Upwork FAQ

Pros

I've only been at Upwork for a few months and I have really enjoyed it. I scrolled through some of the reviews and was shocked to see some of the reviews stating lack of transparency - perhaps its because I'm used to scrappy start ups, but I feel Upwork has been very transparent. We have weekly meetings with the leadership team where they very transparently share company goals, take our questions, etc. I've never seen a company be so transparent with earnings as well. I am on the Sales team so I guess it could be department specific, but as a member of sales I feel there is alot of transparency. I think salary is above market rate as well. These are the best benefits I've ever had (cheap health insurance with good coverage, 100% WFH with the option to work from the office whenever I want, free food in the office, home office stipend, monthly internet reimbursement, and very generous referral bonuses just to name a few).

Cons

I think the bonus is a little low, especially compared to other tech companies the size of Upwork, but my base salary is above market rate so I am happy with total comp. The company is still somewhat in start up mode (which I don't mind), but if you arent into a rapidly changing environment, this may not be the place for you.

Pros

Helping people improve economic circumstances. Good benefits and people.

Cons

Sales model is difficult. Not a lot of winning but things will hopefully change.

Advice to Management

Change is good but people have to feel prioritized too

Pros

Unlimited PTO; work from home.

Cons

Terrible, short-sighted leadership. Everything is a panic and a fire drill all the time. No work-life balance. Despite having unlimited PTO and working from home, the inept leaders will find a way to ruin all of that for you with their lack of planning and jumping from one thing to the next. If you're trying to work on a project that should take a few days anywhere else, at Upwork it either take weeks, months, or years to make any progress because some spineless "director" will come tell you to drop everything and work on something completely unrelated to your job. It's always because the executive leadership team didn't have much of a plan, or couldn't communicate their plan coherently to the rest of the company, and middle management is mostly comprised of spineless yes-people, so it seems like everything is done on-the-fly. Although the culture is generally okay, Upwork is run by a small clique of insiders. Your career advancement will plateau, or even turn sharply downward, if you don't get on the inside of that clique. Feels a lot like high school at times.

Advice to Management

The entire leadership team should be replaced. They have no clue what they're doing, and will eventually drive a good business into the ground through their own ineptitude. The level of disorganization is staggering

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!

Advice to Management

The Board needs to trust it's gut and clean house. Sell the company for parts. You'll might just get some of your investment $$ back.

Pros

Good leadership and work environment, willing to help you get better.

Cons

Unsure about their future. I was one of the 60 employees they let go when they decided to eliminate the mid-market product offering. There are a lot of things they are still trying to figure out from organizational and sales process perspectives. Things might be different with their new sales structure, however I only knew of 1 AE that was on track to hit their yearly quota. Also, they did not put their (what I thought was agreed upon) contributions toward my 401k, since I wasn't there for a year, which I found insulting considering they fired me. That left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Advice to Management

Better alignment on sales process is needed