Upwork reviews

3.8

60% would recommend to a friend

(631 total reviews)
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Hayden Brown

57% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

Upwork has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 631 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Upwork employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

631 reviews
2.0
Nov 13, 2020

Lost their way

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

They've built a great office and expanded it out to another floor in the building. The perks are great with free lunches, drinks and snack along with cell phone and gym reimbursements. I will give the leadership kudos in how they've handed Covid and the social unrest in 2020. They've gone out of their way to make sure employees feel safe and support in these difficult times.

Cons

There is one major problem that most of the other problems I see at the company stem from. The leadership critically overestimated the growth the company would see in the near future. They went into overdrive in hiring based on that belief. What happened from there is AEs were pushing hard to oversell to a market that wasn't there. AMs got accounts that didn't have the room to expand. All parts of the sales org had trouble meeting their goals and the pressure of failure spread throughout the company. That failure weighs on everyone and makes the job a heavy grind. Eventually it caught up with the company in forcing them to layoff a huge portion of the sales team. And let's talk about that leadership. There is a lack of a people-first leaders, particularly as you move up the ladder. Many of them were successful ICs, but I think they lack the innate ability to reach people that allows for them to successfully lead and coach them. There are some that are good people leaders, but there are more that aren't than are.

1.0
Oct 31, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The benefits are great. I’ve heard it used to be a great place to work.

Cons

Don’t even know where to start. The company is run by the Career Builder Rejects.

2.0
Oct 29, 2020

They lost their way going into "wartime"

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Work from home, swag, compensation. There are many people who are great to work with.

Cons

Upwork used to be a great place to work. It was filled with happy people, happy teams, and happy leadership. The environment and culture was positive and infectious to the point where everyone enjoyed coming to the offices to bond. Then something happened. I don't know whether it was the fact they went public, a change in leadership, or they just plainly lost their way. It went from an empathetic, family friendly atmosphere to this hostile environment, they call "wartime" now. Since this change, people became overworked, forgotten, taken advantaged of, and untrustworthy. I'm one of the lucky few that left on their own accord, but many who had been there for years and contributed so much of themselves to a company they thought cared, have been put out to pasture unceremoniously. I saw teams re-org'd when there wasn't any reason to do so. So many people who won't say anything, out of fear, were betrayed and basically told to either take it or leave it. Many did leave and were paid out, and many stayed because they had no other choice. Certain departments that you're supposed to trust became this unknown entity that would push people out the door if you didn't agree with their practices or the powers that be. It certainly was not a reflection of the glowing reviews you may see, but I do hope things change for Upwork. They did not start out bad, but have definitely lost their way.

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Upwork Response
5y
Thank you for taking the time to post a review. I'm sorry to hear you felt this way when you decided to leave. It certainly has been a time of change for us, and while the majority of our team is excited about the future, I understand that isn't true for everyone. Please email me directly if you are open to discussing your feedback more specifically - I would welcome the chance. No matter what, I hope that you find a great home at your next company. -zoe
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Glassdoor has 917 Upwork reviews submitted anonymously by Upwork employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Upwork is right for you.