"The upside is that..." and "on the upside, ..." can serve the same purpose: both introduce a good point in a trade-off, often after you admit a cost, delay, or limit.
This differs from describing size, as in "significant upside." Instead, the phrase opens or closes a complete trade-off statement, a common use of "upside" in workplace talk.
The pattern: acknowledge, then redeem
A common pattern is to name the setback first, then use either phrase to show what remains positive.
"The launch slipped two weeks. The upside is that we now have time to fix the onboarding bug before anyone sees it."
"On the upside, the vendor delay gives us more runway to finish the migration properly."
Notice the order in these examples: the setback comes first. The launch slipped, or the vendor is late; then the upside phrase introduces the good part. You can mention the upside first, but doing so changes the emphasis and delays the cost.
This pattern is common in casual settings, including Slack messages, meeting comments, and status updates. It can soften a setback without hiding it, so it often appears in quick messages rather than formal reports.
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See how Lyra Practice works →The one grammar rule: a full clause, not a fragment
In a standard complete sentence, "on the upside" takes a full clause with a subject and verb, not only a noun. This distinction is small but useful.
"On the upside, we're ahead of schedule" is natural — a full clause follows the phrase.
Now compare it with this less natural fragment.
"On the upside, ahead of schedule" would read as broken — "on the upside" needs a subject and a verb after it, not a dangling noun phrase.
"The upside is that..." signals a clause through the word "that," but "on the upside" has no such signal. Learners may therefore omit part of the clause; a comma cannot do the work of "that."
The one real risk: making something serious sound small
This pattern softens bad news, so it carries one risk: some news is too serious for this approach.
"On the upside, we're ahead of schedule" is a natural, welcome softener for an ordinary setback like a schedule slip elsewhere in the update.
The same cheerful opener sounds different when real harm is involved.
Opening a note about layoffs, a serious compliance failure, or genuine harm to a client with "on the upside, ..." sounds insensitive, even though the exact same phrase is fine for an everyday setback.
The phrase itself is not the issue; ask whether listeners would accept a softer tone in this situation. A missed two-week deadline may fit, but a round of layoffs does not. For serious events, state the facts directly and discuss any positive point later with care.
Choosing between the two forms
"On the upside" sounds lighter and more casual, while "the upside is that..." sounds more careful and suits formal updates. Both work in normal workplace settings, so match the choice to the full message. A quick Slack update may use "on the upside," while a client status report may use "the upside is that..."
Practice scenarios
Practice using the upside is and on the upside in these situations.
- softening a schedule slip in a status update without hiding the fact that it slipped
- writing a Slack message that acknowledges a setback and names what's still good
- deciding whether a situation is too serious for this kind of softener at all
- catching a fragment after "on the upside" and fixing it into a full clause
Useful practice phrases to try.
- "The launch slipped. The upside is that..."
- "On the upside, we now have time to..."
- "This isn't the outcome we wanted, but the upside is..."
- "That's too serious a situation for 'on the upside' — let's just state it plainly."
"On the upside" can soften bad news without denying it.
Use it for a normal setback. Do not use it to brush past real harm.
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