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 9% over the last 12 months. 41% of employees would recommend working at Handshake to a friend and 35% 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 4% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Handshake?

41% of Handshake employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Handshake 3.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.6 for culture and values and 2.7 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 36 reviews)); "Good pay and on time" ((in 31 reviews)); "Great team and product market fit" ((in 25 reviews)); "Benefits are good" ((in 20 reviews)); "Work life balance is also decent." ((in 11 reviews))

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

"suite and Senior Leadership are terrible (except for Christine and Marta)." ((in 20 reviews)); "Management is horrible." ((in 18 reviews)); "Disorganized, poor communication, unclear direction." ((in 11 reviews)); "Had a really good manager and it was low" ((in 9 reviews)); "Uniformed reorgs, layoffs, pivots galore." ((in 8 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

Handshake reviews

3.1

41% would recommend to a friend

(289 total reviews)

Garrett Lord

41% approve of CEO

35% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.2

Compensation and benefits

3.1

Diversity & inclusion

3.0

Work/Life balance

2.7

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

2.0

Oct 14, 2022

Proceed with Caution

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation was generally fair, but please see some of the caveats (performance increases and 401K match) in the other sections. A few of the people are a joy to work with. Work-life balance isn’t that bad.

Cons

It feels like a sinking ship. Far too many cooks in the kitchen from scaling quickly during the pandemic, and having no idea how to staff appropriately. Unnecessarily tense cross-functional relationships are the norm and make for a toxic environment. A reorg caused chaos for multiple weeks and brought on massive burnout during a busier season of the year. Overall, there’s a feeling of passing the buck, disengagement amongst employees, and simply waiting for the other shoe to drop.

2.0

Sep 30, 2022

Terrible structure

Software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

- Benefits are good - Fairly compensated - Diverse-ish teams - Remote options, never forced teams back into office -Growth opportunities available

Cons

-Structure is an entire crap show. Especially communication -Lie/omit information during the interview process. I asked about how much time is spent in meetings on average and my manager lied and said 3 hours. On average I am in meetings 7 - 22hrs a week -You will be on call and sometimes in multiple rotations. Another piece of info they will intentionally omit during interviews. So if you had a life, kiss that goodbye. Handshake is your life now. -Way too many cooks in the kitchen -Some companies promote asking for forgiveness instead of permission. This isn't one. You need to talk to about 3 - 10 people before you can do anything and if you try to just push something up that's seemingly harmless/low risk you will still be "yelled at" for doing that in public. -Overly competitive culture -Not inclusive even though it's diverse, and the privilege shows

1.0

May 5, 2024

Truly toxic culture and sinking ship. Read reviews carefully!

Product manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Sandwiches offered twice a week for an office lunch paid for by the company.

Cons

Irrelevant product The equity offered is worthless Horrible and inexperienced leadership Toxic culture of lies and deception coming from the top (browse the Glassdoor reviews and notice the last couple of months of EXCELLENT robotic ratings)

Viewing 25 - 27 of 289 Reviews

Jobs at Handshake

Store Operation Manager

Handshake

Handshake reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Proceed with Caution

Terrible structure

Truly toxic culture and sinking ship. Read reviews carefully!

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