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

mitchell-jason · ‎10-21-2020

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!

ridhika-shrivast · ‎11-08-2020

Thankyou Upwork, good to see that something has been done well for the benefit of freelancers.

mikesaga · ‎11-08-2020

Hi Json,

Wow, this is definitely good news. Thank you guys, my 10+ years here in Upwork is really a life saver.

Glad to be part of this community,

Mike

01c33bd0 · ‎11-08-2020

Hi Jason,

This is a GAME CHANGER for most freelancers! Thank you for listening and paying attention.

Sanj.

mjacomet · ‎11-08-2020

Finally! This is a huge step, as many clients leave the platform and never return, also many times not ending contracts, which is very hard to achieve, including feedback. I had to endure months of bad JSS for having closed nearly 20 abandoned contracts myself, without feedback. Emailings and notifications have changed in the last years, and I hope this stops becoming an issue for our JSS. Is it possible that someday the obligation to write feedback review stops for freelancers too? Good changes in the platform. I hope it stays high level for many years.

roselle_dago-oc · ‎11-08-2020

May I know what's the reason why most of the freelancers got their JSS increased or boost while mine was not? In fact, I had contracts without feedback. I really don't understand how this being calculated. Please let me know what's with my profile why there's no update.

Thanks!

a_lipsey · ‎11-08-2020

It's likely that your no feedback contracts weren't impacting you at all because there isn't a significant number. What is likely is that you have a number of contracts that closed with less than 5 and even less than 4 star outcomes. Your private feedback on those was probably even worse. You need to close more contracts with good private feedback to see and increase.

p_walker-tulloch · ‎11-08-2020

This is always the case. This unfair treatment MUST stop. Upwork has a clause for non-payment yet they are unwilling to enforce it. I think when they do that we should ask Upwork to pay for the Contract then they might start doing something about it. This type of conduct is called railroading and clients have always been getting away with this and Upwork is always unwilling to remove them from the Community..

p_walker-tulloch · ‎11-08-2020

Are you sure about that? They see your work before releasing the amount.

p_walker-tulloch · ‎11-08-2020

Indeed.

petra_r · ‎11-08-2020

Roselle Rose D wrote:
May I know what's the reason why most of the freelancers got their JSS increased or boost

They didn't.

Roselle Rose D wrote:
In fact, I had contracts without feedback.

They didn't hurt your JSS. They still don't hurt your JSS. You haven't added any positive outcomes to your calculation windows since the last update, so there is no reason why your JSS should change.