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

[mitchell-jason]

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! 

[daniel_r_fincher]

There are reasons. I am home with an autistic daughter that can demand my attention at any moment, even when I'm being surveilled. I work from when I wake up to when I go to sleep, but I deal with my life throughout the day as well. Also, I personally like to do as much research as I want for a project, and not worry about billable hours because I got into an article while the tracker app was turned on. Give me a job, I'll do it, and do it well. Pay me for the job, and I'm good. 

The only time I've needed a milestone was when the relationship with a client just wasn't working. I suggested she pay me a milestone for the work we had done to that point and go our separate ways, which we did. That parting was amicable, but it still reflects negatively to anyone that uses that score to judge me.

[abujalalarafat]

It is really very good news for us.

Thank you !!!

Regards,

B. M. Abu **Edited for Community Guidelines**

[roselle_dago-oc]

Thanks for the response, Amanda. Now I understand.

Best,
Roselle

[roselle_dago-oc]

Thank you, Petra.

[sohailkamran]

While you at it - what about PRIVATE FEEDBACK. The JSS is seriously confusing with that one. 

My JSS went from 99 to 81%, and I cannot make any sense of it. It happened after my latest (small job.)

For that job, I got 5* - great feedback and repeated order from the same client.
For the second job, I got 5*, and the client explicitly told me he was happy with the work.

But my JSS dropped, and someone told me the client might be leaving you poor "private" feedback. So what gives? I mean, how would I know if a client is LYING TO MY FACE and telling me my work is great and leaving me 5 stars only to bring down my rating with private feedback. Why are private clients being offered a platform to foster this dishonesty, to begin with? 

Whether a client likes your work or hates it - he should say so publically and in a way that is open to both writers and other recruiters. This "hidden" feedback is a system that clients could exploit. 

[arlyntuyor]

Hi Jason M,

 Thanks for sharing this valuable information.  After hard labor when we finish the task, the excellent feedback we receive relaxes our exhausted nerves. 

Happy to know that receiving no feedback will no more affect the Job Score Success (JSS).

Thanks a million.

Best Regards

Arlyn

[jonilead]

The current system "requires" a client to rate the job before ending a contract if he is the one to close the contract. This "rating" serves as the feedback that JSS takes into account.

1) Is Upwork removing the requirement that a rating be entered when a contract is ended so that this new change can work? There is currently no way for a client to end a contract without a rating (unless the client or freelancer contacts support, and only under rare, unpublished circumstances, will support close a contract on behalf of a client or freelancer "without a rating". 

This new change is headed in a good direction, but at first glance needs to do MUCH more to protect freelancers at the most basic level.

For example, a client hires a freelancer, but before sending the requirements of the job, after the contract is started, disappears for days or weeks, without explanation. Another example -- a client hires a freelancer, then asks the freelancer offline to violate the terms of services (receiving pay outside of the platform, or requesting work that is drastically different from what was agreed upon in the contract). In both of these examples, a freelancer may be forced to close a contract without earnings to protect the integrity of his/her profile and/or JSS score (contracts that span more than several  weeks without earnings negatively impact JSS). Clients often have understandable reasons for  abandoning a job before its officially started due to internal work priorities, for example, or they didn't quite understand the platform, etc. In either instance, this is due to NO FAULT of the freelancer, yet the freelancer is currently being penalized. Either way, the client would be prompted by Upwork to leave a rating on the job that was closed -- which could work disfavorably for a freelancer who is simply being diligent because the client didn't properly understand the impacts of abandoning a job for weeks on the freelancer and their profile. 

2) Upwork should completely disable the ability to leave a rating on a contract that is ended without earnings (regardless of the reason) in addition to implementing this new feature to remove the impact of a contract that ends with no rating (closed by support) from JSS calculation. 

Allow me to help you make this platform a welcome place for both clients and hard-working freelancers.

[cajishat]

Hi Jason, 

This is phenomenal news! Thank you so much for this announcement. 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Deseree,

Thanks for sharing your feedback. Currently, the party closing a contract will still be prompted to leave feedback. If there was no money paid on the contract, there won't be a public feedback for the contract showing on the freelancer's profile, however, there will still be an option to leave private feedback. 

That said, I'd like to clarify that if a freelancer closes a contract that never resulted in any earnings and the client also doesn't provide any feedback, that contract will be excluded from JSS calculation.

[jonilead]

The last part is where the freelancer is often harmed simply because the
client doesn't understand the system and can get upset that the freelancer
closed the contract. Feedback (public or private) should not be available
to the client or freelancer where there are no earnings.

Private feedback does impact JSS, and in situations where a client wasn't
ready to move forward on an open contract, or wasn't ready to close the
contract, clients retaliate or mis-rate a freelancer using private
feedback.

At a minimum, private feedback should be removed from JSS. A client should
rate a freelancer publicly for JSS (and not be permitted to say something
different privately and have it impact JSS anonymously).