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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

#291

Post by joejerryronnie »

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.

Can people just log into meetings remotely? This seems to work fine for us, in any given meeting we have people physically in the office, WFH, working remotely, calling in from the road, etc.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#292

Post by ip26 »

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.

Amazon's "most helpful negative review" feature is good. Most 1-star ratings tend to be zero effort and are a useless chore to read, but if the product secretly has lead or is prone to early failure or whatever, that will almost certainly be highlighted in the "most helpful negative".

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#293

Post by bartread »

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.

> My reply: I quit on the spot -- no two-week notice, I just left.

I think you might be my new hero: that's a fantastic response to a dick move. I just don't get people who treat employees like crap: it's no road to long-term success or satisfaction. Hope you managed to find something better afterwards.

My experience of being a manager and leader is that these roles, if anything, expose your own human fallibility like nothing else so there's no mileage at all in acting like a smartass to the people who work for you. A little humility goes a long way.

Also, thanks for making me laugh.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#294

Post by ghostly_s »

RomanPushkin wrote: post #242

It's not only about Glassdoor. There is also censorship in HN's "Who Is Hiring" threads. You can't say a bad word about a company, even if you reworded and your question is within the post rules.

Well, they also allow companies to publish want ads to the front page with comments disabled, and no indication that they are paid placements. But HN also doesn't bill itself as a neutral review aggregator.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#295

Post by jorblumesea »

jecxjo wrote: post #276
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 worked in an area where the nearest competition was hundreds of miles away. When the engineering staff would question upper management and HR during annual meetings about competitive wages they would always state that we were extremely competitive for our location. After working there for nearly a decade and a half I moved to another state, about 300 miles away and my pay nearly doubled. Doing my exit interview I s…

It seems like a really backwards view to see your company as the "only game in town". Physically, it might be true, but you're competing with remote only companies, and regional competing cities. You're also indirectly competing with hubs such as California or Seattle where jobs are plentiful.

This is a really interesting comment, thanks for sharing.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#296

Post by throwaway032120 »

dunpeal wrote: post #80

Some of the worst companies I ever encountered also had the best Glassdoor reviews and scores. Sounds ironic, but makes perfect sense when you consider: 1. When a system is so easy to game simply by acting dishonestly, score will correlate with unscrupulous willingness to lie to your future workforce. 2. For these kinds of unscrupulous terrible employers, Glassdoor is seen as nothing more than an easy way to market t…

I've seen and heard plenty of horror stories from companies with good Glassdoor scores.

I wonder how many people lie to themselves when evaluating their jobs.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#297

Post by jameane »

Now I don't even post Glassdoor reviews until I have been gone for 6 months or more. And particularly with a small team, wait until there is significant turnover so my review won't be easily attributed to me.

I have worked at a few places, when responding to Glassdoor reviews, have sent out a solicitation to current employees to leave review to drown out the negative ones.

It's too bad what started as a good way to get some insight into companies has turned over once it monetizes...

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#298

Post by everybodyknows »

dlubarov wrote: post #224
siruncledrew wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 intern…

> ... no effect on reviews

Looking now at the web UI, can you offer any insight into how "Yelp sort" -- the default -- decides which reviews to push out the back pages?

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#299

Post by throwaway032120 »

sandrobfc wrote: post #79

Isn't it possible to rig Glassdoor by using multiple accounts? It may be harder to achieve in huge corporations, but for small companies, it's way too easy to make the bad reviews seem meaningless. In any case, it's easy to spot when a review isn't honest, good or bad. They often seem scripted, pointing out some bad aspects that aren't really bad, and highlighting the same upsides over and over again. It's just a que…

> Isn't it possible to rig Glassdoor by using multiple accounts?

Yes, they don't check your identity.

And HR departments have paid to improve companies public perception... It's easy to guess they'll spend time rigging Glassdoor.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#300

Post by aerovistae »

drugme wrote: post #60
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…

Former employees that sit in dark rooms and write negative reviews in between shifts at the local convenience store. Wow - that sounds amazingly petty and vindictive. These people must have been a pure mindfuck to work for. Thank you for posting that, so that people looking for information about this company (Snowbound Software) can be adequately informed about what to expect in engaging in dealings of any kind with…

Right? They proved my point far more effectively than I could ever have done.
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