Looks great from the outside - be mindful. - Anonymous employee Gusto Employee Review

2.0
Feb 4, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

'Hot Start-up' - great for young folks hoping to enter on the ground floor of something that might change the way things have been done for the last 50+ years. Great mission and overall game plan.

Cons

Young, entry level managers - no accountability until things get out of control. No direction within the company. Very unclear with regards to internal growth opportunities. Don't join this company if you have a clear career path in mind - they are not focusing on their employees. They are focusing on an image to throw towards the start-up community in order to bring on investors.

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Gusto Response
10y
Thank you so much for reaching out to us. Career development is a huge priority for us in 2016, after a year of rapid growth in 2015. We are absolutely committed to staying true to our values, and appreciate your candor on your experience with your particular PE, and encourage Gusties to talk to the People team and/or their leadership to make sure that this is being addressed. To date, we’ve been relying on employee transparency through engagement surveys and direct conversations to ensure that we are on-track. As a company that’s been rapidly growing, we are committed to developing a thoughtful employee experience, and are sorry that your experience was not reflective of this.

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CEO approval
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Pros

Smart and friendly coworkers. Excellent team culture

Cons

Tunnel visions on AI a bit too much

2.0
May 20, 2026
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CEO approval
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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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