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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

#321

Post by Jach »

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.

Nitpick: Unless you're confusing "evidence" and "proof", absence of evidence is evidence of absence. Proof: http://oyhus.no/absence/index.html

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#322

Post by mratzloff »

mushufasa wrote: post #215

There are so many comments here complaining about Glassdoor's business model. I'm really genuinely curious -- what do you folks thing is a better option for them? Given the constraints that they are a job review site, and they have to make the service free to the people leaving reviews (low barrier to entry), how do you propose they make money as a sustainable business?

Why does everything need to be a business? It's a review site. You could run it for next to nothing.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#323

Post by digitalixus »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #143
sonaltr wrote: post #39

A few friends of mine work for a company that most would consider terrible. I know for a fact that when ex employees do leave bad reviews, they have a line to call Glassdoor, and get it taken down under promise of buying a new subscription or renew existing subscriptions. I know this because it's one of my friend's responsibilities - He does this on a monthly basis (based on the whims of the owner) The main use of Gl…

> The main use of Glassdoor as an employee is not the company reviews - it's for interview questions. I'll add that it's salary survey information as well. Similarly with Indeed. They've saved me a lot of time when I've had companies want to set me up with unpaid hours upon hours of interviews and testing while offering effectively half of what I was seeking, with few other benefits. At one company, the reviews did i…

> I'll add that it's salary survey information as well.

Not really. Here in Germany (where Glassdoor isn't even as popular as in US/English speaking countries) I've noticed the salary skews towards the low end because A) employers are bombing their profiles with fake salary figures and/or B) entry-level to lower-mid tier employees are more likely to drop numbers. Can't imagine how much worse the propagation of false info is in other countries where Glassdoor is more popular.

Specifically in Berlin, where "bErLiN iS a PoOr N cHeAp CiTy So ThE sAlArIeS aReN't HiGh" might as well be a meme because it's the standard welcome message for foreigners, if you negotiate your pay based on Glassdoor info, you're going to be screwing yourself out of thousands of €€€.

None of the non-tech crowd is going to admit they're being paid 55-65k brutto (before taxes) with 3-5 years of experience. I know people like this and have seen their payslips so I know they aren't lying. You only hear about the non-techies making 24-35k from their small startups or Zalando.

Same for dev/tech. You'll only hear the same bit of info that "45-60k is a LOT for a dev with 5-10 years experience, because cost of living in Berlin is low (it's not) so come on over and relocate!". The devs/engineers making 65k starting with 2 years of experience, mid-level devs pulling 70-90k and management/directors pulling 120-200k in Berlin aren't opening their mouths.

If I put my tinfoil hat on, I'd say there's a concerted effort in Europe to keep salaries down by keeping information suppressed/spreading lies (I see this a lot on Reddit/HN too in the form of comments)

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#325

Post by ataturk »

NorthOf33rd wrote: post #73
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 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…

My last job was like that in many ways--kind of small shop, everyone up in my business. I finally decided that since I already have a real family (unlike some of those a-holes) I really don't need theirs at all.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#326

Post by PeterCorless »

jorblumesea wrote: post #295
jecxjo wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Exactly. In Engineering, you are competing with Silicon Valley and NYC as well as the scrappiest folks in Sao Paolo, Lagos, Novosibirsk, Chennai or Zagreb. The best coders with the best management team wins. But only if they get paid to stick around long enough to reach production. Otherwise folk walk. Human expertise and intellectual capacity has a value; you've got to be willing to pay what the market demands.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#327

Post by aerovistae »

skookumchuck wrote: post #316
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…

Like everyone, I know lots of divorced couples. If you listen to the man, his ex is 100% to blame. If you listen to the woman, her ex is 100% to blame. So when I hear a rant from someone about their ex, their boss, etc., I nod sympathetically and think to myself "I wonder what that person would say about you."

Agreed, I do the same.

That said, for what it's worth, I've worked at five companies now and 3 out of 5 were great. The fourth is the one discussed in this thread, and the fifth had 3 hours of meetings per day for every engineer.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#328

Post by ataturk »

mindcrime wrote: post #186
Udik wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a large number of negative reviews is a strong "stay away" signal. A small number... Unfortunately that's unreliable, because negative reviews are removed, so numbers are fake.

Unfortunately that's unreliable, because negative reviews are removed, so numbers are fake. Right, but there is no one signal that is definitive (IMO). So looking at this is just one part of evaluating a prospective employer. That said, I have seen negative reviews on Glasdoor, so we know they don't all get removed.

It's 2019, all online reviews are bullshit.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#329

Post by decebalus1 »

president wrote: post #218
decebalus1 wrote: post #61

Honestly, the only place where you can currently get genuine company reviews today is Blind, if you can stomach the trolling. The so-called 'kool-aid drinkers' or 'hr puppets' are called out (often humorously) all the time. For Glassdoor, I am not surprised, this is not news. I interviewed at an awful company once which had stellar - I mean actually straight-A's 'nothing wrong here, we're the best, if God came down f…

They had a leak recently, I wouldn't trust them with your work email...

The rule is to not trust any online entity ever. That's just common sense. So everything you write online anonymously should be filtered by the 'What would I feel if this text will appear next to my name and my company name in the New York Times tomorrow morning' filter.

Re: Companies Manipulate Glassdoor by Inflating Rankings and Pressuring Employees

#330

Post by kansface »

The capture of rating agencies by the entities they would rate seems to be common if not inevitable given the incentives - the companies being rated have a strong financial incentive to fix their ratings while at the same time, the consumers don't pay for the service. So, the agencies eventually go after the only money in play and turn into a protection racket, and perhaps make room in the market for a new agency subject to the same incentives.
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