All questions should be able to be answered within these KB pages.
Agent - If questions after KB review, ask a Senior Agent (SA) or TL.
Leads - if you need any additional support, please see our Leadership Slack channel.
Don’t forget internal KBs:
Helpful KB Links for Freelancers
- Become Top Rated (EXTERNAL)
- Top Rated Perk Feedback Removal (EXTERNAL)
- Top Talent Perk Job Digest (EXTERNAL)
- Host an Upwork Huddle (EXTERNAL)
Note: Please encourage freelancers to respond to feedback they do not agree with.
The Top Rated (TR) program recognizes the highest-quality freelancers and agencies on Upwork. Through consistent excellent delivery, they have earned a badge on their profiles, increased access to jobs, priority support and more.
Clients who want to hire the best talent can find them in every category, every country, and every experience level by looking for the Top Rated badge.
Program Perks -
- Access to exclusive jobs from internal Upwork recruiters
- Exclusive Job Digest email
- Priority support
- Feedback Removal Perk for more control over JSS
- Top Rated Perk: Feedback Removal (external article)
- See the Top Rated Freelancer Feedback removal drop-down below (internal guidance)
- Opportunities to attend or host local events in select cities
- Reduced service fee on Featured Jobs (skip the 20% service fee tier; start at 10% for up to $10,000 earnings with client, then 5% thereafter)
Eligibility Requirements - TR status is assessed every 24 hours and users must continue to meet the requirements to maintain status. Once they qualify, it can take up to 48 hours for their badge to display on their profile:
The FL/agency profile is the best place to see if TR status was achieved as OBO has a 24 hour delay.
Freelancers (all links external for more info if FL needs it):
Most info can be verified through Sudo on FL’s account > Find Work > My Stats
- A current Job Success Score of 90% or higher
- First hire on Upwork was more than 90 days ago (not required if migrated from Elance - look for “Migrated from Elance” tag in OBO CSS Notes)
- Verify through OBO > Contractor tab > “Earliest Date Worked”
- Maintained Rising Talent status or a Job Success Score of at least 90% for at least 13 of the last 16 weeks
- For help on Eligible Weeks, see Q&A “JSS was 90%+ both last week and this week, why did the “Top Rated Eligible Weeks” not change?”
- TR eligible weeks calculator - input the UID to get the TREW and two additional visuals that can help in explaining it to FLs. Note: This is for FLs only for now so a TL is still needed for agency TREW.
- A 100% complete profile (90% if migrated from Elance - look for “Migrated from Elance” tag in OBO CSS Notes)
- 12-month agency earnings of at least $10,000. This $10,000 12-month earnings needed for an Agency to become TR cannot include pending amounts, so even if OBO shows $10,000 earnings, check if it has already cleared.
- Up-to-date availability (if unavailable now, set a date estimate)
- An account in good standing with no recent account holds
- Activity on the platform (proposal, accepted invitation, or earnings) in the past 90 days
Agencies with 2+ members (all links external for more info if Agency needs it):
- An agency Job Success Score of 90% or higher
- Find Work > Profile > agency profile can be found on right under “Associated with” - this shows agency’s JSS
- An agency owner Job Success Score of 90% or higher (or none earned yet)
- Maintained agency Rising Talent status or an agency Job Success Score of at least 90% for at least 13 of the last 16 weeks
- For help on Eligible Weeks, see Q&A “JSS was 90%+ both last week and this week, why did the “Top Rated Eligible Weeks” not change?”
- A 100% complete Agency owner profile (with photo, logo, overview, and services offered) (90% if migrated from Elance - look for “Migrated from Elance” tag in OBO CSS Notes)
- Agency member profiles at least 60% complete on average (50% if migrated from Elance - look for “Migrated from Elance” tag in OBO CSS Notes)
- 12-month agency earnings of at least $10,000
- Up-to-date availability (if unavailable now, set a date estimate)
- An account in good standing with no recent account holds (including agency and all agency members including agency owners) (Internal Info) - we allow up to 1 violation for every 10 team members per AO, but don’t share this publicly.
- Activity on the platform by any team member (proposal, accepted invitation, or earnings) in the past 90 days.
If an agency has TR status, the TR badge is shown on the agency profile and applies to only the EACs and AO (if exclusive to their agency), if they individually qualify.
- For EACs - one of two badges will appear on their profiles if they have at least 60%+ of their profile completed (50%+ for migrated users):
- Rising Talent badge - the user individually does not qualify for a JSS, but the agency is TR. Once they qualify, the agency JSS and TR badge will be displayed.
- Top Rated badge - the user individually does qualify for a JSS. The agency JSS and the TR badge will be displayed.
- For NEACs - as they are non-exclusive, they would need to qualify for TR status individually under the FL requirements
- For ALL members (both EAC and NAEC) - If the agency has TR status, all members will have a TR tier added in OBO to allow those users to still have access to the priority support and exclusive forum
- Exclusive vs. Non-exclusive Agency Contractor (EAC vs. NAEC): OBO > Contractor tab > “Affiliation” - displays Agency name and “Exclusive” or “Non-exclusive”
- Exclusive Agency Contractor (EAC) - All contracts FL works are for the agency and FL gets paid by the agency owner. Their JSS score is the agency’s JSS score.
- Non-exclusive Agency Contractor (NEAC) - FL works on contracts for the agency as well as their own individual contracts. Their JSS score is their own individual score based on the any contracts they work.
Also, if a Top Rated freelancer opens up an agency, that agency will be Rising Talent until they earn an agency JSS.
Helpful KB Links
- Agency Programs Eligibility Benefits (EXTERNAL)
User can see info on holds via My Stats. Agents can see specific info through OBO (click the "limited", "suspended", "not suspended”: in the Identity box to see what any recent account holds were).
My Stats include a policy violation count, the “Recent Account Holds” section. In order to qualify for the TR program, as well as keep the status once achieved, FLs must have 0 recent account holds and agencies must have less than one for every ten members (we tell agencies 0). For more on My Stats, see here: What are My Stats? (external)
List of Common Violations and How To Beat Them (external article)
Suspension Types:
- Very Severe - Appear on My Stats while suspended and continue to count until 90 days after resumption
- Moderate to Severe - Only appear on My Stats while suspended; will receive TR badge back within 48 hours after account is resumed
- Non-Severe - Never appear on My Stats
Internal Info:
- Fraud suspensions are severe, but only appear while suspended because we would never resume the user unless the user proves they did not commit fraud
- If we resume a user that did not commit the offense (i.e. we thought circumvention, but they proved this wasn’t the case), we will resume with a reason of “Invalid Suspension” or “False Positive” rather than “Problem Solved”. This ensures the violation does not appear on My Stats or affect their Top Rated status for the next 90 days
Policy Violations:
- Moderate/Severe Suspensions and/or Fraud - Counted on My Stats and will exclude a user from Top Rated status only while the suspension is active. They will receive the badge back within 48 hours after account is resumed:
- Lockout - Malicious Account: Suspected of account takeover
- Identity Verification Needed: Need to IDV
- Identity Violation: Current identity violation
- Profile Violation: Current profile violation
- All suspension reasons with the word “fraud”: Suspected fraudster
- Fixed Price Scam: Hiring a freelancer with intention to not pay or posting a job intended to scam freelancers (usually used for clients)
- KYC/OFAC non-compliance: Was asked to complete KYC and did not, or is in OFAC restricted country
- Low client quality: As a client, the freelancer has abused freelancers or violated policies repeatedly
- Non-response: No response to a contact from Upwork
- Very Severe Suspensions - Counted on My Stats and will exclude a user from Top Rated status while the suspension is active as well as 3 months from the account resumption date (unless the resumption reason is Invalid Suspension or False Positive):
- Collusion: Creating both a client and a freelancer account and hiring one with the other; logging into a client’s account
- Low Freelancer or Agency Quality or Excessive Disputes: Low Job Success Score
- Circumvention: Asking for, agreeing to receive or receiving payment outside of Upwork from a client identified through Upwork
- Malicious system use: Suspected system abuser
- Spam: Spamming (usually by copying and pasting cover letter irrelevant to the jobs)
- Multiple Accounts: Having two accounts at once
- Bait/Switch or Account Sharing: Sharing one account with multiple workers
- Feedback Abuse/Violation: Feedback extortion
- Cover Letter Violation: Repeatedly violating cover letter policies
- Forum Abuse: Repeatedly violating forum policies
- Harassment: Harassing a client or a freelancer
- CSS Abuse: Abusing CSS team
- Closing duplicate account: User closed the suspended account as a duplicate, then reopened it
- Other: Used for any additional very severe suspensions not listed above
If a TR FL is requesting feedback removal for a contract that’s associated to an agency and the FL is no longer associated to that agency:
- The feedback can be removed from the FL’s profile, but not the JSS as the agency owns the JSS for any contracts done with the agency
- IF the agency is also TR and they have an available feedback removal perk, then we can send an email to the AO asking if they’d like to use their perk on that contract for feedback/JSS removal
If a TR FL is requesting feedback removal for a contract that’s associated to an agency and the FL IS associated to that agency:
- The TR FL cannot use their feedback removal perk for this request
- IF the agency is also TR and they have an available feedback removal perk, then we can send an email to the AO asking if they’d like to use their perk on that contract for feedback/JSS removal
If a FL is requesting for removal for only their public feedback:
Please let them know this feedback removal perk can be used in one of two ways: (1) removing feedback from their Job Success Score only OR (2) removing feedback from their Job Success Score and from their profile, while also educating that if the contract happens to have a positive impact on their JSS, the removal will not actually remove the positive impact and will end up only impacting their public-facing profile.
Process Map
Internal: Be mindful to not disclose the outcomes of jobs in all cases. If a request for a good outcome, we'll still process as usual and the system will prevent any negative impact.
Are they (FL/Agency) eligible for feedback removal?
- Requester needs to be one of the following: individual freelancer who worked the contract, OR if an agency, the agency owner, admin, or a business manager. If not any of the above then:
-
- Must be a closed Upwork job only
- Job must not be already excluded from JSS / not older than 2 years (If they insist with over 2 year jobs, we can remove public feedback only; do not check off any JSS boxes in OBO and only remove the public feedback itself. This is to help ensure the FL doesn't lose a number from their CL count.
- They are currently TR or removed from TR within last 2 weeks. If an agency: the agency must be TR not the AO. (if they were removed from TR & we need to determine when they lost it, see the most recent "Freelancers Losing Top Rated" email)
- 1 approval for every 10 jobs (Catalog contracts do count, Direct Contracts do not count), max once per quarter (90 days). Check for CSS note: “Top Rated Feedback Removal: Assignment...” within OBO
- Check the number of ended contracts in SUDO. If SUDO is not available, check the number of ended contracts in OBO but take care to not include ended contracts due to rate change. Below is a video with more details.
Use Ctrl + F if a PC, or Command + F if a Mac to help search for your question!
INTERNAL Q: Can a freelancer lose Top Rated / Top Rated Plus status and move back into Rising Talent status?
A: Yes. Please see the **Rising Talent KB > “The Basics” drop-down for more details.
Q: Can a freelancer qualify as Top Rated as an agency and as an individual?
A: Non-exclusive agency freelancers and individual freelancers can become Top Rated under the Freelancer Top Rated program. Exclusive agency freelancers can qualify under the Agency Top Rated program.
Q: Can you lose your Top Rated status?
A: Yes. TR status is assessed every 24 hours and users must continue to meet the requirements to maintain status. If they drop out, they’ll be added right back as soon as they qualify again. If they drop out because of a drop in JSS, they can exercise more control of that using their TR Remove Feedback perk. Depending on the impact the job had on their JSS, removing it may or may not allow them to immediately qualify for TR again. This perk can be exercised for up to 2 weeks after lost status.
Q: JSS was 90%+ both last week and this week, why did the “Top Rated Eligible Weeks” not change?
Macro: General > My Stats > My Job Success score was above 90% this week and last week, why did my “Top Rated Eligible Weeks” not change?
A: The "Top Rated Eligible Weeks" are calculated over a 16-week rolling window. Here's a visual representation of a Top Rated eligible weeks represented by 1's and 0's. They get a week for every week they had 90%+ JSS or the Rising Talent badge (think of this as a "1"), and other weeks count as "0." The number is updated on Saturdays.
0000000000111111
If a FL had a Job Success score of at least 90% 17 weeks ago (leftmost number) and also in the most recent week (rightmost number), their "Top Rated Eligible Weeks" will not change - it means the most recent eligible week was simply swapped with the one that was removed. If 17 weeks ago they did not have a Job Success score of 90% or higher but they did in the most recent week, their Top Rated Eligible Weeks total will increase by one.
If the freelancer’s breakdown is requested, use the TREW calculator. If an agency breakdown is needed, see a TL. TLs: see TL Only: Check Eligible Weeks map on bottom of KB page.
Below are sample images that can be shared with freelancers:
Q: Agency with no team members. All the requirements are met for Top Rated (JSS, earnings, etc), so why isn't the agency Top Rated?
A: More than one team member (including the AO) is needed on the team. Alternatively, the AO can make themselves a NEAC of their agency (under Agency View > Settings > Members and Permissions) and earn Top Rated status as an individual. They can set their default team under their freelancer view > Settings > Teams. They’ll have two options as a NEAC:
- Set the agency as their default team. This means that the agency information will appear in search (see example here) and all invitations and offers will go to them under their agency
- Do not set a default team. This means they’ll appear in search, receive invitations, and receive offers as an individual
Q: How is the Top Rated Agency program different than the Top Rated Freelancer program?
A: See Become Top Rated (user-friendly link). Same perks, but different qualifications.
Q: AO doesn’t have a JSS. Can the agency still earn Top Rated status?
A: Yes, as long as the agency score is above 90% and all the other qualifications are met.
Q: How come AOs without a JSS don’t have a Top Rated badge on their profiles?
A: The TR badge appears on the profile next to a freelancer’s Job Success score. We designed the badge to be an indicator of past success, and it could be confusing to clients if someone has a TR badge, but no job history or JSS. Once they qualify for a JSS, then both the agency JSS and TR badge will appear.
Q: Everyone else in the agency has a Top Rated badge on their profiles, except one person. Why is that?
A: See Become Top Rated for qualifications. We designed the badge to be an indicator of past success, and it could be confusing to clients if someone has a TR badge, but no job history or JSS.
- If an AO - once they are eligible for a JSS, then the agency JSS as well as the TR badge will show on their profile.
- If an EAC - they will show a Rising Talent badge, instead. But, once they are eligible for a JSS, then the agency JSS as well as the TR badge will show on their profile.
- If a NEAC - they cannot earn the agency TR status and will not see the badge. Instead, they would have to qualify on their own as part of the TR freelancer program.
Q: Can an agency lose its Top Rated status because of an EAC or NAEC?
A: If an agency is suspended for a valid reason and removes the FL who committed that violation of the Terms of Service, they’re allowed back in the program. Keep in mind that FL’s cannot be removed from an agency until after their open projects have been completed.
Q: How can an AO know how their agency is doing?
A: See My Stats. AOs have access to EACs My Stats reports in their agency context to better understand and manage their reputation on Upwork. This provides agencies with key activity and reputation metrics information to better understand and manage their reputations on Upwork.
To access a specific report, the AO will select an EAC’s name from the drop-down menu on their agency My Stats page. AOs with no EACs must switch to their FL’s context to view their personal My Stats reports.
My Stats will display the following information:
- 12-month earnings
- Feedback score
- % clients who would recommend
- % long term clients
- Recent account holds
- Invitation responsiveness
- Profile views
Q: Why do I need to have two members in my agency to qualify for this program?
A: Clients on Upwork have an expectation that agencies are groups of people. To maintain consistency with their expectations and also leave room for smaller agencies to join the program, we’ve set this limit.Q: Why is the threshold for 12 month earnings so low? Some agencies make much more than that and it may not seem fair that they’re all in the same category as others make much less.
A: We want to make sure to give all top performing agencies a chance to be included in the Top Rated program. Because we have agencies of different sizes, and agencies in different verticals, we set the minimum requirement at $10,000.Q: An agency has received Top Rated status, but none of the members have received profile reviews yet. Why?
A: We have many profiles to review as part of the program and we want to make sure that each review gets the time and attention it deserves. The review process takes approximately 3 - 4 weeks from the time of the agency qualification notice. In the meantime, see here for profile tips: Crafting an Impressive Agency ProfileQ: How many suspensions can there be on an agency account on Top Rated status?
A: None. Agencies that are recognized as part of the Top Rated program should be seen as setting an example for the rest of the agencies and freelancers in the community. We expect TR agencies to have no suspensions and adhere to Upwork’s Terms of Service.Q: An agency or freelancer has been removed from Top Rated. How would they find out why?
A: An email is sent out in these cases detailing the current standing as it related to the Top Rated program requirements.Q: An email is received stating an agency may lose their Top Rated status because they haven’t been active on Upwork, but they have been logging in. What’s going on?
A: In order to qualify for Top Rated Agency status, an agency has to be active sometime in the last 90 days. This means that logging in is not enough and they have to be:- Submitting proposals through Upwork
- Responding to invitations
- Actively working on a contract