WOO HOO!  It looks like Upwork has finally developed an algorithm that doesn’t penalize providers for issues beyond our control. Hallelujah!

Before this algorithm change, whenever clients didn’t leave feedback for a provider who did the work, or who left private feedback to Upwork about whether they would hire a provider again and the answer was NO, the provider’s rating would go down. Which is NUTS!!!

So, now I have a 100% rating at Upwork for the first time in my career there since 2007, even though the lower/default earned 90+ rating (Top-Rated Status) has never been my fault.

I have always received 5 star reviews except for perhaps ten 4 star reviews since 2007. But there have been literally scores of clients who never took the time to leave feedback for me. So, last year sometime I pitched a bitch about why I wasn’t closer to 100% than I was.  The respondent told me that ratings depend on how many clients elect to leave feedback, and that ratings can also be affected if a customer leaves hidden feedback to Upwork stating why they wouldn’t hire a provider again.

I responded that, in both of those cases, the provider isn’t responsible for their slacker or critical, anonymous clients. I also said that if anyone who had ever given me  4 or 5 stars but then gave them (Upwork) hidden reasons why they wouldn’t hire me again without telling me what their beef was, there was no way for me to learn from the missteps or mistakes and get any better, so I thought these punitive actions against providers by Upwork unfairly (without recourse) lowered our ratings.

They took all that under consideration and escalated the matter to the deciders-in-chief, who apparently (mighty belatedly) have decided that yeah, providers shouldn’t be docked for things beyond our control!

Ya think?!!!

I’m glad to see this change. Maybe I’ll start getting clients again — which will benefit Upwork substantially, too, because they get a steep percentage of every project I do.  They get 20% of every project up to $500, 10% of everything beyond that to $10K, and 5% for everything beyond $10K, so they’re making a fortune off other people’s hard work in exchange for an introduction to clients and the least amount of accounting they can get away with under the law.

I no longer look for work at Upwork, though. I have enough regular clients to keep me as busy as I want to be, but I keep Upwork in case that ever changes. So, I do a few projects on the platform every year whenever the clients come to me from there. That keeps me active so I don’t get dropped from the platform.