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      Handshake

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      Handshake reviews

      Headed downhill - Anonymous employee Handshake Employee Review

      3.0
      1 Nov 2023
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      As cliche as it sounds the people are the best part of the role. Everyone was vibrant and friendly. Benefits were good, not great. Casual work environment with good to okay pay. The product itself has the opportunity to be extremely sticky due to their integrations with so many colleges.

      Cons

      After a recent large round of layoffs the companies future is certainly called into question. Leadership made some mistakes including cutting the overall contract value assuming that that would fix the new business problem. Similarly they are hanging their hat on new projects that they hope will both cut costs and automate inbound interest. While that is fine, they weren't open to differing opinions and became stuck on this pet project. There is no solidified process for anything. Decision making is disjointed and communication plans are non existent. When changes happen they depend entirely on the "this is tech, you need to thrive with ambiguity" as opposed to taking accountability for a better rollout of massive direct shifts. Mid level/director level management seems to have no ability to advocate for their departments. Whether that means upper management doesn't listen to them or the directors do a poor job stating their case, either way the result is the same. Finally, for a company that pushes forward DEI initiatives for their clients, it appears that they aren't conscious of making equitable decisions for their own internal talent.

      avatar
      Handshake Response
      2y
      We appreciate your feedback! We agree that the people are the best part of Handshake, and we think that we have the best people in place to achieve the goals we have for 2024 and beyond. We recognize that there have been a number of changes to the team in 2023, whether at the leadership level or among individual contributors, but we think that the current size of the team and the people in-seat are right for where we’re headed. We also acknowledge that we have room for growth in how we communicate changes, and that the rate of change we saw over 2023 was incredibly high. We’re looking forward to more stability in 2024 as we commit to the work directly related to our strategic priorities. In determining projects and plans, we strive to bring in a variety of voices to the extent practicable, but we could likely do a better job of communicating our decisionmaking process. Again, we thank you for sharing your thoughts and are committed to taking them seriously.

      Explore other reviews about Handshake

      5.0
      25 May 2026
      Handshake ai annotator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Convenient as it was remote

      Cons

      No cons, other than it may take a bit to get paid

      1.0
      22 May 2026
      Ai data annotator
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Challenging, interesting position in the short term.

      Cons

      The company has implemented a new timer policy that has “active” and “inactive” time on the backend that makes up for the total time. We were getting paid by total time (as you should), but HAI has changed it to only pay contributors for the time marked “active.” Time is “active” when scrolling, typing, and clicking within the specific task tab. Time is “inactive” when none of the previous actions are happening; i.e., when reading the task without moving the mouse or pressing keys, researching in another tab, etc. It sounds like they have changed the rules to only pay for active time, which has caused huge pay discrepancies. The percentage of inactive time is usually way more than active time on these timers due to the amount of reading, visual analyzing, thinking, and research required for some tasks. This behavior is unacceptable because time that seems “inactive” is still important to the quality and completion of tasks. They keep throwing accusations like “time thieves” around to justify it. If you respect yourself, pack it up and go somewhere else. I know most people who work at these places are desperate for income, but that’s exactly what they’re hoping for. They’re hoping you will be desperate enough to be taken advantage of.

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