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hashtag_growth
Community Member

Resuming Paused Contracts

Hi 

 

A client has paused an hourly contract as he wants to pause his business for a while till he is ready again. With my understanding of his situation, it will be a couple of months before he resumes again. I have a few questions now.

1. How does this affect my JSS? 

2. I may get busy with other projects when/if he decides to resume. If I decline his request then, I worry that I may not get good feedback? 

3. If I ask him to close the contract now & re-hire me later, I'm afraid that he will "not" choose the reason for closure as "job successfully completed" & it will impact my JSS.

 

I do not want to be penalized for actions beyond my control. Please advise the best course of action.

7 REPLIES 7
petra_r
Community Member


Prashant G wrote:

1. How does this affect my JSS? 

2. I may get busy with other projects when/if he decides to resume. If I decline his request then, I worry that I may not get good feedback? 

3. If I ask him to close the contract now & re-hire me later, I'm afraid that he will "not" choose the reason for closure as "job successfully completed" & it will impact my JSS.


1. It doesn't

2. Sure, that could happen. It probably won't, but this is when communication comes in. Just tell the client to give you plenty of advance warning if possible and manage expectations properly!

3. Why in the world would he? (And don't even THINK about discussing private feedback with a client)

Thanks for the prompt response Petra

 

Regarding point1, I'm reading elsewhere in this forum that long-term inactive contracts negatively impact JSS. For example, here: https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/IS-PAUSED-CONTRACT-AFFECTING-JSS/td-p/382663

In this case, I would imagine a couple of months.. hence the question

 

Regarding point 3, no, I don't want to discuss private feedback with the client, which is why I asked the question here.

But the job is paused because he realized that he needs more time to launch his business.

If I were in his position & I am asked to close the contract, I will certainly not choose the option "Job completed successfully". I would rather give the reason as "others" or something. But then it impacts me negatively, without him knowing it.

 

Please advise


Prashant G wrote:

Regarding point1, I'm reading elsewhere in this forum that long-term inactive contracts negatively impact JSS.


Don't ask if you won't accept answers. Citing posts from 2017 doesn't help either.

Your contract has led to earnings. It would not affect your JSS at all in any way if it was paused for a couple of months. I have lots and lots of contracts which I only work on every few months or even only once a year. My JSS is 100%. As long as you have ever had earnings on the contract, nothing will happen.

 


Prashant G wrote:

If I were in his position & I am asked to close the contract, I will certainly not choose the option "Job completed successfully". I would rather give the reason as "others" or something. But then it impacts me negatively, without him knowing it.


This, too, is false. This is not and has never been the case.

As long as the client doesn't leave poor private feedback, there will be no negative effect on your JSS. 

Okay, for point1 - I did not realize that rules have changed since 2017, as I did not find any other documentation negating that. Thank you for clarifying that it won't affect JSS even if the contract is inactive for a couple of months.

 

Thanks also for the point3 clarification - somehow, I was under the impression that the reason for closure also impacts JSS.

 

Coming back to point2, however, I do think that there must be an option for freelancers also to accept/reject the resumption of a contract, as he/she may not be available when the client wants to resume it? 


Prashant G wrote:

Coming back to point2, however, I do think that there must be an option for freelancers also to accept/reject the resumption of a contract, as he/she may not be available when the client wants to resume it? 


It doesn't matter. There isn't an option like that.

There is also no point in such a funtion.

 

There is effective communication.

Even if there was such a function, it would not help in any way, because if a client is upset about a freelancer saying "Sorry Jim, I won't have time to complete this until the beginning of May, how would that work for you?", the client would be even more upset if the freelancer just rejected the resumption. In fact, poor feedback is considerably more likely in the second scenario.

 

Who do people like you want Upwork to give you tools to upset your clients with?

Thanks for your answer Petra, but I'm afraid that I disagree. It is unfair that the client can resume the contract at any point in time & the freelancer doesn't even have an option to accept/reject. There needs to be mutual respect for each other's time & the system should support that. I think it is perfectly fine to request the client to wait for a certain amount of time if the freelancer has made commitments to other clients?

 

Anyways, this is just my opinion & my intent is not to negate your thoughts. You certainly have more Upwork experience than me & I'm sure you have reasons to believe that such functionality is not required. You may choose not to answer this response; it is just my point of view.


Prashant G wrote:

Thanks for your answer Petra, but I'm afraid that I disagree. It is unfair that the client can resume the contract at any point in time & the freelancer doesn't even have an option to accept/reject.


You HAVE the option to reject and decline by simply talking to your client. 

Is that really that difficult?

 


Prashant G wrote:

There needs to be mutual respect for each other's time & the system should support that..


Exactly. Enough respect to communicate, rather than click on some "Reject" button. The system DOES support that by letting you communicate with your client like 2 normal adults who are working together. A "Accept" or "Reject" button wouldn't do anything that would make the client any happier, would it? The contract is, at that point, open. Either party can end it at any time and leave feedback accordingly. 

 

If you need a button to resume working with your client, you can end the contract. That way you'll have a button when if the client comes back to resume the work.

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