Is Handshake a good company to work for?

Handshake has an overall rating of 3.1 out of 5, based on over 459 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has increased by 10% over the last 12 months. 43% of employees would recommend working at Handshake to a friend and 37% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Handshake have been left by employees working as Remote AI Trainer , Senior Software Engineer and AI Fellow .

Does Handshake pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Handshake employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Handshake. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Handshake?

43% of Handshake employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Handshake 3.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.6 for culture and values and 2.8 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Handshake?

Software Engineer (37) , Remote AI Trainer (19) , AI Trainer (14) , AI Fellow (12) , Fellow (12) , Account Executive (11) , Senior Software Engineer (11) , Customer Success Manager (9) , Sales Development Representative (SDR) (9) , Sales (6) , AI Data Annotator (5) , Enterprise Account Executive (5) , MOVE Fellowship (AI Annotator) (5) , Consumer Support Specialist (4) , Customer Support Specialist (4)

What are the pros of working at Handshake according to real employee reviews?

"I've had the opportunity to work with some really great people over the years." ((in 37 reviews)); "Good pay and on time" ((in 35 reviews)); "Benefits are good" ((in 18 reviews)); "great coworkers, there are no real dead weights or under performers here in my experience" ((in 11 reviews)); "Work life balance is also decent." ((in 11 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Handshake according to real employee reviews?

"Management is horrible." ((in 17 reviews)); "suite and Senior Leadership are terrible (except for Christine and Marta)." ((in 17 reviews)); "Disorganized, poor communication, unclear direction." ((in 11 reviews)); "The CEO is a bully who dominates meetings; he.enjoys embarrassing his employees rather than empowering them." ((in 7 reviews)); "managing, favoritism, abrupt account suspension" ((in 7 reviews))

What are employees saying about Handshake layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Handshake layoffs and their outlook for job security at Handshake in 2026.

What Handshake locations have received the highest employee ratings?

Denver , Los Angeles , San Francisco , New York

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Handshake

Handshake reviews

3.1

43% would recommend to a friend

(289 total reviews)

Garrett Lord

44% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.2

Diversity & inclusion

3.2

Compensation and benefits

3.1

Work/Life balance

2.8

Career opportunities

2.6

Culture & values

2.3

Senior management

Handshake has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 289 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Handshake employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

289 reviews

1.0

Jan 15, 2021

Very poor work/life balance

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Very nice colleagues with good managers who are oriented towards problem solving. Management is ruthlessly focused on growth so seems like this company will do well in the long term. The CEO may be young and may not have any other experience besides Handshake, but he has built a very successful business and surrounds himself with smart people.

Cons

I can't express this enough: there is absolutely no work/life balance here. People are discouraged from ever taking any of their supposedly "unlimited" PTO by a culture of nonstop work, blackout dates, and the expectation that you'll be on email/slack on the few days you do manage to get off. Management has been made aware of employee unhappiness about this in multiple public forums but it has never been taken seriously and apparently they don't seem to think it's a problem.

5.0

Jan 12, 2021

Great place to work

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits, smart energetic teammates that take ownership of their work (and mistakes) , 'feel good' mission, work flies by every day in a good way.

Cons

Sometimes there are hectic days/weeks, but the company does a good job at responding to those and giving extra incentives as a reward and rethinking how to prepare for busy times before they happen again.

5.0

Jan 6, 2021

Incredible, remote-forward culture!

Software engineer in test

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- inspiring product; we get to change people's lives for the better - thoughtful leadership; careful not to micromanage or bog-down their directs with meaningless metrics - high-caliber, high-performing remote engineering teams who are very focused on quality throughout the SDLC - very competitive compensation + opportunity for growth

Cons

- SET is still a relatively new discipline here at Handshake, so there are still details being ironed out.

Viewing 247 - 249 of 289 Reviews

Jobs at Handshake

Store Operation Manager