Private feedback

Upwork's current wording: "Private feedback is no longer requested from your clients", and it no longer affects reputation, including the Job Success Score. Public feedback stays as it was. In its place clients can leave a private note, an optional message shared directly with the freelancer when the contract ends. The note:

• is visible only to the freelancer, and to agency managers where applicable;
• does not appear on the public profile;
• does not affect the Job Success Score or reputation in any way;
• is shown in the contract workroom for future contracts with that client.

Upwork's stated reason is that constructive feedback should be shared with the freelancer directly rather than hidden.

So the JSS now reads only public feedback at the end of a contract. In the past both public and private feedback were included. One older Upwork article, on giving a refund, still says private feedback counts toward the JSS after a full refund; the feedback article is the one that describes the change and is the one to rely on.

For an agency the change removes a hidden variable. A member's score used to move on ratings nobody at the agency could see; now what feeds it at the end of a contract is visible to everyone. The private note, which agency managers can read, is where a client's quieter criticism now goes, so it is worth reading every one and treating it as the feedback it replaced.

The same change runs in the other direction: a private note a freelancer leaves for a client is now visible to the client in their contract workroom.