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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

#221

Post by thatfrenchguy »

victor9000 wrote: post #175
muttech wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This was the policy I implemented with my team and everyone thought it was pretty reasonable. It's basically pick your schedule, but stick to it. Otherwise scheduling meetings becomes unmanageable. That being said, I was also very clear about the policy during the interview process.

Core hours sounds like a more sensible policy to me.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#223

Post by yellowapple »

tyfon wrote: post #208
philbarr wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's great to be able to do this but you need to have back ups first. So find a new job whilst "jokingly" suggesting to your boss you need a raise. Then you actually ask for a meeting and a raise and when he/she laughs you off as you knew they would you resign on the spot and go to your new job you had lined up. With the hope that he/she will see their mistake and not treat the remaining employees that way. The probl…

> The problem with this strategy is you can never go back. Reading all these stories about bad managers and stuff, do managers and employees take things personal in the US? So if you leave for a better deal you actually will make personal problems between employer end employee? Whenever someone under me quits for a better deal or another job that I can't match I tell them "good luck and thanks for the time you shared…

Sounds like you're actually a decent supervisor, unlike the examples presented in this thread.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#224

Post by dlubarov »

siruncledrew wrote: post #101
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…

Glassdoor is basically workplace Yelp. It started out useful for job hunting, now it's also a gamed system with pay-for-PR.

FWIW, Yelp advertising has no effect on reviews. Allegedly some sales reps claimed that they could manipulate reviews, but such claims would have been empty threats/promises. This has been tested in court several times; see e.g. the 9th circuit's opinion on Levitt v. Yelp! Inc:

> the business owners pled insufficient facts to make out a plausible claim that Yelp authored negative reviews of their businesses

(I interned at Yelp in 2009.)

Edit: This is what Yelp says about it: https://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#225

Post by kortilla »

tyfon wrote: post #208
philbarr wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's great to be able to do this but you need to have back ups first. So find a new job whilst "jokingly" suggesting to your boss you need a raise. Then you actually ask for a meeting and a raise and when he/she laughs you off as you knew they would you resign on the spot and go to your new job you had lined up. With the hope that he/she will see their mistake and not treat the remaining employees that way. The probl…

> The problem with this strategy is you can never go back. Reading all these stories about bad managers and stuff, do managers and employees take things personal in the US? So if you leave for a better deal you actually will make personal problems between employer end employee? Whenever someone under me quits for a better deal or another job that I can't match I tell them "good luck and thanks for the time you shared…

The issue with the strategy wasn’t leaving for a better job, that’s fine. It’s quitting on the spot without notice.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#226

Post by RandallBrown »

sbs7 wrote: post #216
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,…

Hmm. How do you buy influence on Reddit or Amazon?

Not sure about Amazon, but this website for Reddit and Quora looks pretty easy. https://upvotes.io

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#227

Post by kevstev »

I have long suspected this, I actually discussed this about a year ago in an HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17027287

To restate- I think there are tells you can use to figure out when reviews are being manipulated:

Does the distribution make sense? Is it "hollow" in the middle and surrounded by 1's and 5's? Are the 5's just a bit over the top, do they sound overly generic, like there is no passion behind them and/or written in the same style?

Does the data add up? Does everyone seem to love the CEO but the overall rating is low, or vice versa?

Are the complaints a lot more consistent with the compliments? Even if they aren't being manipulative, if everyone is bitching about the hours or deadline pressure, then there is probably something to it. That can also work the other way too.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#228

Post by joezydeco »

mindcrime wrote: post #47

My approach to Glasdoor reviews is similar to my approach to Amazon reviews... ignore the positive reviews, and focus on the negative ones. Now, "absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence", but a large number of negative reviews is a strong "stay away" signal. A small number of negative reviews is, more or less regardless of the positive reviews, a "neutral" indicator to me.

I interviewed with a company just last month that had a string of awful Glassdoor reviews - all mentioning the same internal problem.

During the on-site interviews I asked multiple employees about the situation. They had no response, but I got a call from the HR director shortly afterward wishing to clear the air about my questions.

Her explanation was that 1) the internal employees don't read Glassdoor so they weren't aware/able to answer my questions, and 2) it was one disgruntled employee that bombed the multiple bad reviews all over the site.

This all just raised more red flags, so I walked. I have no idea how they can fix this situation. But I agree - a slew of bad reviews signals some kind of problem, but now it's up to you to do the legwork and sort it out.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#229

Post by kortilla »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #185
nsxwolf wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like how every company offers work from home after 5 and on weekends.

To be fair, no employee ever checks Facebook or posts on HN during work hours (ahem)? It cuts both ways.

That presumes there is something work-related that needed to be done during that time.

If you’re meeting your expectations, taking a 10 minute break to take a shit at work doesn’t mean you need to work 10 minutes at home.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#230

Post by SalesDevRep »

I've worked at good and bad companies that do this, and their number one target (in enterprise software at least) tends to be the SDR team - Sales Development Representatives. These are usually fresh college grads or salespeople with limited experience that are excited to take their first steps into the world of tech sales.

I've seen companies initiate SPIFF programs and other competitions as a way to incentivize new employees, sometimes with only days of experience, to post a glowing review of their new employer.

Before you work for a company, make sure to filter on Glassdoor and understand how many positive reviews are coming from "Sales Development" and "Business Development" reps. Don't get me wrong, their opinions are valid, but if you see a flood of very generic 5-star reviews, that's not a good sign.

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