Hypocrisy - Anonymous employee Gusto Employee Review

1.0
Feb 12, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work that is actually attempting to fix a broken industry. Some really wonderful, positive people here.

Cons

This company is the epitome of hypocrisy. The hierarchy is strong and heavily layered for such a small size. "We're all about people" is a mantra constantly recited here, but it's almost comical in how little time, efforts, money, or interests are directed at helping/building internal employees. Growing pains and "startup life" is used as an excuse to treat people like they're expendable and keep people in their places without promoting or compensating them. Management views humans as resources, oh the irony. They expect employees to live, eat, breathe, and sleep Gusto and expect them to do it with a smile on their face as if so lucky to be there- the arrogance is gut-wrenching. Walk into our office, our people look spent. This company does not care about people, it's a cold-blooded business just like every other startup in SV. Call a spade a spade.

avatar
Gusto Response
10y
We would love to connect with you directly about how we can improve the Gusto employee experience and partner with you on ideas to close this gap. We invite you to share your ideas on how we can address some of the concerns raised. In case it’s helpful - there’s a performance development effort, and a compensation project underway that will be rolling out in the first half of this year. We also hope you had a chance to take advantage of Gusto-appreciation to rest and reflect, which was announced shortly after this post was written.

Explore other reviews about Gusto

5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Smart and friendly coworkers. Excellent team culture

Cons

Tunnel visions on AI a bit too much

2.0
May 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The product is genuinely good, too bad the same can’t be said for how they treat the people who sell it.

Cons

Leadership talks a big game about people-first culture but the reality doesn’t match. The Chicago office expansion felt like a poorly thought-out experiment, new hires were brought on without a clear long-term commitment, and layoffs came without warning, leaving people blindsided. Crossing a billion dollars in revenue and still cutting employees sends a clear message about where workers rank on the priority list. Remote work flexibility is also a glaring weakness. For a company selling HR software to modern businesses, their internal stance on where employees can work is surprisingly rigid and hypocritical. The “flexibility” messaging is mostly optics. The broader concern is the AI roadmap. The automation push feels less like an innovation strategy and more like a slow wind-down of the workforce. Employees aren’t blind to it, it creates anxiety and erodes trust. The culture of transparency they promote externally is largely a facade internally.

9
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All