A good place but not a great place to work - Anonymous employee Gusto Employee Review

3.0
2 Feb 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Ambitious plans for the company with a good business outlook - Beautiful, game-changing product that could revolutionize the industry - People are generally good intentioned

Cons

- Company motto is along the lines of "putting people first" but the reality is something closer to "putting customers first". A lot of strategy and actions are geared towards acquiring new customers but not on developing people internally. There is unclear career growth. - Values are highlighted and touted regularly but sometimes there is a lack of follow-through (transparency about people being let go, prioritizing short term sprints over long term goals) For a company that is so people and values driven, Gusto falls short (not always, but sometimes) and a lot of the unhappiness from people stems from the fact that there are very high expectations on how the company should operate. These expectations have been missed more frequently as the company has grown exponentially. - A lot of first time managers that have good intentions but don't have the experience to develop people on their teams.

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Gusto Response
10y
We’d love to connect with you directly as to how we can explore ideas on how to dogfood more and any other ideas you have. Building out career development is really important to us, and is a priority in 2016 to continue building out. Last year was just scratching the surface with manager (PE) training, feedback workshops, and our first performance development program. With the transparency aspect, we hope that AMAs and pulse surveys can be an avenue for asking questions internally, and in addition, encourage you to ask your PE and / or the People team. Thank you so much for your feedback!

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.

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