Challenging culture and favoritism overshadow limited positives - Anonymous employee Handshake Employee Review

1.0
May 18, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Honestly struggled to find a genuine pro here. If I had to name one, it would be that the funding level gives you access to resources you wouldn't expect, it has the budget of a mature company. But that's where the positives end.

Cons

The culture here is one of the most challenging I've experienced in my career. There's a significant gap between what's communicated during the interview process and the day-to-day reality. Leadership plays favorites in ways that are hard to ignore. Policies like the five-day in-office requirement are selectively enforced, certain people are quietly allowed to come in two or three days a week while others are held to the full mandate. Promotions, visibility, and high-impact projects tend to go to those with pre-existing relationships with leadership rather than based on performance or tenure. If you're an external hire, be prepared to feel like an outsider regardless of what you deliver. The growth narrative they sell in interviews doesn't match reality. Career development conversations are surface level at best, and there's no structured path forward for most roles. Meanwhile, the hire fast fire fast approach means the team is constantly churning, which makes it nearly impossible to build momentum or trust. Benefits and total compensation lag behind what comparable companies in the space are offering. When you factor in the mandatory five-day RTO, the gap becomes even more noticeable. From a product standpoint, competitors like Mercor and Scale are meaningfully ahead. It's hard to recruit top talent or feel excited about the mission when the product isn't leading the market.

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5.0
Jun 12, 2026
Recommend
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Pros

Work at your own pace.

Cons

Task limit when new to project.

2.0
Jun 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It's flexible and sometimes the money is OK. I got paid most of what they owed me.

Cons

Generally disorganized. The task I was on was one of the more highly paid ones but it was almost impossible to actually do in the allotted time. You aren't supposed to use AI but I think people must. The tasks run far over the time they are supposed to take. The human review system also seemed almost arbitrary. Reviewers did not have the subject matter expertise they claimed to. You will make less than the advertised hourly rate because the tasks routinely take longer than they say they will. If they have averages that are lower, those people are either not submitting accurate hours (there is incentive not to) or are using AI to train AI, which is a bigger problem (but not yours).

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