Upwork reviews

3.8

59% would recommend to a friend

(633 total reviews)
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Hayden Brown

54% approve of CEO

42% positive business outlook

Upwork has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 633 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 Tecnologías de la información industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

633 reviews
1.0
May 8, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you find joy in bureaucracy, an Engineering Department so bad they don't have a viable website or profitable product offering; an organization that lies about helping provide economic opportunities; an incompetent, immature and inexperienced leadership team that is essentially driving the company into the ground, then this place is for you!

Cons

Agree with the previous reviewer. I cannot believe the amount of complete dysfunction at every level (individual, team, strategic). My former "manager" knew less about my role and job function and how to actually run a successful program than any other boss I've ever worked with. I had to sit on calls where my "manager" would speak to "other leadership" at different companies to ensure I was providing accurate information. Oh, and my "manager" was 10 years younger than me. Every single day felt like Junior High School. I was constantly "managing up" and never received any accolades for going above and beyond. I was constantly exhausted with having to train and teach people how to do their jobs. There's a "prove to me" culture here because most FTE's have never worked anywhere else. This is literally their first job and they have no idea what they're doing without any oversight from any sort of real leadership. They won't admit that to you, however. They just quietly "fake it until they make it" with you holding their hand the entire way. They cause conflict instead of trying to solve problems and fix processes. Because again, that would require them to know what they're doing and actually doing any amount of work. Long, painful hours either trying to get the team to do any work whatsoever or reporting out to your "manager" that every project is basically blocked because no one wants to actually work or do their job. Sexism, favoritism, nepotism, etc. You name the 'ism', it's going on there. Will they do anything about it? Well, that would require actual decision making, leadership and work. So, no. They'll just go out and hire a "Diversity HR Lead" and call it a day. This is precisely why every strong, competent employee quits. The HR department was singing, Frozen's "Let It Go" because there's a mass exodus of great talent leaving the company. What decent Bay Area company operates like that? Run away as fast as you can to another Bay Area company that offers free food and sub-par salaries. There are so many better ones out there! Go there not here!

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Upwork Response
6y
Hi there, I'm disappointed to read this and would love to discuss with you. I am open to all your feedback and am happy to connect whenever works for you. Please do reach out so that I can work on your concerns. -zoë
2.0
Jul 31, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Used to be an outstanding place to work. Has great benes, comp package, etc. People used to be considered part of the equation and that meant a lot. They have a great vision, mission and value set, but it needs to be followed down the organization. The LT seems to be intentional and well-meaning, but they don't see what's really occurring in the trenches.

Cons

-Managers that care about dollars and not people, nor service -Remote employees are minimized and not given opportunity for growth like others that are onsite, which goes against their core values. -Process development was seen as "cookie cutter" vs. building for scaling the organization -The orgs live in silos, no cross-communication -often moving forward with work that is either being done twice or worse, contradictory -Sales & delivery do not work well together

1.0
May 12, 2023

Disaster

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cool office in Chicago, great commuting benefits, and free lunch daily for in office workers. Very good health insurance that started Day 1 of employment.

Cons

Very, very poorly run company. They say they are software, but really this is just a staffing play. They also pitch themselves to big prospects as a true business process outsourcing solution, however it only has that in place for one company, and only because Upwork took over an existing BPO that was already in place. Biggest problem is the CEO, she simply doesn't know how to run a business. Perfect example of the Peter Principle, except she kept falling up into jobs beyond her competence level. The ENTIRE C-Suite besides her & the CLO has turned over in the last twelve months. Despite revenue increasing 3x during her tenure, the company is worth less than it was when she took over. Huge layoffs last week - 137 on May 3, then another 78 "hybrid corporate" employees the next day. As mentioned elsewhere, they had everyone sign separation agreements, then rescinded them & cut the payout amount significantly. They're now pressuring people that haven't signed the updated agreement to sign ASAP - I received several calls earlier this week basically begging me to sign it. They're actually dangling "if you sign immediately we'll accelerate the severance payout to you," basically trying to entice people that need the cashflow to signoff.

Viewing 4 - 6 of 633 Reviews

Glassdoor has 923 Upwork reviews submitted anonymously by Upwork employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Upwork is right for you.