Have you ever paid a visit to glassdoor.com? We have, in fact it’s one of the first places we visit (and other sites like it) when we’re talking to a potential client. We want to see what the rest of the world is witnessing when they go to check the merits (or not) of a potential workplace.
Sometimes we’ll be recruiting for a company and a candidate will look at glassdoor and find less than positive reviews. We’ve even had people pull out of consideration for a position, stating that if this is a representation of working for the new potential employer, they want nothing to do with it. WHOA, wait a minute, really?
You see, glassdoor, and other sites like them, allow people to post anonymously to their site. There’s no verification about the factual basis of the post, nor can anyone confirm whether the current or former employee who is posting has ever actually been an employee. And I’m not beating up on glassdoor – we’ve all got to make a living. While I’m sure some employees have things to say about their company, not many are going to go the glassdoor route – no, many of them are going to go respectfully, ask questions or raise suggestions about how to make it better, not lash out anonymously on the internet slamming the very hand that feeds them. Granted, let me say this out loud right now – not every negative review is written by bitter people, some have things to say and they are warranted. But as you read reviews on one company, it becomes pretty obvious that out of several posts, the writing style of some appears to belong to one person. Can’t help myself for pointing that out. Oh, but that’s right, everything you read on the internet is true, right?
These sites act like magnets for the disgruntled, unhappy, and unhealthy masses that don’t always get their own way. One of our clients in particular has a couple of particularly nasty reviews out there because of an economic downturn after the government shut-down forced them to lay-off a number of people a couple of years ago. It pained the company to have to do it, they tried to do all the right things for the departing employees, but they let the employees go to save the business. Next thing you know, their organization is hell itself according to anonymous postings on glassdoor. Now, when this company is righting the ship and getting help to crawl out of the cultural minefield
created by the recession, they’re having a harder time hiring because a few people ground their axes in public, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Worse yet, it isn’t uncommon for us to work through a performance issue with a client’s employee, only to determine that the situation isn’t going to get better, and they end up parting ways. Invariably, there’ll be a new post to glassdoor within a day or two that isn’t based in truth but is based in the notion that someone has an axe to grind, and they do it in a way that has a lot more bravado than they would if they had to identify themselves – even if in the end the parting was pretty mutual.
So, let’s talk about Apple, not that Apple and glassdoor have too much in common except that Apple actually has great scores on glassdoor. There are something like 3,500 reviews of Apple out there. The overall score is 3.9 out of 5, 92% approve of the CEO, and 81% of the reviewers would recommend working there to friends. That being said, the cons all had one thing in common – long hours – though it didn’t seem to deteriorate the ratings too much.
But, I had an “aha” moment a couple of months back when I was presenting one of my favorite culture speeches. I had a slide showing the logos of several well-known companies and stated that all of them had invested considerable intention and effort into their internal brand and their culture. Apple happened to be one of those companies. I opened up the room to questions and one young man asked why I would have Apple included in my list of companies that invested intention and effort into their culture, adding that from what he knew
of the culture there, management were asses, they expected too much and too many hours, and it was something of a sweatshop.
Stop there – you see, many reviews out on Apple that said that the hours and expectations were high, also graded very highly about Apple being a great place to work. Case in point? Just because their culture doesn’t fit your ideal of a great culture, doesn’t mean it isn’t a great culture. If yours is driven by work/life balance, not coming anywhere close to bleeding edge, and a standard operating procedure kind of life, then Apple isn’t going to be for you. But, if you’re an Apple kind of person who thrives on inventing and creating the next thing that nobody knows they need yet, working a whole boat load of hours is probably going to feel less invasive in your life if you have a passion for the things you’re helping create.
We aren’t all built the same; everyone on the planet has a different definition of success. The biggest mistake you can make is assuming that someone else has their culture all wrong because it doesn’t match your point of view. Truth is, Apple has a very intentional culture, and so do many others that you probably wouldn’t want to go work for.
The moral of the story is – your impression of the place is more important than anonymous or embittered strangers. Asking your questions and getting them answered about those reviews out there will generally draw a genuine and candid response about what happened (if it isn’t confidential). But don’t use the internet ratings as a crutch to keep you from avoiding what could be the next great step in your career.
Before you judge a book by the cover, make sure you find out whether or not the door is transparent or clouded by people who are bitter about not investing intention and effort of their own and doing their due diligence before accepting a position with a company. After all, that cultural fit goes both ways.