Hello, Upwork community !
I am posting this message in the hope of getting a straight answer and hopefully reach out to the community and staff. It's about the most debated topic the Job Success Score and also a bit about the whole Upwork system.
Let me start off by just saying I approve of Upwork's attempt of developing a more evolded, complex feedback calculation system. I do not approve of the result though. It's to my understanding that feedback-less contracts will negatively impact the JSS as long as it's a pattern. That is my main concern here.
So far, my JSS is 95 %, a feedback score of 4.99 and I am a Top Rated freelancer. I have 23 total contracts from which 5 are feedback-less. All seems relatively ok so far. The operative word here being "relatively". Two weeks ago when my JSS was last calculated it was 96% and in the meantime I ended three contracts from which two ended in a maximum feedback (one was even a long term contract) and on one of them I did not receive a feedback from my client - this contract was without activity, 0 hours, 0 money because my client set up the wrong type of contract and ended up just sending me a bonus; apparently now contracts with 0 activity are able to influence your JSS. After two weeks my JSS was recalculated and dropped to a 95%. After two contracts with maximum feedback and one feedback-less contract it dropped by 1%.
Does this mean that a feedback-less contract is worth more than two maximum feedback contracts, one of which was a long term one ? That is not legitimate. Following this logic, even if I have perfect contracts in the future, 5-6 more feedback-less contracts will render my profile no longer eligible for Top Rated.
Now I am sure that the staff might come up with a complicated response to this that disproves my theory, conveniently hiding behind a complex and undisclosed JSS calculation. And in fact, I do hope that I'm wrong and this will not happen.
I haven't been freelancing for a long time, however so far I've come across different types of clients. There are the clients who are involved, responsive and contribute to the community by having exemplary contracts with descriptive feedback. And there are clients who are unfamiliar with the platform, they've come here do get their job done, pay for it and then they just dissapear. I am not saying it's entirely their fault. But I've had to instruct clients on how to set up a contract, instruct them to verify their method of payment, urge them to leave a feedback once the project is completed. Where is Upwork's assistance to new clients who are unfamiliar with the platform ? I've seen staff inviting people to interview on behalf of the client which is good. But that happened once. Upwork should instruct and assist new clients, it should be their responsability.
Upwork should do more and be more than just a job section in a newspaper. Us freelancers are left to deal with unexperienced clients (with the platform that is), do the job correctly, leave a feedback for the client in order to help our fellow freelancers know more about that client and end up with the money and no feedback. And we're still the ones punished for this. These are rock solid, real arguments. These are clients who are very busy, sign up, find the freelancer, send the files & instructions, receive the files and then they are gone. These are clients who do not understand the importance of the feedback in regards to the freelancers. Let's be honest, there are a lot of people in the business world that do not care beyond completing their project. That is if they even know to begin with that there is a complex, undisclosed feedback system in place. Upwork does not have first hand experience with a client from a freelancer's point of view. That's why I'm giving you one. And I do hope someone takes it into consideration.
Now, circling back to my question, one pertaining to the big picture of the new and "improved" JSS, why should a contract without feedback from the client affect the freelancer ? I want and need to understand the logic behind that decision.
There were probably freelancers that avoided leaving a feedback on a contract or did not end it just because they were afraid of a bad feedback from the client that could've affected their score. And I think this was the reasoning behing creating a JSS, where feedback-less contracts and no activity contracts would affect the freelancer. However, why not penalize only the freelancers that have contracts with no activity or that have been ended and the freelancer did not want to leave a feedback ? I mean, score us for our actions, not for our clients' lack of actions. Why am I, a freelancer who did his job, completed the project, ended it and left feedback for his client, punished just because the client did not leave a feedback ? And yes, the client has 14 days to leave a feedback. Truthfully, no client that has been unresponsive for more than a week will return to leave a feedback. From my, now feedback-less contracts do you want to know how many clients left a feedback in 14 days ? None. These clients exist. And they're very diversified.
For example I have a client whom I've been messaging constantly for two months now begging for a feedback. The client responded from time to time, telling me she does not know how to leave a feedback even though I've told her numerous times where to do that. So there are also semi-responsive clients who do not leave a feedback. Why ? I do not know. I cannot know. I can only assume all the clients that do not leave a feedback do that from LACK OF INTEREST. No client will ever disregard leaving a feedback if they were not happy with the work or the relationship with the freelancer. So why should that count towards the JSS ? Where is the logic there ? In my opinion this is abusive towards the freelancer. Even if it constitutes a pattern. Because it does NOT reflect the freelancers' skills or behaviour towards clients. It's the client's duty to leave feedbacj on a contract. A client not leaving feedback should count towards the client's feedback score and that alone. I, as a freelancer who is considering working for a new client, would care to see if that client shows any interest in freelancers' feedback. That is a clear indication of the client's behaviour and his acknowledgement towards the impact that he has on a freelancer's score and also on sustaining a community based on integrity.
You wanted to create a scoring system that cannot be fooled, however ended up creating one that is almost completely out of he freelancer's control. And not in a good way. You're right, it cannot be fooled or manipulated in the freelancer's best interest because it's already working against the freelancer.
Truth is, there are a LOT of clients that just become unresponsive and cut off all ties to the website because of various reasons. And that will just happen because there already is a pattern of unresponsive clients. So yes, of course there will be a pattern of feedback-less contracts. The JSS page states that "difficult clients don't count againts you". Why don't clients who become unresponsive or do not leave feedback fall under this category ? Instead of screening the clients more carefully, instructing them about the system or developing a more fair, logical JSS calculation Upwork decides to punish the freelancer for the clients' behaviour.
On another topic I see Upwork's interface is constanly being changed, adding new features and rethinking the design. You keep improving and fixing things that are not broken, always adding new stuff. Sure, it all looks pretty and clean, but you completely disregard the main interface full of bugs, long loading times, critical errors and random down-times that have been here from the start. And this has been a thing people have always complained about, Upwork staff. Good to know how well you acknowledge your community's feedback, no wonder you have a faulty feedback set in place for the freelancers also.
The customer service has always been responsive and helpful, but why have a good customer service in place that constantly deals with the same problems and new ones that appear because of the unfixed old ones ? Why not work towards an improved system by being open to your community's suggestions and requests ? You should be working to accomodate the clients' and freelancers' needs, not solely towards profit.
I have sent a few requests to Upwork help center to find out why my JSS is just 83%. The guys from help center tried to help me but they did not really do that. One of them sent me a screenshot (attached below) which shows that my JSS is 88% instead of 83% but I see a different thing. I have 2 open requests right now. My problem was promised to be taken into consideration and solved. I can not get jobes right now as my JSS is too low and it does not reflect my real level, skills, rating, and customer satisfaction! So, if you already had the same issue, could you kindly tell me the reason of such a case and how did you solve it? It would be very nice on you guys! Thank you all in advance! Sorry for such a large text - I just wanted to describe the case thoroughly. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
With regards,
Amir