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The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

careerfair.io

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Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#3
I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston.

When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment.

At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company.

The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when I contacted Glassdoor they said there was no issue.

A week later my own review was removed for a generic content policy violation.

Goes without saying I don't trust Glassdoor for much.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#4
I remember working at a company that got frequently mentioned as “one of the best places to work in CITY”, and a few months into my tenure one of the HR employees circulated the website to go vote for our company on the “best places to work in CITY” website.

I think Glassdoor is basically grievances by employees, some of whom are unreasonable, and fake counter-reviews by HR/marketing. I generally just look at the complaints and gauge how unrealistic they sound.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#5

I used to work at Desktop Metal which was (at the time) a pretty small startup here in Boston. When I left, I wrote a pretty negative review on Glassdoor about what I felt was a toxic work environment. At the time I submitted my review, there were probably about 10 reviews for the company. The very next day after my review was posted, about 7 positive reviews popped up. Obviously pretty suspicious behavior, but when…

Yep, I noticed the exact same thing. Glassdoor is a complete scam, and it has been for as long as I've had a career. I do not even check anymore.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#7
I once worked at a company that started getting a slew of bad Glassdoor reviews. The reviews were real; the company leadership had been making some bad choices and the reviews reflected it. So they sent out messages in the company chatroom, asking people to leave positive reviews.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#8
post #2

Article focuses on fake positive reviews, but I wouldn't be surprised if leaving fake negative reviews on a competitor was also a thing

The real 4D chess move is fake negative reviews of your own company that are so unreasonable in content they cast doubt on other negative reviews.

This seems like an unsolvable problem with online reviews in general. However I generally find Google Maps reviews for restaurants fairly reliable. You'd think with the amount of data they slurp up they could cut out fake reviews based on location data alone. Maybe it's just confirmation bias on my end though.

Re: The underground economy of Glassdoor reviews

#9
The Yelp of employment sites.

Glassdoor generates revenue through advertising and 'employer branding solutions'. Companies looking to advertise their job listings and showcase their reputation are charged for these services.

Reviews in general have grown unreliable as incentive alignments have shifted.

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