Was a pretty good company, past tense - Senior Software Engineer Gusto Employee Review

2.0
Feb 8, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay, good benefits, usually good work-life balance, generally helpful engineering culture.

Cons

Very metrics focused in evaluations, claims not to be. You'll never meet or interact with most of the people evaluating you. They rarely promote people. If they promote you, that mean's you've been doing the promoted job already for at least a year without matching pay. Location (in San Francisco) isn't very good. Teams don't always have clear purposes or missions, and they change often. Every team everywhere is at full bandwidth all the time, usually with months of roadmap. If you need code written in some other team's area, the best you'll get is them advising you while you write it. Engineering support members (design, research, product, etc.) occasionally change at random with no notice or reason. Biggest con is that they've been fighting various fires non-stop for months. I wouldn't be shocked if they're out of business in a year or two.

Explore other reviews about Gusto

5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Smart and friendly coworkers. Excellent team culture

Cons

Tunnel visions on AI a bit too much

1
2.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The product is genuinely good, too bad the same can’t be said for how they treat the people who sell it.

Cons

Leadership talks a big game about people-first culture but the reality doesn’t match. The Chicago office expansion felt like a poorly thought-out experiment, new hires were brought on without a clear long-term commitment, and layoffs came without warning, leaving people blindsided. Crossing a billion dollars in revenue and still cutting employees sends a clear message about where workers rank on the priority list. Remote work flexibility is also a glaring weakness. For a company selling HR software to modern businesses, their internal stance on where employees can work is surprisingly rigid and hypocritical. The “flexibility” messaging is mostly optics. The broader concern is the AI roadmap. The automation push feels less like an innovation strategy and more like a slow wind-down of the workforce. Employees aren’t blind to it, it creates anxiety and erodes trust. The culture of transparency they promote externally is largely a facade internally.

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