Handshake reviews

3.1

43% would recommend to a friend

(290 total reviews)

Garrett Lord

44% approve of CEO

37% positive business outlook

Handshake has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 290 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).

Reviews by job title

290 reviews
1.0
Feb 22, 2023

don't be fooled by the cool mission - avoid!

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The mission attracts some really incredible, passionate, talented people. Remote friendly. The product is genuinely something that is serving a great purpose, but at this point just let someone else do it - it's not worth having to work here.

Cons

CEO and leadership decided to sacrifice everything good about the culture, values, mission (and just basic care and decency towards employees) in pursuit of a new "performance culture." But even though they seem obsessed with this new performance-driven culture, they don't actually have any measurable goals or standards for what that "performance" is supposed to look like, and so employees are just trying to make their best guess at what they need to do to not get laid off - all while being incredibly stressed, overworked, undersupported, and in many cases underpaid. And leadership knows that this shift isn't being received well, but they really just don't care. They are fine with losing all the amazing people drawn to their mission, whether through layoffs or people leaving, because they actually don't value the individuals that contributed to the success of the company thus far. Other issues: No transparency from leadership about strategy, goals, etc even though they preach transparency. Super lackluster commitment to DEI - lots of talk with no action to back it up. Leadership actively & publicly celebrates employees who are overworking and sacrificing their well being and work/life balance instead of offering any type of support to employees with too much on their plates - the "unlimited" PTO is completely meaningless. Really concerning lack of empathy from most of leadership, even though one of the alleged core values of the company is literally "act with empathy." Also, some really shady attempts to cut layoff numbers by doing "performance exits" for some folks, without *any* type of performance conversations or people being aware that there were any issues whatsoever. Really really disappointing to see such unfair and cruel treatment of employees. I can't touch on everything here - but between all the recent negative reviews I think you'll get the picture. And it's not good.

1.0
Feb 17, 2023

The many recent reviews here paint an accurate picture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-remote (some roles now being pushed back to offices) -decent benefits (weak 1% 401K) -started out as a worthwhile mission (now way offtrack) -many kind passionate coworkers who really care and work hard (many laid off)

Cons

Handshake could be great but unfortunately is flailing due to immature, inexperienced, ego-driven, fear-based leadership from the top down. - When the CEO speaks, execs leap and scramble to appease. How can reactive leadership and a lack of trust, appreciation or respect for employees create a positive healthy culture or grow revenue? Oh yeah, it can't. -There is no clear direction or strategy communicated by execs. -Employees are not valued or developed, good people managers are scarce. -Leadership shows favoritism to employees who have been around a few years while newer employees don’t have the same (or any) opportunity for growth or promotion. - Hiring people from certain logos is a CEO directive. People from big tech names are seen as prestigious and shown preference. This is misaligned with 1. the company’s mission to democratize opportunity and 2. their empty claims to value DEI. - Handshake leadership insists “transparency,” is a core value, but recently employees were gaslit when laid off but told it was a “performance exit”. Interesting that prior to someone’s performance being so bad they lose their job, goals were never communicated, manager feedback never provided, and reviews never had. Firing employees over a performance problem that everyone knows didn't exist is a discpicable way to operate. -The CEO’s widespread distrust negatively impacts the culture, most notably in severe micro-management that I’ve never seen before and never want to see again.

4.0
Feb 15, 2023

pretty good

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

pretty good, good culture and interesting market

Cons

Management is going into a performance centric mindset

Viewing 160 - 162 of 290 Reviews

Glassdoor has 462 Handshake reviews submitted anonymously by Handshake employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Handshake is right for you.