A Company That Cares - Software Engineering Gusto Employee Review

5.0
4 Nov 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

What I enjoy most about working at Gusto stems from the transparency here and the readiness to evolve. When people are disappointed by an aspect of working here, there are many platforms to express it. This includes the quarterly culture surveys, our biweekly 1:1s, monthly retroactive meeting and the weekly AMAs, where you ask members of the Staff (executives) anything that's on your mind, just to name a few. Best of all, when it's clear that the employees want to see something change, the change comes more often than not. When we expressed that peer review feedback was lacking, the People team put together a performance development program. When our org structure was holding us back, the leads adjusted quickly. When employees wanted a 401k, the People team arranged a plan. When the engineers expressed a desire to have a hackathon, we organized one a few months later. The change here is constant, and Gusto is always striving to keep us satisfied.

Cons

Because we're still really small and trying to do so much at once, a lot of the kinks in our processes are still being worked out. We're trying a lot of things for the first time, so you have to be ready for the bumps that come along the way. The good news is that we always try to learn quickly from our mistakes and adjust.

Explore other reviews about Gusto

5.0
10 Jun 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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