Current Issues
I’ve been a fellow on this platform for the past seven months, and overall, I’m genuinely glad I found this side gig. It has provided me with a decent amount of supplemental income alongside my primary job, and for the most part, the tasks themselves have been manageable and enjoyable. However, in recent months, I’ve noticed several major issues that have made the experience increasingly frustrating.
The first issue I want to address is the QA scoring system. My QA score has been permanently stuck at 3.0, and I have not received a review since January. Many people have already voiced concerns about unfair reviews, but another major problem is simply the lack of reviews altogether. If someone receives a poor score, there often isn’t a realistic opportunity to improve it because reviews happen so infrequently. This leaves workers stuck in limbo with no clear path forward.
The second — and honestly most frustrating — issue is the overwhelming number of mandatory assessments. It feels like every week there are at least one or two new assessments we are required to complete, sometimes for task types we do not even work on. While optional assessments also exist, many of them are extremely long and offer no incentive for completion.
My biggest concern with these assessments is that they are unpaid. I understand some people may view them as part of an interview process, but to me, they function much more like training. In every other job I’ve had, training time has always been compensated. Some of these assessments can take close to an hour to complete, and if you fail, that entire hour effectively becomes wasted time. Even if you pass, you still completed unpaid work that was required to continue participating on the platform.
Another major frustration is the forced priority tasks. Some workers, including myself, are pushed into task types we simply do not want to work on, and there is no option to opt out besides waiting for the assignment period to end. This would be easier to accept if there were additional incentives or compensation tied to these tasks, but there usually is not.
Finally, I want to address the recent “time-theft” accusations. I had never received any warning or issue regarding my work during my entire seven months on the platform, and then suddenly, I received an email accusing me of “time theft.” Shortly afterward, I received another email stating that my pay would be adjusted accordingly due to alleged time theft again. The timing and lack of prior communication feel extremely concerning and unfair.
What makes this especially frustrating is the irony of these accusations when workers are regularly expected to complete lengthy, unpaid assessments. If there is concern about unpaid labor or lost time, many workers feel the platform itself contributes to that issue by requiring mandatory assessments without compensation.
I don’t mean to sound entitled, because I truly am thankful for the opportunity this platform has provided me to earn additional income. However, the recent changes and policies have made the experience increasingly difficult to tolerate, and I felt it was important to share these concerns.