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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
dumasjessica
Community Member

Thank You Upwork!! This has impacted my success rate up to 100% which is great as I don't think I have had more than one negative review. Many clients seem too busy to do a review even though they may message you compliments, so this is fantastic. Now I can propose on a lot more projects.

researchediting
Community Member

Matt K wrote:

It's great to have that fixed.  How come "significant portion" was never defined by Upwork?  That's a nebulous word.  Is 20% "significant"?  Or more than 50%?  I could never understand the logic of not putting a solid metric on it - especially since JSS is a mathematical calculation.  


Not sure why people are trying to parse the math of a defunct policy. Be that as it may, this criterion has long been a moving target. The language used to describe the percentage (if it was a percentage) has varied over time, with each explicit language change implying some adjustment to the calculation. There was anecdotal evidence that low-volume contractors were disproportionately vulnerable. The general trend has been toward less effect, and that has now officially culminated in zero effect. 

eskaypen
Community Member

Thank you so much for hearing our feedback and fixing the system! I have already seen an uptick in offers for interviews, because my JSS is no longer artificially deflated. I love this responsiveness, thanks!

roger0106
Community Member

On November 7, I received Upwork's newsletter announcing of this changes and said in email:

"How might this affect you? Previously, a large number of contracts that ended without feedback may have negatively impacted your JSS. If this was the case for you, you may soon notice a boost in your score." - But I don't believe that these changes to JSS has been helpful nor effective at all. No boost happened but I lowered down instead! From 77% to 76%.


Before this JSS changes announcement, I had contracts that ended Oct 10 (1x) and Oct 24 (3x) because even after doing my part in completing projects for those clients, they still weren't considerate to give me a feedback even after communication was made and asked them to provide feedback. There are just so many ungrateful clients here in Upwork! And another 2 weeks before that, this was my experience which I shared from trustpilot after Upwork invited me to review. These changes are futile.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

roger0106
Community Member

Hi Deseree,

 

I really hope Upwork would consider what you told them. Mine was worst! from 93% to 78% and Upwork asked me to leave a feedback to trustpilot for them so I left them 2 stars. I became so frustrated!

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

roger0106
Community Member

I am relieved that someone brought this issue up, thanks Sohail.

Mine was worst! from 93% to 78% and Upwork asked me to leave a feedback to trustpilot for them so I left them 2 stars. I became so frustrated!

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

jonilead
Community Member
Yeah, it's horrible. From a business perspective, they lose millions
annually because they underestimate the revenue that could be if they
closed these vulnerabilities and ensured freelancers had a fair,
trustworthy platform to work from. We would work on more projects, and
clients would come to the platform and stay. They really don't have a good
understanding of the clients and how they work.


LuiggiR
Moderator

Hi Krizzia,

 

I understand how concerning this can be for you. I'd like to reiterate that there are other factors that are taken into consideration in the JSS calculation, such as the overall number of jobs completed and both private and public feedback. I suggest that you check this help article that better explains how the JSS is calculated.

8b161f0e
Community Member
I am not with an agency and been signed up for less than 3 months. Yet I have a job success score and it's low and affecting my getting work. I have had nothing but great feedback and completed all projects the same day as the invite. I respond immediately after an invitation is sent. So, I don't understand
jodypm
Community Member

Hi Khadija,

 

I see that your JSS is at 75%, so I can fully understand why you're concerned - I would be too.

 

I'm going to guess that it's probably because you have a few contracts with no feedback.

 

Upwork recently announced that starting on November 8th, 2020, your JSS won't be impacted by no-feedback contracts. Here's a quote from an Upwork staff member:

 

"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. " - Jason M.

 

You can read that post at: 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Announcements/No-feedback-contracts-no-longer-impact-Job-Success-Sco...

 

However, this is not retroactive, so those contracts without feedback prior to 11-8-2020 will still have an impact, I presume.

 

What you can do is ask the clients for those contracts if they would mind giving you a review - even if it's just to click the stars. Explain that you're striving to make a career here on Upwork and every bit of good feedback that you can get helps you move up. There's no harm in asking and, as far as I know, it's permissible - at least it was when I checked a few years ago. But just to be safe, maybe ask a staff member if it's OK to petition the client. I'm reasonably sure that it still is.

 

Clients can change their feedback if you allow them to. Check out this Upwork page: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068458-Enable-Clients-to-Change-Feedback

 

Also, I think that part of the JSS score comes from the private feedback that they give on the contract, but I don't think that there's anything you can do about that.

 

Keep up the great work and hopefully I have been of some help to you.

 

Best regards,

 

Jody