Built by SMB Veterans for SMB Victories

After 15 years and 1,500+ SMB clients, we know what makes performance management work for growing companies.

We've supported clients through review cycles, manager adoption challenges, and the realities of building strong teams. We've seen what works. Upward365 is built on that foundation.

Why Practitioner Experience Builds Better Products

Practitioners optimize for what works in year three, not just what demos well.

We've spent 15 years focused on what matters most to SMBs: manager adoption, year-round context, and connecting performance to engagement. These aren't features we guessed would be useful. They're the features 1,500+ companies of all sizes and from many industries taught us they needed..

Manager adoption drives every design decision. When managers use the platform consistently, everyone wins. That's 15 years of retention data talking, not theory.

We built documentation into daily workflow. Notes, recognition, and feedback capture happens year-round through Flight Checks, Uplifts, and manager notes. The History Hub shows this context during review writing, which reduces recency bias and helps managers write better, fairer reviews.

We connected performance and engagement from the ground up. High performers with declining engagement become flight risks. Employees with high engagement but lagging performance often need coaching, not PIPs. Connected platforms surface these patterns so you can act on them. That's the insight that helps you keep your best people and develop everyone else.

SelectSoftware Reviews shows 71% of companies still conduct annual reviews. We built Flight Checks, Uplifts, Meeting Builder, and Notes to make year-round performance management feel natural, not like extra work.

Built for How SMBs Work

We've spent 15 years working almost exclusively with SMBs. We know your world. You may not have dedicated HR teams. Your managers wear multiple hats. You need tools that work without extensive training or ongoing administration—and you need those tools coupled with unequivocal human support.

That's why we focused on the features that drive adoption and deliver results. We know which ones matter because we've tracked usage across over 1,500 implementations.

SMB-specific also means pricing that scales sensibly—$7 per employee for performance, $4 for engagement, or $10 for both. We keep our commitments straightforward and our promise simple: we refuse to be out-serviced.

According to Gallup research, only 31% of employees are engaged. For SMBs, every person's engagement has a visible impact. That's why engagement data matters as much as performance data for your size company, and why we built both modules at a price point that makes sense.

What Practitioner Experience Looks Like

Practitioner experience means we've done implementations and answered the support calls, not just built the features.

We know what happens at 3pm Friday before a Monday review deadline. We've talked managers through the "I can't submit this review" moment. We've helped HR directors explain to executives why participation rates matter. We've coached companies through their first 360-degree review cycle and their fiftieth.

That experience shows up in product design. Our home dashboard shows a clear to-do queue because we know users want to find "what do I owe right now" fast. Our review workflow has progress indicators because people want to know how close they are to being done. And our reports use flexible filters instead of rigid templates, because we learned that's what actually serves customers

SHRM research shows that 47% of people who change jobs cite poor culture as their reason for leaving. Culture concerns show up in engagement data before they show up in exit interviews. That's why we built engagement as a core module: so you can see the warning signs while you can still do something about them.

Service That Shows Up

We've maintained 5% annual churn while the industry average hovers around 15% to 25%. The difference? Service—and really listening to what our customers are saying.

Real people answer the phone. Things get resolved quickly. Implementation support doesn't disappear after launch. When you have a problem, we provide the guidance you need.

That's the model we're committed to because we know it drives results for you and for us. Features get you in the door. Service keeps you there.

This extends to how we think about your success. We're building what SMBs need: performance and engagement connected, at the right price, with support that shows up when you need it.

That's what over 15 years and more than 1,500 clients have taught us.

What 15 Years Taught Us

Every practitioner has lessons learned. Here's what 1,500+ implementations taught us.

Connected performance and engagement data changes everything. When you can see both, you make better decisions about retention, development, and culture.

Manager adoption is paramount. Managers drive usage. That's why every feature decision starts with taking the pain out of the process and asking, "will managers actually use this?"

Fewer features that work perfectly beat more features that check boxes. Upward365 is feature-rich, but every feature earns its place. Focus creates better experiences for everyone.

Transparent, fair pricing builds trust. The SMBs who grew with us became advocates because we treated them fairly from day one.

Service infrastructure matters. Customer success isn't a cost center. It's how you build relationships that last.

These are decisions we make every day based on what we've learned.

The Questions Worth Asking

When evaluating any performance management platform, these questions help surface experience and fit.

What's your customer retention rate? Teams with deep experience know exactly where they stand and are proud to share it.

What drives manager adoption in your experience? Look for answers that prioritize ease of use, along with change management, training approach, and workflow design."

How do you connect performance management and employee engagement? Platforms that connect them from the start were built by people who understand why both matter.

Who answers when I need support during a review cycle? The answer should be specific: response time commitments, escalation paths, real humans available during critical windows.

What Happens Next

You're not buying software. You're buying accumulated judgment about what works in SMB performance management.

We know the difference between impressive demos and sustainable daily usage. We know which features drive adoption and which ones just take up space. We know what support looks like when it matters most.

We've been where you are: working to build strong teams with limited resources and high expectations. We've supported 1,500+ SMBs through this journey. We know what works.

Upward365 is built on a foundation of connected insights about how people perform and how they feel, designed for manager adoption, priced right for SMBs, with service that shows up.