Front-End Developers, Stay Away - Software Developer Paycor Employee Review

1.0
24 Jul 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some of the people here are genuinely nice people and great to work with. Unfortunately, those people are few and far between. The new building in Cincinnati is also very nice.

Cons

This place is filled with Microsoft shills. Microsoft technology is the only valid solution to all technical problems. Want to use a good JS framework like Angular or Ember? Want to use common front-end tools like grunt, gulp, bower, browserify or something similar? You will not even make it out of your cube before you find out that won't be happening. Here are a few brief cons about development life at Paycor: * Micro-management to the extreme. Program managers, application development managers, and high level managers consistently attend SCRUMS and planning sessions and dictate what work and the quantity of work that the team should do. * Microsoft is the only way. There are countless senior level developers who passionately believe that HTML / JS / CSS are the devil and that we never should have veered from using Silverlight. * Accountability is non-existent and finger pointing runs rampant. The finger pointing is not even constructive, as it usually manifests itself in the form of a passive aggressive email sent to the entire team and managers. * Benefits are poor at best. Health care premiums are not cheap and deductibles are very high. It makes me wonder if Paycor contributes anything at all to the premium. Dental and vision are a joke. Bonus structure is also a joke, unless you come in as a very senior level developer. Forget about ever going to another conference / workshop unless you manage to find one in or around Cincinnati. * Severe lack of talent. Most developers have either been there for 6+ years or less than 2 years. Those that have been there for a long time generally have Paycor as their only professional job experience. Those that have been there for less time generally move on after a couple years. This causes a talent pool that consists of people whose only experience is Paycor, and relatively inexperienced developers with only a year or two of experience. There is a reason that there are no seasoned developers coming to Paycor and spending a significant amount of time here (see above reasons).

avatar
Paycor Response
11y
We take every current and former employee’s feedback seriously. Such input helps us to improve and to become a highly engaged, innovative and effective technology company that takes pride in delivering the best outcomes for our clients and associates. We started driving a significant transformation of our technology organization this year. While we are not abandoning the Microsoft technology stack, we focus on the best-of-breed solutions that fit our technology evolution strategy. For example, we have added usage of open source components in our software development lifecycle. We recently standardized on Selenium for test automation. Our Agile transformation commenced with full training of all of our technology staff earlier this year. As our teams went through the process of forming, storming, norming and performing stages, there were some conflicts within a small set of the teams. We had emphasized our company value of taking care of our peers and team members and building a trusting environment for innovation. We provided every engineer formal Agile training and invested in a full-time external Agile Coach and two internal coaches. Our Agile coaches and champions are continuously helping our teams to get better in all fronts of product development and delivery. We have seen significant improvements in our team dynamics and collaboration outcomes. As we heavily develop our existing team members, we also infuse star talents with strong SaaS/Cloud, Agile and Leadership capabilities, to accelerate our transformation and power our rapid business growth. During the last 4 months, we hired strong engineers and leaders at almost all levels. Many of them came to us from top technology companies that are well-known in the world. We have built a strong pipeline of prospect hires, including engineers with top-notch front-end and back-end development experience. We are steadily strengthening our total compensation package for our new and existing employees to remain competitive in the market.

Explore other reviews about Paycor

5.0
27 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great management and work from home.

Cons

Low pay…everything else was great

1.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Paycheck hits on time every two weeks.

Cons

I wanted to like working at Paycor. The product has potential and the pitch during the interview process sounded promising. But the reality of day-to-day life here is a far cry from what's advertised. Micromanagement is rampant. Leadership tracks every minute of your day — from login times to bathroom breaks — yet somehow trusts no one to make even the smallest decision independently. You're treated like a number, not a professional. There's zero autonomy, and any attempt to take initiative is quickly shut down. The leadership team is deeply out of touch. Many managers got their roles through tenure, not merit, and it shows. They struggle to answer basic questions about the industry, lean on buzzwords in meetings, and consistently make decisions that anyone with relevant experience would know to avoid. When things go wrong, blame rolls downhill fast. The culture is toxic and cliquey. If you're not in the right social circle, advancement is nearly impossible. Favoritism is blatant, feedback is rarely constructive, and the "open door policy" is a joke — speak up and you'll find yourself quietly pushed out. The work environment doesn't help either. High turnover means institutional knowledge constantly walks out the door. Morale is low, burnout is high, and HR seems more interested in protecting the company than the employees.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All