll give it anyway... When applying just write something like this: I did this job very similar to yours. Here's the link. I can do that for you too. (Or I plan to do this and that in addition to that sample site.) Get in touch to discuss further.

There's no reason for you to be doing bad here on Upwork.

lysis10 · ‎02-24-2020

Richard W wrote:
I love hearing about the old days, when the land of Odesk flowed with milk and money. I wish I'd been there to see it.

Before paid connects, you just opened the oDesk site and money flowed into your account. Now with paid connects, everything is so hard oh so hard.

atifaimran · ‎02-25-2020

Hi, Does the change in Job success score me that if my job success score experienced a dip due to small value contracts, the impact of these contracts will reduce in March

trishlambert · ‎02-25-2020

I started on Elance in 2005, built a successful business based on the model at that time. Then things eroded terribly. Bottom-feeder providers who would work for practically nothing and bottom-feeder buyers who were terrible to work with and didn't want to pay a fair price. Odesk made things even worse. For a quality freelancer looking for quality clients, Odesk was the final arrow to the heart. Disappointed at the deterioration of the model, I left.

I was surprised when I returned to Upwork in 2019. Pleasantly surprised. I'm seeing clients similar to those in my early Elance days, and I've been doing well. The JSS, though, is nonsense as it now is. A disrespectful and abusive client gave me low scores because that's the kind of person he is, in spite of my fulfilling the brief to a T, and now my JSS has fallen because of two small contracts. It will be interesting to see if this changes in March...but frankly, I think the score is as much nonsense as the testing that Upwork dropped.

researchpoz · ‎03-01-2020

Jss scores are really awful. Any **Edited for Community Guidelines** can say whatever they want. One client threatened me, another wanted free work. One was a 21 year old who knows nothing. Did you know a person can be sued for a bad review if it harms them. My clients don't need long term relationships with me. The work I do is almost always just once and that's it. I am penalized from that? Odd figuring. I am at 69 percent and have almost given up. The success score really means how much money we can make on you and if you don't make enough, let's just make it miserable to get any work. One of the clients also recently **Edited for Community Guidelines** I met him locally. The beloved clients are **Edited for Community Guidelines**. **Edited for Community Guidelines** were treated nicer.

researchpoz · ‎03-01-2020

I plan to stop bidding. They hurt people.jss scores are a joke.

hamzaharoon22 · ‎03-01-2020

Hello everyone, my last job success updated to day 89 to decrease 87 but in previous 2 weeks I have done the 2 contacts and get 4.7 review from one client and other has not give the feedback . The question is that why my job success decrease 2% ?

utibeokodi_101 · ‎03-01-2020

Hello I have been on upwork for a few months now my jss keeps dropping even though I have completed jobs with 5 star ratings and a positive privatell feedback
First my JSS dropped from 86 to 80 and now to 76 and in the last 2 weeks I have completed 2 contracts that came out well I got a 5 star and a good private feedback.
I don't know what seems to be the problem