Question about Glassdoor?

tinytobe

How anonymous is Glassdoor really?

Employees and former employees writing reviews about job and interview experiences, often also rants and other criticism, however one is never sure, if HR of various other companies read as well, - and know as well.

HR could then easily exclude those who write negative reviews from future employment?

28064212

If you manage to out yourself by making your criticism personally identifiable, then you're probably not a good candidate for hire. It's self-selecting

well24

In my view Glassdoor is pointless, it might have been more trustworthy in the past but not in recent years.

I have personally witnessed bad reviews being removed etc plural - my own and colleagues, and when asked it was against some policy they had etc..

But these reviews had been up for months and then removed, its as if the company paid or asked to get them removed…

Can be useful to use, to get an idea,but would take anything said with a pinch of salt

well24

When it comes to anonymity, Im sure some HR depts do read them, and depending on what was said, they could take a good guess at who it was

It might be very difficult for another HR dept in another company to think it was you who wrote a bad review!

well24

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258421#Comment_122258421

But that is assuming, you can never be sure, not a good practise to live by..

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258430#Comment_122258430

I have had exactly the same impression.

In addition to that, in every company I have worked in:

• some employees were fired for unjust reasons or their probationary period unduly extended for farce reasons
• favoritism almost always existed resulting in disgruntled employees
• goals and targets were either achievable or deliberately not achievable
• management competent and also not so competent

The issues and challenges were always known to me in my field and industry and was never exclusive to one company.

No point in writing about them.

And yes, some comments were removed later on, after having been there for more than a while. I have also noted that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258444#Comment_122258444

I often thought that HR departments might pay Glassdoor to maybe possibly identify those posting by e-mail address and IP address to possibly have them excluded from getting hired at their company? Not impossible to think so, even though it would be difficult to trace? A negative review for one company and a job application for the new company under the same account would certainly be easy to trace…..

well24

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258574#Comment_122258574

Sounds like an American company any way, am I right?

TBH nothing would surprise me about how Glassdoor operates, they have to make money sure..

Nice little earner if companies can pay to get bad reviews removed or identify posters, or even put up fake positive reviews..

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258600#Comment_122258600

Yep, American company operating in Ireland.

They boast about their "culture" but the reality is that they don't have any.

One company is pretty much like the other one.

well24

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258653#Comment_122258653

Yep worked for several in my time

Let me guess your in IT :)

Most of em pay decent and give good benefits but their work ethic is just crazy.. not worth it in my opinion..

Have been out for 3 years now and tis great, would never go back to work for American company again..

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122258667#Comment_122258667

Yep, US American IT company operating in Ireland, the role customer focus, inside sales, foreign language skill.

Pay was only halfway decent but a lot better than many other jobs in Ireland.

But in return, unfair treatment and favoritism to the core, whilst constantly insisting on "values" and an HR department which is made out of liars. One company similar to the other in terms of these practices. ( MSFT, Google, Salesforce, IBM, Oracle, META Facebook, etc… )

The practices are widely known in the industry. No Glassdoor comment necessary, but again, somebody disgruntled enough might be tempted to write.

SodiumCooled

Whatever about negative reviews not sure how much positive ones can be trusted as I was asked directly by HR to write a positive review of the company on Glassdoor and I wasn’t the only one in the Irish branch to be asked to do so. Pretty much every review of that company is positive so I would have to assume it’s “encouraged” to write positive reviews by current employees in other countries also (without any proof of course). Since I know they were checking I left out negatives I would probably have added were I to give a truly anonymous review.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122267611#Comment_122267611

You read this as well on Glassdoor, also at American IT companies in Ireland. Rather short reviews about an employer that "everything is awesome". For a positive review, these kinds of reviews are remarkably short and without any life. It's probably a direct order by HR or management to do so.

shimadzu

You'd be surprised what goes on behind the scenes.

Linkedin accepts payments from employers to not advertise jobs to their employees on the website, they also provide feedback to paying employers on employees updating their profiles, performing job searches or searches performed against their employees by rival companies. These sites purpose is to make money they do this through advertising and by offering analytical tools to employers.

Some companies will also pay recruiters an annual fee not to poach their employees.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122273167#Comment_122273167

This all doesn't surprise me. The industry I am in is known for all sorts of things.

My last employer in Ireland was an American IT company in the practice of constantly doing marketing videos on how awesome they are as an employer, how employees find it the best choice to work for them, to move to Dublin the best choice in one's life or career, etc…. But in reality employees are constantly hired and fired, targets and objectives are mostly unachievable.

There is no need to post on Glassdoor on this one, those who are smart enough figure this one out during the hiring process or know it anyway, via word of mouth, friends who work there etc….

Esse85

Looks like a big marketing blurb, companies with money can likely manipulate the reviews to skew public opinion. Fake reviews exist everywhere.

If leaving a negative review, leave out details that may identify you.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122304356#Comment_122304356

The problem I see is that this company is with the back against the wall what hiring is concerned. They find it hard to attract international mulilingual employees with a university degree to move to Dublin due to the excessive cost of housing.

Linked in is also full of fancy vidoes about "The best decision of my life to move to Dublin", "The best decision of my life to work for……." or "What's like working for……"

They also seem to manipulate Glassdoor.

In reality working for them is like a revolving door, one day in, and pretty soon out again. Many employees have gone this way before.