Employees from anumber of companies told the WSJ they were encouraged orpressured to give their employers good reviews online. (Image:Shutterstock)
Glassdoor, the website where employees post reviews ofemployers, can be a major liability for a company. Disgruntledworkers can anonymously slime their former workplaces,damaging the company's reputation and making itharder to recruit talent.
|It's no wonder then that some employers have tried to boosttheir rating on Glassdoor by getting sympathetic workers to postpositive reviews.
|The Wall Street Journal recently undertook aninvestigation of millions of anonymous reviews on the website. Theinvestigation revealed patterns that suggested concerted efforts bycompanies to flood the website with flattering reviews of theircompensation and culture.
|Related: Polls: Reviewing a company anonymously onGlassdoor
|More than 400 companies saw their ratings skyrocket in responseto a sudden surge of positive reviews in a single month.
|Overall, the percentage of reviews that gave an employer afive-star rating has steadily increased in recent years. At thebeginning of 2013, only 17 percent of reviews awarded an employerthe top rating. That rose to 20 percent in 2015, 24 percent in 2017and 28 percent at the end of last year.
|One obvious effort to boost ratings came from Guaranteed Rate,the mortgage lender. In an email, the company told employees theyhad a “collective responsibility” to enhance the company'sreputation on Glassdoor, encouraging them to post positive reviews.In September, the company received over 200 positive reviews,compared to only 20 during the first eight months of the year.
|SpaceX, the space exploration company led by Elon Musk, has also encouraged workers to laudthe company on Glassdoor. A company recruiter even touted herefforts to boost the company's rating on her Linkedin profile.
|In a tight labor market, where talent is hard to come by,employers are particularly sensitive to their online reputation,Andy Challenger, vice president of Challenger, Gray &Christmas, tells the Journal.
|“Glassdoor is the most dominant company reviews website by far,”says Challenger.
|Employees from a number of companies told the Journal aboutbeing encouraged or pressured to give their employers good reviewsonline.
|The trends threaten to undermine Glassdoor's credibility as asource for accurate information. Glassdoor has suggested thatmanipulation by employers is not the only reason a company mayexperience an uptick in positive reviews. That can also correspondwith a hiring surge, for instance.
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