Does Upwork pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Upwork employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.6 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Upwork. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Upwork?

60% of Upwork employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Upwork 4.1 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.5 for culture and values and 3.5 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Upwork?

Software Engineer (23) , Senior Software Engineer (20) , Account Manager (19) , Freelancer (19) , Account Executive (16) , Enterprise Account Executive (15) , Software Developer (12) , Enterprise Account Manager (11) , Product Manager (11) , Business Development Representative (BDR) (10) , Data Analyst (10) , Virtual Assistant (10) , Manager (9) , Customer Service Representative (8) , Director (8)

What are the pros of working at Upwork according to real employee reviews?

"Most people are great (there are some truly brilliant people here)" ((in 58 reviews)); "Amazing culture and product that truly benefits the customer" ((in 36 reviews)); "Great benefits and rewards." ((in 29 reviews)); "work from home, flexible program, diversity," ((in 24 reviews)); "Great team and dynamic was very supportive." ((in 23 reviews))

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

"Constant layoffs" ((in 35 reviews)); "bad leadership and a lot of feedback" ((in 32 reviews)); "Bad management and general disorganization" ((in 18 reviews)); "My direct manager had never even sold in her life." ((in 9 reviews)); "No bonuses and paid time offs" ((in 7 reviews))

What are employees saying about Upwork layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Upwork layoffs and their outlook for job security at Upwork in 2026.

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Upwork

Upwork reviews

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3.8

60% would recommend to a friend

(631 total reviews)

Hayden Brown

57% approve of CEO

44% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.1

Work/Life balance

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.6

Compensation and benefits

3.5

Culture & values

3.5

Career opportunities

3.2

Senior management

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).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

631 reviews

3.0

Jul 18, 2025

Meh

Enterprise account executive

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Probably was a great place to work from ~2017-2021. Healthy office culture. Very encouraging and not cutthroat at all. Definitely peaked during the pandemic (2020 - 2021).

Cons

All deals that closed were inbound leads of course which you have no control over as an AE. Top AEs get fed deals and that's why they hit quota. Leadership was a bunch of ex-CareerBuilder execs.

1.0

Jun 26, 2025

horrible leadership. no direction, only delusion

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Coworkers are very nice. Good benefits. Fully remote and unlimited PTO

Cons

CEO micro manages and controls the weirdest minute details. Constantly shifting their 'strategy' and so much politicking. Very little career development due to favoring external hiring rather. Constant layoffs and re-orgs.

3.0

May 25, 2025

Change Is Constant, Leadership Is Limited

Manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Many friendly and collaborative people to work with, and a great deal of autonomy provided, along with respect for subject matter expertise. Like in all businesses, there are exceptions to this.

Cons

There are constant shifts in strategy, and frequent downsizing/layoff rounds to accompany them. There is a lot of regular positive, fluffy talk from senior management, and also senior management who love the sound of their own voice, but they often become trapped in their own worldview and do not always welcome reality checks or being told something counter to their point of view. There is also a large communication gap between the Marketplace and Enterprise sides of the business, which results in missed opportunities, duplicative effort, and poor coordination.

Viewing 124 - 126 of 631 Reviews

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Meh

horrible leadership. no direction, only delusion

Change Is Constant, Leadership Is Limited

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