improving steadily - Anonymous employee Handshake Employee Review

4.0
Mar 11, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This is not a groundbreaking answer but: we have such smart, caring, funny, great to work with people. We move really quickly and when everyone is in sync, we make great things happen fast -- no big company bureaucracy. There is a lot of freedom to share feedback, ask questions, and opportunities to connect directly with managers and leaders, or at least way more than I had in previous companies. I think our comp is pretty good relative to market. We've had a lot of wins since the start of the year in product, engineering, and the GTM business which makes me optimistic for how things are clicking. It seems like our product, design, and engineering leaders finally have a good rapport.

Cons

Last year was really rough in terms of change, leadership behavior, and lack of strategy, and I think its hard to believe that we're pulling out of it still. We saw a lot of leaders not show up well, or show up at all. And now most of them are gone! 2024 feels like it has gotten to a smoother and more positive start but I'm still holding my breath. We're starting to build momentum on the consumer side, but its early still and slow going, which makes me nervous. Certain leaders have a hard time consistently showing up well for their people and the company. They can suck the positivity out of a room really quickly.

Explore other reviews about Handshake

5.0
Jun 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work at your own pace.

Cons

Task limit when new to project.

1.0
May 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Challenging, interesting position in the short term.

Cons

The company has implemented a new timer policy that has “active” and “inactive” time on the backend that makes up for the total time. We were getting paid by total time (as you should), but HAI has changed it to only pay contributors for the time marked “active.” Time is “active” when scrolling, typing, and clicking within the specific task tab. Time is “inactive” when none of the previous actions are happening; i.e., when reading the task without moving the mouse or pressing keys, researching in another tab, etc. It sounds like they have changed the rules to only pay for active time, which has caused huge pay discrepancies. The percentage of inactive time is usually way more than active time on these timers due to the amount of reading, visual analyzing, thinking, and research required for some tasks. This behavior is unacceptable because time that seems “inactive” is still important to the quality and completion of tasks. They keep throwing accusations like “time thieves” around to justify it. If you respect yourself, pack it up and go somewhere else. I know most people who work at these places are desperate for income, but that’s exactly what they’re hoping for. They’re hoping you will be desperate enough to be taken advantage of.

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