Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 500 posts

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#131

Post by newsreader »

sevensor wrote: post #62
fuzz4lyfe wrote: post #32

I've had negative reviews flat out removed by a company that was paying glass door for some sort of premium service. I extensively reviewed the rules and reworded my comments and they were removed yet again. My points were fully factually true and were not anything too untoward (pay raises were promised to members of a new team, they never materialized, most team members left). For what it's worth, Path Forward IT is…

> Flexibility works one way there A former boss put it like this, "Sure we have flex time! You can arrive any time before 8 and leave any time after 6."

Something similar happened to me. I asked my boss for a raise and his response was "a kick in the ass, that ought to raise you up a little". My reply: I quit on the spot -- no two-week notice, I just left.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#132

Post by _vn5r »

sevensor wrote: post #56
aerovistae wrote: post #16

You don't say! I used to work as an engineer at a truly awful little company, the worst I've been at, and when I left I gave them a scathing review. Not long after, several new reviews popped up. Here are some choice excerpts, get a load of this: > Pros: > For anyone reading these reviews, take it from someone who has been at this company for over 10 years, some people just like to use these review sites as a soundin…

Run from any prospective employer who tells you, "we're like a family." They mean it an all the worst ways. Feuding, dysfunction, racist uncles, getting kicked out of the house.

I can’t believe it took me to read this comment to realize this has been exactly my experience in those environments. Thank you for putting it that way, it clicked in me and now I’ll make a mental bookmark of it for future reference

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#133

Post by scirocco »

rashomon wrote: post #35
ticmasta wrote: post #18

This article kind of misses the entire point; Glassdoor and the rest of these "professional review" sites sell reputation management services to the company. They use the negative reviews to push other high margin services to the companies. The only one who should care about Glassdoor being gamed is Glassdoor executives; anyone looking for a honest and balanced review of a company workplace on Glassdoor is already ge…

It's the same business model as the Better Business Bureau and Yelp. It's a manufactured perspective. As a devil's advocate, how can a company expect to be viewed impartially if the only folks who review them have tempers raged enough to motivate them to leave a poor review in the first place? How can I, a potential employee, trust said-reviewer wasn't let go due to Silo'd mismanagement, personal issues or a company…

Remember: Reviews are written by the kind of people who write reviews

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#134

Post by AJ007 »

an4rchy wrote: post #109

I still do think reviews are the best way to get aggregated feedback on established (companies, products, restaurants etc). In order to normalize reviews for myself, I try go through them and sort by least and quickly skim a few reviews to see if it was something that was very personal/one-off to the affected person or more systematic and then it gives me a better picture. Obviously, no perfect way but would love to…

The whole issues of reviews and ratings remains a pretty big issue across all platforms. Some of these shortfalls may be unsolvable, like predicting a high consequence, low probability future action, like being murdered by your Uber driver.

A larger issue is platforms enabling the reviewed parties to game their reviews, e.g. Yelp, Glassdoor, and employee corruption. This is preventable.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#135

Post by ducktypegoose »

aerovistae wrote: post #16

You don't say! I used to work as an engineer at a truly awful little company, the worst I've been at, and when I left I gave them a scathing review. Not long after, several new reviews popped up. Here are some choice excerpts, get a load of this: > Pros: > For anyone reading these reviews, take it from someone who has been at this company for over 10 years, some people just like to use these review sites as a soundin…

How could someone write these words you quoted and not see the irony? I could understand wanting to respond to a scathing review you felt was unfair but it's one of those things as a normal person I would probably stop half way through and move on. Did this guy really keep going and post under different accounts? You're lucky you got out of there when you did.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#137

Post by gaius »

ta1548177231 wrote: post #52

And that's why there is Blind https://www.teamblind.com/articles/Topics I highly recommend everyone signs up their company and gives honest feedback there. Closing the Asymmetric Information gap will only help workers (the vast majority of us) make better choices about where to work, how much to charge employers and what really goes on (not the propaganda campaigns that are online resources and interviews)

Didn’t they have a de-anonymization incident recently? Signing up with real work address is madness.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#138

Post by sevensor »

commandlinefan wrote: post #77
sevensor wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Flexibility works one way there A former boss put it like this, "Sure we have flex time! You can arrive any time before 8 and leave any time after 6."

Let me guess, he laughed when he said it like he was super funny, too, right? Like when I used to ask one former boss which of the ten tasks he'd just assigned to me was highest priority he'd say, "yes!" and laugh like he'd just told the greatest joke and then run out of the room (seriously) before I could pin him down on an actual decision.

I think they teach this at management retreats.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#139

Post by rurp »

I flagged some posts and reported a former employer who was posting fake positive reviews in the most obvious way possible: 2-3 short generic positive reviews per week, all posted from the office during normal business hours.

Glassdoor did nothing and the company has a great rating, despite being a terrible place to work.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#140

Post by lowercased »

sevensor wrote: post #62
fuzz4lyfe wrote: post #32

I've had negative reviews flat out removed by a company that was paying glass door for some sort of premium service. I extensively reviewed the rules and reworded my comments and they were removed yet again. My points were fully factually true and were not anything too untoward (pay raises were promised to members of a new team, they never materialized, most team members left). For what it's worth, Path Forward IT is…

> Flexibility works one way there A former boss put it like this, "Sure we have flex time! You can arrive any time before 8 and leave any time after 6."

Colleagues at first job (fast food place): "Steve, I need a break!"

Steve (manager/owner): "I gave you a break when I hired you!"

Has stuck with me lo these 30+ years...

Post reply on HN