Upstart reviews

3.7

53% would recommend to a friend

(389 total reviews)
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Dave Girouard

78% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

Upstart has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 389 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Upstart employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Financial Services industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

389 reviews
1.0
Jan 19, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

WAS a cool company to be a part of their growth journey

Cons

#1 - Leadership - Rot starts at the head and works it’s way down #2 - HR is in shams & very disorganized #3 - Clique culture - pre vs post IPO hires #4 - Non-Existent training #5 - Unsupportive work environment to support different employees unique needs #6 - I could go on… This company is split between those that came pre-IPO and those that came after. The pre-IPO employees are viewed as loyalists who can do no wrong and get founders’/leadership’s unwavering support; and many of the post-IPO employees often can’t do enough or anything right in leadership’s eyes. Viewed more as expendable and valued as less than. NUMEROUS people on our broader team were threatened with PIP at the first sign of not doing something in the manner their direct manager would do it (again all post-IPO hires). Very degrading to overall morale of the team. And without any structured formal new-hire training, this was a continuous occurrence early on in various employee’s tenure. Also, since Jan 2022, the number of Directors+ I’ve seen last <6 months is too many to count. It’s really embarrassing. When I tried to speak / vocalize minor concerns to my direct leadership and/or HR about my work needs, I was immediately ridiculed and targeted- rather than acknowledged and heard - for having a different point of view and also learning + work style. Even though I always achieved the targets they put in front of me. Managers that were pre-IPO hires can do no wrong… so don’t even try to question them. Just quit or document everything if you get one of them. I could really go on, but I’ve wasted enough energy with this company. I’ve read every single negative review that’s been posted up until this date, and can relate to EVERY SINGLE ONE. As critical as leadership is of its employees, they should also look at themselves and be just as critical. Instead they just place the blame elsewhere, so nothing is improving.

1.0
Oct 12, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits, remote working, on paper tc

Cons

It’s really a chaotic place for engineers, product managers run the show by providing little to no product knowledge and whole company is dependent on quid pro quo technique. No one knows how they will fight the high interest period, too risky to join. Overall tech stack is poor, and barely you can put anything suitable on your resume, I am still trying to find anything good which I can state on my resume. Tc on paper might be good but with stock slump I lost 90% of my equity, bonus is also uncertain in current market.

2.0
Jul 19, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good benefits for a beginner - Work from home is nice

Cons

I originally wasn't going to say anything or post a review, but after seeing so many positive reviews that don't tell the whole story, I felt I needed to speak up about Upstart . - Management will lie to your face about what is truly going on in the company. They'll expect you to believe what they say and not ask questions. - Very little respect for the operations department. They ask us to work over holidays, make us meet impossible demands, don't pay us more for doing more work. And then act as if we should be grateful to them for keeping us around. All while upper management gets the better benefits, holidays, and work-life balance. When they told us we were to take phone calls now (which wasn't in our job description) They refused to pay us more to properly compensate us now having 2 jobs. Some coworkers of mine got transferred to other departments where the work was harder/more strenuous and they weren't paid more to compensate for the greater workload either. They're trying to get their employees to work more positions at a discount. - there's a very noticable start-up vibe. Often times during the company-wide Friday meetings, the CEO just says fluff and doesn't deliver any action plans for the company's poor performance. Phrases like "We know we have the best people" or "we'll come out of this stronger" do little to help me cope with the state of the company. - Communication is a mess. It's honesty some of the worst I've ever seen. Emails get sent out to wrong departments all the time or are missing critical details needed for comprehension. The amount of times I've had to reach out to a person for clarity is numerous. Upstart management has even admitted at times their communication has suffered as a result of growing so quickly. - I came into this company very enthusiastic, but after a while the reality of the business set it. Upstart lures in young people with attractive offers and seemingly good pay and benefits. But after so long here, you see that most people just care about getting promoted and making more money under the guise of "expanding access to credit". I plan to leave this company once some other job opportunities come through that are in the pipeline. I could go on about why working at Upstart has been a disaster, the list goes on... But I will keep it to this for now.

Viewing 25 - 27 of 389 Reviews

Glassdoor has 426 Upstart reviews submitted anonymously by Upstart employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Upstart is right for you.