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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

#261

Post by agentdrtran »

NotHereNotThere wrote: post #118
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…

Since you opted to reveal the company's name (Snowbound software), I went ahead and read the reviews on GlassDoor. Your review is very emotionally charged and with very few facts or examples, which makes it difficult to take seriously. Since you were fired I can understand why you would write like this, but it is a bit ironic considering the article is about manipulating reviews. Yours is scathing indeed, but not in…

While his isn't great, the other reviews absolutely look planted or suspiciously good.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#262

Post by donretag »

Fakespot needs to get into the Glassdoor game. They already analyze Yelp.

Some companies are just not subtle about their reviews, just like on Yelp. You will see a flurry of positive reviews posted within days from each other. Or some have straight marketing talk.

I do find it interesting that some of the worst companies I have worked for have been averages than some of the good ones, but I guess that is the point of the article. These bad companies need to boost their ratings since they are bad.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#263

Post by zaphod12 »

kevstev wrote: post #195
commandlinefan wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in an area with lots of employers, but 20 years ago I did some job-hopping (four jobs in four years between 95 and 99), and that STILL comes up as a negative in job interviews. If you bail on too many bad managers, you can find yourself locked out anyway.

At this point you should just have a >20 years ago section on there (I would label it "prior history" myself), and include projects you worked on. That's over 20 years ago. Unless you worked on something you really want to highlight, just fudge them altogether. I am guessing you don't work in tech in the US though? I was a bit worried about doing a third "three and out" while looking, and 10 years prior in finance, i…

Oh man, I know what you mean - it's kind of crazy. When I'm at a company for more then 2 years, recruiters start joking that I'm an old timer and must be dying for a change! I'm all for moving when the time is right, but I like my job and looking for a new one is stressful!

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#264

Post by [deleted] »

kortilla wrote: post #229
throwaway5752 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#265

Post by Phlarp »

Zaheer wrote: post #203

I'm from Levels.fyi and we're in early stages of launching Company reviews. Would love suggestions on how we can build the best review experience. Feel free to comment or DM at: hello@levels.fyi

Read the thread and it should be relatively obvious: Don't sell out and let companies alter, remove, bury, hide or disguise negative reviews (or do so on the companies behalf).

If you really want to beat the incumbents scrape their sites and rehost the deleted content. (If they DMCA you then publish the DMCA notice and note which company the content was related to and when it was published/removed/DMCA'd so as to preserve a record of removed reviews related to that company)

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#266

Post by bartread »

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…

> I've had negative reviews flat out removed by a company that was paying glass door for some sort of premium service.

You don't even need to pay Glassdoor. At $PREVIOUS_EMPLOYER I managed to get a negative review by an employee who we'd let go removed just by asking them.

Don't be too horrified yet because it gets worse: I stand by asking them to remove it. The review was extremely negative and posted by somebody who, in the less than 3 months they worked for us, had been nothing but trouble: lazy, arrogant, obnoxious, demanding, complaining, entitled. Nothing was ever good enough for this person, and they absolutely slagged us off in the review as a result.

No company is perfect but the criticism was entirely unfair, so I asked Glassdoor to remove it, explaining why in reasonable detail. They could have refused and there would have been nothing I could do, but within a few days it was gone. Funny thing was that I wasn't even in love with $PREVIOUS_EMPLOYER myself at the time[1], but the review was so out of order that it simply pissed me off.

Your situation sounds quite different, with objective grounds for grievance, so I can certainly understand the frustration.

[1] This is something of an understatement: I was by this point hugely disillusioned, but the review still offended my sense of fair play.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#267

Post by john_moscow »

burtonator wrote: post #106
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…

I don't understand why you would want to be a shitty boss. Not only is it good karma but it's good business. Loyal employees are awesome. Any bump in the road and they have your back. Maybe when you're some massive megacorp it makes sense but I hope I'm never to the point where I have to run a mathematical calculation on whether it makes sense to treat people with respect.

Because the type of people that tends to stick at middle management positions is the one that's good at kissing ass to their bosses. Now if you're stuck kissing ass all day, for your own self-esteem's sake you need to show power over someone less "important" by making them suffer. There's no logic here, no mathematical calculations done, just petty emotions and selection bias.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#268

Post by mikestew »

donretag wrote: post #262

Fakespot needs to get into the Glassdoor game. They already analyze Yelp. Some companies are just not subtle about their reviews, just like on Yelp. You will see a flurry of positive reviews posted within days from each other. Or some have straight marketing talk. I do find it interesting that some of the worst companies I have worked for have been averages than some of the good ones, but I guess that is the point of…

Some companies are just not subtle about their reviews

Here, let me help seed that ML algorithm:

"Advice to management: keep doing what you're doing!"

Not hotdog. I'm shocked at how many times I see that. It's like the HR people all went to the same convention at some point.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#269

Post by bradlys »

bduerst wrote: post #210
tomatotomato37 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The level of discourse on this place is horrid; it's like a SV 4chan. Why does a workplace opinion site need a "relationships" category anyway?

Yeah, I just checked it out and the topics seem like troll bait with toxic comments. People actually verify their identity with their employer before posting these things?

I mean, all you're identifying with is that you have a company email address. That's all that is known. For really big orgs, this is not an issue.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#270

Post by cableshaft »

commandlinefan wrote: post #156
chaostheory wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

imo this is endemic in areas with poor job markets where there's really about 1 or 2 large employers. It's not just time to leave the company; you need to leave the whole area as well.

I'm in an area with lots of employers, but 20 years ago I did some job-hopping (four jobs in four years between 95 and 99), and that STILL comes up as a negative in job interviews. If you bail on too many bad managers, you can find yourself locked out anyway.

I was going to say why are you including jobs from 20 years ago on your resume, but you probably live in a place where they want CVs, right?
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