At Upwork, the world’s human and AI-powered work marketplace, feedback is more than just a management tool—it’s a cornerstone of the company’s investment in growth and development to strengthen its high-performance culture. 

In 2023, after evolving the performance management process to support clearer expectations,  measuring feedback quality became a clear need: without visibility into how feedback was being given—or whether it was truly actionable—there was no clear path to ensuring that feedback was consistently fueling development, trust, and performance across the organization.

Managers didn't always know what good feedback looked like, which led to vague comments, exaggerated praise, and fixed-mindset language. Employees, in turn, reported uncertainty about how they were performing and what steps they could take to drive business outcomes. 

To seize this opportunity for improvement, Upwork turned to Textio’s AI-enabled feedback tool as part of a broader performance system redesign—reflecting the company’s broader embrace of AI to enhance how people work. The goal was to make feedback more actionable, inclusive, and measurable.

When Erin L. Thomas, PhD, Head of Culture, Inclusion, and Leader Engagement at Upwork, reflected on their original feedback process, she saw an opportunity: “We didn’t have enough insight into feedback and what it looked like. We wanted to benchmark, and start measuring what we didn’t know.”

The goal wasn’t just to collect more data—it was to improve the overall quality of performance feedback. Internal surveys suggested that while feedback was happening, it wasn’t always landing in the most effective way.

Textio’s initial impact report helped bring that into focus. Amanda Rogers, a talent development leader at Upwork, shared: “Our employees were getting vague feedback, such as exaggerations and clichés. Managers were not consistently providing the actionable insights that team members needed.” 

By identifying common patterns, Upwork was able to start building a more consistent, actionable feedback culture that better supported employee development.

Upwork’s decision to adopt Textio stemmed from both practical and strategic motivations. On a practical level, managers were pressed for time. Textio’s AI-powered platform provided an immediate way to reduce friction and help leaders write better feedback faster.

On a strategic level, Textio’s insights gave Upwork’s managers a clear understanding of where their performance feedback lacked clarity or actionability—empowering them to coach more effectively and build a stronger culture of growth.

Upwork integrated Textio’s Feedback tool into its regular review cycles, and the results came quickly: 

• Cycle-over-cycle improvement: Managers’ feedback grew more specific and actionable with each cycle. Non-actionable comments were flagged and reduced, while growth-oriented advice became more common.

• Closing equity gaps: Analysis revealed differences in feedback quality across demographic groups narrowing over time, helping the company advance its inclusion efforts.

• Employee sentiment: Feedback surveys showed employees received and appreciated the clearer, more actionable feedback. As Amanda noted, “In addition to the Textio analysis, people also report an improvement in the feedback they received.”  

These changes weren’t only visible in the data, they were felt by employees. Erin shared anecdotes of managers realizing their own shortcomings with writing feedback, like writing overly verbose feedback or defaulting to vague encouragement.

One of the most powerful aspects of Textio was its ability to show direct correlations between use of the tool and higher-quality feedback. Erin emphasized that this wasn’t just about longitudinal improvement but about proving causation:

This data story was critical in securing continued resourcing and reinforcing the tool’s value internally. For a company like Upwork that’s committed to measurable outcomes, these insights made the difference between an interesting experiment and a sustained investment. 

While Textio was brought in to improve feedback, its features have extended into other critical areas of performance management.

Amanda highlighted the integration of SMART goals measurement as a pleasant surprise: “For us, goals are such an underpinning to impact and performance. Being able to use Textio to measure goal quality has been a game-changer.” The value of Textio with regard to SMART goals is about more than measurement. Its support for employees in crafting higher-quality goals aligned to the SMART framework, and insights about goal quality. 

Through Textio’s analytics, Upwork was able to measure that 89% of employees’ SMART goals were Relevant, but only 60% were Measurable. These insights surface clearer opportunities to support employees with crafting higher-quality goals.

Additionally, new features that generate feedback tied to company values have strengthened alignment between day-to-day conversations and organizational priorities. As Diversity Business Partner Angela Ju explained, connecting AI-generated feedback suggestions to company values provides more relevant feedback.

Upwork’s leaders offered two lessons for peers considering Textio:

1. Pair tools with strategy: A tool is only as effective as the system it supports. Build training, enablement, and cultural alignment alongside Textio adoption.
   
   
2. Look for unexpected wins: Features like SMART goals measurement or values-tied feedback may unlock value beyond an original use case.

Upwork’s partnership with Textio demonstrates how intentional use of technology can help evolve workplace culture and fuel growth and development. By tackling non-actionable feedback head on, Upwork improved clarity of expectations, equitable feedback, and professional growth across its organization. Managers saved time, employees gained actionable insights, and the company deepened its commitment to inclusion. 

As Erin summarized, the greatest impact may be the awareness itself: