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No feedback contracts no longer impact Job Success Score (JSS)

mitchell-jason
Community Member

I am excited to announce a new change to the Job Success Score (JSS). We know that JSS is a hot topic. This post aims to provide transparency into the changes and answer any questions you might have. 

 

On November 8th, 2020, we updated the JSS calculation process to exclude contracts that ended without feedback. Before, if a freelancer or agency had a large number of contracts that ended without feedback, those contracts could have negatively impacted their JSS. 

 

What is JSS?

Your JSS measures and reflects your Upwork clients’ satisfaction with the projects you complete for them. You can view your score on your My Stats page and learn more about JSS here.

 

What does this mean?

We removed projects where clients didn't leave feedback from consideration in the JSS calculation in November. This means that it will no longer negatively impact your JSS if a client does not leave feedback at the end of a project. Note that, as a result of this change, a small set of professionals no longer had enough outcomes with different clients to earn a JSS. To minimize this impact, we reduced the minimum number of distinct clients required to earn a JSS from 3 to 2. 

 

What’s the problem with including contracts that end without feedback in the JSS calculation?

Picture a contract where a professional and a client work together, and at the end of it, the client does not leave feedback. Before the change, if the professional already had a high percentage of completed contracts without feedback, the professional’s JSS could have been negatively affected.

 

The original design was based on a study that found clients who had negative experiences would often avoid filling out the feedback form altogether instead of giving negative reviews. More recent analysis suggests this may no longer be true. As a result, we are changing the calculation to reflect today’s reality. 

 

How does this change affect you?

  • If you had contracts before the change where a client did not leave feedback counting against your JSS, you may notice a boost in your score from this change. 
  • If you do not have sufficient outcomes from at least 2 distinct clients, you may no longer meet the threshold for JSS, and you may see your JSS go away. Getting more jobs can help minimize this impact. 

What’s next?

This is just one of several changes we’re planning to implement in the coming months, so stay tuned!

 

This post itself is in response to your feedback that you want to be informed when changes are made. Thanks to everyone who has offered feedback on JSS communication through our customer surveys and social media, through the Upwork Community, and directly to our team. Be on the lookout for more changes to JSS and other aspects of the Upwork experience in the near future. 

 

We are all looking forward to this next chapter together! 

956 Comments
studiovela
Community Member
I had 17 contracts without feedback but my score is the same. Are there still rollouts of updates being done? I thought it would shift somewhat!
lyarmolinets
Community Member

Jason,

I have a question. I have a contract with the client that was stopped by Upwork, I guess, of nonsufficient payment.

He stops responding right after I complete the project. Should I cancel the contract now? I was hesitant because of the "no comments" issue. 

Thank you,

Larisa

viavat
Community Member

Nice move...thank you!!!!

818c6035
Community Member

Thank You So Much! Finally

I went from 100% to ~75% and went almost 2 weeks without consistent work because of this, all because I had 2 clients not leave feedback So thankful of this change, hoping it stays this way. Thank You Once Again!

aroosa_waheed
Community Member

Thank you Upwork, Please also reduce the fees to buy connections. Thanks again

irenevond
Community Member

Glad to hear about this change. This is a big issue for freelancers. After doing a great job it's frustrating to ask clients to leave a feedback. From my experience, many don't care about these details and once they have their projects done, they don't even check their Upwork messages or care to close a contract, only when I explain the situation they understandt how important these are. 

But as other freelancers mentioned, a bad jss can just end a freelancer career on this platform, and a bad jss doesnt always mean the freelancer is bad at doing his job!

Thank you

 

m_tyshchenko
Community Member
Spoiler
Hello!
Totally agree with you.
The client received what he needs and may not even answer you.
coaxum36
Community Member

I was happy to recieve the email from Upwork informing me that I may receive an increase in my JSS score and that no feedback contracts would no longer impact JSS. I was happy about the news until I viewed my profile and saw that my JSS score dropped from 90% to 88%. 

 

Over the past couple of months, I have watched my JSS score steadily decline from 100% to now 88%, despite never receiving any bad reviews from clients. I assumed the drop in my score is due to three no feedback contracts I have and because I haven't worked on any new contracts for a couple of weeks; but now I'm not so sure. My most recent project ended a week ago and I received a positive review (4.80 star rating) from the client, so I don't understand why my JSS score dropped.

 

I am so discouraged now...I'm ready to leave the Upwork platform. I am done stressing over my JSS score;I wish I can go back to when I didn't have a score before I received a top-rated badge. Having a JSS score and a top-rated badge did not help me attract better quality clients, it only made me more of a target for clients with fake projects who used interviews as a way to get free advice or consultation from me.

 

I really appreciate Upwork for enhancing my freelance career; I think it's a great platform for freelancers. Still, with the steady decline in my JSS score and the fact that I'm no longer seeing any quality projects in my feed(I've had 68 connects for the past couple of weeks, and I haven't used any of them yet), it's becoming difficult for me to remain optimistic about freelancing on Upwork.

 

 

 

7be63182
Community Member
  • Yes, the system is built to protect the buyers more, which is why I've had some losses here and avoid fixed priced contracts as much as I can. It's risky and people will pretend to dislike the work, so they can choose not to pay, or use a $5 milestone when they don't actually have the money for the final work.
p_walker-tulloch
Community Member

That Happened to me too