Engineering - Software Engineering Gusto Employee Review

4.0
15 June 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Benefits are pretty solid. 401k matching was recently removed, but that was atypical for a startup anyways. PTO is actually unlimited and employees tend to take an above average amount (at least in my department). We have a sizable customer base and they generally love the product. Engineering is of above average quality. Very good employee retention rate (employees are probably just happy in general). C suite is very transparent about financials and business dealings and decisions. The company culture has a handful of unique elements (e.g. annual company wide camping trip/getaway)

Cons

Offices have become significantly more cramped and overall seem dirtier and less nice than a couple years ago (SF). Catered lunch every day is nice, but the food is often mediocre to bad. Moderate churn in middle management. Building solutions for things like payroll and insurance means a lot of dealings with legislation and boring regulations, which can be uninspiring at best. Occasionally inept individuals become managers and do some damage to departments or teams. I'm slightly underpaid given my amount of experience and peer comparisons.

Explore other reviews about Gusto

5.0
10 June 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
20 May 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.

10
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