Please hire a Chief People Officer! - Anonymous employee BetterUp Employee Review

1.0
17 Aug 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Individual contributors at the company are truly talented and enjoyable to collaborate with. The work makes a real difference in people's lives and is a source of fulfillment.

Cons

BetterUp is really struggling at its current stage to operate at the level of maturity that is expected as table stakes for a company with its valuation, size, and market presence. The most glaring maturity gap is the disregard for people management / talent strategy. During a recent multi-hour all hands call, the team spent a fraction of the time (I believe it was less than 2 minutes) on the organization’s people strategy. By all measures, the Founders continue to maintain a tight scrutiny on all people processes. Despite having more than 500 employees, it doesn't appear that the organization has a well-defined compensation review process for all employees. The organization attracted great talent over the past few years, but I suspect it will be challenging to retain that talent as the growth trajectory changes and the business becomes older/more mature. It’s a bit surprising that the Board hasn’t applied more pressure on the team to bring in a Chief People Officer in light of internal feedback from pulse surveys, previous Glassdoor reviews, and the drop from 4.5 -> 3.4 Glassdoor rating in the past year and a half. I could touch on the other themes that often come up in these reviews - the gaslighting, lack of investment in ongoing manager training/enablement, the tendency of CEO in-group associates to fail upwards - but I would just urge the organization to prioritize bringing in an established, seasoned CPO who can stop the frantic duct-taping of BetterUp’s people strategy and rebuild trust and confidence that the organization will do the right thing by its people.

Explore other reviews about BetterUp

5.0
10 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I'm not held here against my will for a cause... I'm paid to do something I actually care about. I see a lot of people on Glassdoor debating the strength of the business model, but I've never seen anyone argue that what BetterUp is trying to do isn't worth doing. I'm a part of a company thats net positive for the world. That alone feels like a feat in 2026. AND I'm getting paid well. No "mission discount".

Cons

This isn't a money-growing-on-trees unicorn startup from 2018. This business model is hard. We're selling human potential development when most companies are trying to figure out how to replace humans with AI. Its not easy but I think its kind of important... A lot of people experience being overwhelmed here. Thats real. It happens enough that clearly the culture is playing a role. Every company has its own version of crazy. My advice to people thinking about working here: ask direct questions in your interviews to figure out if you're okay with Betterup's kind of crazy. You'll get honest answers. After 3+ years I've genuinely grown to love it

2
5.0
10 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Nearly 8 years in, and the work still pulls me forward. What keeps me at BetterUp is that the problems are genuinely hard and genuinely worth solving. I came from engineering, so I'm wired to care about infrastructure, not just features, and this is one of the rare places where you can build something foundational and actually see it move metrics, clear escalations, and unblock a whole go-to-market motion. The mission isn't decorative here. I can feel the thread between the work and the outcome. BetterUp also trusts you to figure things out across lanes. I've written SQL, prototyped with AI tools, facilitated workshops, and co-designed vendor strategy, all as a PM, because the culture doesn't penalize curiosity or reaching into adjacent territory. And honestly, some of my closest friendships came out of this place. The people I work with, on engineering, on cross-functional teams, and in peer mentorship, are people I genuinely learn from and, in some cases, people I can't imagine not having in my life. That combination of meaningful infrastructure work, real trust, and people who challenge you and become your people is not easy to find. The benefits span beyond general work-life-balance, if you're curious about something, there's always an open door to learn and contribute. As a woman in tech, I cherish the fact that our colleagues listen to women, and our insight is taken into account instead of just ignored. It's nice to feel safe at work, able to speak your mind freely.

Cons

If you want a boring job, this is not the place for you.

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