Valeria K, your statements simply are not true.
Like Jade M, Nick M. Yuliya S and many of the others, I, too, am suddenly a victim to this poorly-thought-out so-called Job Satisfaction Score.
I've been an oDesk freelancer since 2012. I only had 1 rating that was less than 5 Stars. A 4.6 or thereabouts. 438 hours worked. $7k from 25-30 clients.
For over 4 years, my rating sat at 96%. Along comes this JSS and it drops overnight to 67%. And suddenly, I cant get hired. I no longer get invites. But I DO get automated UpWork suggestions .... that arent even in my line of work!
Ive written scathing notes to Upwork. Very long, meticulously detailed notes. Notes to which I receive a canned response from an unaffected individual who hasnt been there and cant truly appreciate our anger and frustrations.
What I am repeatedly told is that my JSS has suffered, and will continue to suffer, because of an open-ended long-term contract. This is an eLearning project out of New York City which employs HUNDREDS of UpWork freelancers in various fields. Artists, animators, illustrators, data entry, voice talent, etc. The client adheres to rigid production practices. He has to due to the scale of the job. I was brought in 2nd, following data entry.
I am the voice talent. To date, I have recorded and shared 4,760 individual word, definition, sentence & keyword files with the client. Thats 4,760 animations that then need to be created, 4,760 illustrations that need to be drawn.
In other words, I set the pace. One by one each group does their job until we're all on the same page again and then it starts all over again. Whats more is that like clockwork, I receive an email from UpWork, advising me that theyre putting this contract on hold while they investigate. The response is always the same. They have contacted the client, confirmed the validity of the contract and, so, the hold will be removed (again)!
My position is ... they got the thumbs up from the client .. over and over and over again ... what more do they need? Perhaps its because theyre not getting their 20% from me while I wait for the next round? That 20% is a sore spot as well.
Yuliya S is onto something ... theres so much unfairness taking place here. If UpWork is going to stand their ground, cant they at least provide us with reasoning that makes good sense, that's logical, thats understadable? "You have an open long-term contract. If you end the contract, your score will go up." ME: "That open-ended contract means my client is happy with my work and wants me to stick with him through the end of the project".
And thats exactly what I intend to do.
And to Scott E, if you went to bed with your rating sitting pretty at 100%, where its been for years (because of your top notch work ethic) and you awaken the next morning to shhhhhh ....... absolute silence. No responses to submitted proposals. No invitations to Interview. No nothing. You think "Thats weird." You look at your profile and no longer are you looking at absolute perfection with tremendous pride. WAIT!! WHAT? "Congratulations, Scott E. we've calculated your new rating under our new system! We call it a Job Satisfaction Score and we think it better reflects the level of satisfaction your clients have with your work. Congratulations Scott E., your new score is 67%!
BTW UpWorks help section clearly states "It will be difficult to get jobs if your JSS is under 75%'! We wish you the best. And remember, Fiverr is just down the street!
In closing, a Job Satisfaction Score should only take into consideration items that actually relate to Job Satisfaction. A client-verified, open long-term contract wreaks of a happy client. An unhappy client WOULD HAVE ENDED THE CONTRACT, GIVEN ME NEGATIVE FEEDBACK and NOT REPEATEDLY VERIFIED THE CONTRACT TO BE IN GOOD STANDING.
You know this is unfair.
One more thing. UpWork tried to force me to give a client a refund. The fact of the matter was (because I contacted the client and sent her screenshots of what they were sending.) It was a $15 job. She (Jordan) forgot to pay me. She paid me immediately, left me 5 Stars. Even after she paid me, i still continued to receive daily "reminders" that I owe my client a refund! I'm guessing what is CLEARLY UPWORKS ERROR, also counted against MY JSS? Didnt it? Yeah thats fair!!
HEY ... WHAT UPWORKS JOB SATISFACTION SCORE? I shudder to think!
