Not what it was - Software Engineer Handshake Employee Review

2.0
Mar 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A lot of the people who have been there for a while are great hard workers, but the culture has changed drastically over the years.

Cons

Leadership, poor management, lack of career growth because all they worry about are deliverables and not the people who work there. Poor management gets rewarded even after HR fiascos as long as they are pushing for high output over quality. The company used to value empathy and the people who worked there, but over time the people who practiced that have left.

Explore other reviews about Handshake

5.0
May 25, 2026
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
May 22, 2026
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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