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Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

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Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#161

Post by jrs235 »

freedomben wrote: post #130
NorthOf33rd wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just sat through a company wide "Sensitivity Training" at my company (which I'm very much looking forward to leaving, and leaving a review for,) where "We're a family" was repeated ad nausium. I was a little shocked that this was coming from HR and Staff. It was almost a cultish call and response of bullshit. The reality is, we're not family. I don't have to be sensitive to my family. If I don't like them, I can sa…

> The contrarian jerk in me really wanted to yell an epithet during training and say something along the lines of "What, if we're a family, I'm the racist uncle that your dad keeps inviting to dinner despite his offensive tirades and uncomfortable leering at your sister. LOL. But in general I very much agree. Equating a workplace with a family is gross, and a bit cult-ish. I do think the workplace (and the world) wou…

Family as a reference is horrible. Everyone has a different family dynamic and experience. Some families have unconditional loyalty, others have abusive controlling members, the list of dysfunctions is endless. The cult should be formed around "a team" that has shared values and operates upon agreed acceptable behaviors.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#162

Post by allenu »

newsreader wrote: post #131
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."

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.

Wow, any more details? That must've been cathartic.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#163

Post by sct202 »

clavalle wrote: post #40

To be fair, people tend to post on Glassdoor when they have a negative experience. I was dinged for having the audacity of asking a potential data analyst hire simple SQL questions...and SQL was listed on their resume.

A parallel team just hired a contractor that said they knew SQL, Access, VBA, etc. I've been training them and they were mad struggling to write a left join during training; I am 100% for making people write simple SQL to prove it. There were even examples readily available.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#164

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#165

Post by mrfredward »

snicker7 wrote: post #94
alexandercrohde wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the natural cycle of the internet. 1. Be a nobody company 2. Utilize generous user content to build up an important knowledge-base/economy 3. People begin to trust the information in the system and come to rely on it 4. Sell-out entirely and make a lot of money letting people buy influence 5. People abandon the site realizing it has no signal anymore (Digg, Reddit, Amazon, Glassdoor, experts-exchange, facebook,…

HN as an exception? Astroturfing seems pretty common here.

Whatever astroturfing happens comes from uninvited guests, HN itself isn't trying to sell anything, aside from providing a community that is useful for YC startups, and in general I think the mods and the community do a good job keeping away the spammy stuff.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#166

Post by anaolykarpov »

muttech wrote: post #119
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."

That brings back bad memories of my first day at a new job. We had discussed in the interview that they were flexible with the time I got there. On the first day, one of the first questions I was asked: New Boss: "So, what time will you be here every day?" Me: "I thought we had discussed that being flexible as traffic can be unpredictable?" New Boss: "We are flexible on the time, but you have to be here by that time…

Wouldn't it have worked to say "I'll be here no later than 11:00 AM"?

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#167

Post by 52-6F-62 »

ddebernardy wrote: post #93
decebalus1 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say goodbye to the rest of your day: https://www.teamblind.com/articles/Topics

Just took a brief look, and it all looked like whining and trolling. Am I missing something?

I got the same impression. Not to mention ill-informed in many cases...

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#169

Post by griffinkelly »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #36

Yeah this happened at my old employer. They got one bad (warranted) review and told everyone to get on their phones (off the company network) to give good reviews. They'd push this initiative occasionally. I reported it to Glassdoor and they never did anything about it.

Same behavior at my old employer. Its funny, every time you see one negative review on GD, you'll then see 15 consecutive positive ones

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#170

Post by distances »

mturmon wrote: post #149
sevensor wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 also am strongly allergic to the "family" analogy with the workplace. It should not be analogized to that - even though management sometimes likes to do it. You can leave a company, or the company can lay you off, or re-org and divest your department. After a year, you will not go to the company picnic. Just won't happen. Not a family.

> You can leave a company, or the company can lay you off, or re-org and divest your department. After a year, you will not go to the company picnic. Just won't happen. Not a family.

Just as a small anecdote: this can happen. I do go to occasional picnics and parties my previous company chooses to make open to former employees. I'm already looking forward to an upcoming office-warming party, as I expect to see a bunch of old colleagues I really enjoyed working with.

There was not a single asshole during my time there. I resigned (over a year ago) to get some fresh challenges, so no bad blood either.

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