Glassdoor ratings

First time poster here, wishing I'd found this board earlier!
Below are current Glassdoor ratings for some firms frequently
discussed here:

Stock   % Approve of CEO   % Recommend to a Friend
LVGO           100                  87
FSLY           100                  75
ZM              98                  96
COUPA           98                  95
DOCU            97                  90
OKTA            96                  71
CRWD            94                  73
ESTC            93                  79
DDOG            91                  79
AYX             82                  60

Thoughts:
1. Overall pretty good ratings, especially for the CEO's.
2. % Recommend mostly good or OK, especially as tech is
   such a rapidly growing & fiercely competitive sector where
   work/life balance has to be a constant issue.
3. Many of the negative comments address management other than CEO. 
4. ZM & COUPA are clearly nailing it; LVGO & DOCU not far behind. 
5. AYX is the outlier: not terrible but not great.
6. For contrast, I have a very small position in WIFI, which has
   ratings of "17% Approve CEO" and "33% Recommend". Yikes.

Jon
18 Likes

Well Jon, I never heard of WIFI, but I’d give serious thought to selling my position in a company where only 17% of employees like him (unless it was a very small sample of disgruntled employees).

For example, just six votes, five disgruntled employees and one positive employee, would give that CEO percentage. And if two of the six said they’d recommend the company that would give the other result. You probably should check if there were only six total votes before acting on those results.

Saul

9 Likes

Well Jon, I never heard of WIFI, but I’d give serious thought to selling my position in a company where only 17% of employees like him (unless it was a very small sample of disgruntled employees).

For example, just six votes, five disgruntled employees and one positive employee, would give that CEO percentage. And if two of the six said they’d recommend the company that would give the other result. You probably should check if there were only six total votes before acting on those results.

Good points Saul. Your 2nd point first: sample size is clearly important. In my example it was around 150 for the “17% Approve CEO” and “33% Recommend to a Friend” ratings (and yes, that position will be sold!) Many stocks on Glassdoor have a much higher sample size, and I think this is one way that the site is useful. You have to check the voting history, as some votes could be fairly old and not reflect the firm currently. However, some posts about the strengths and weaknesses are well crafted and, one suspects, accurate. I do not like to find an articulate post about a toxic aspect of the culture!

On your 1st point: This I believe is the real potential value of the site, as an indication of whether the crew rowing the boat is happy with the Captain at the helm (%CEO) and whether they think they are rowing together in the same direction and in high spirits (%Recommend).

We can understand much about a firm through its financial metrics, product info, conference calls etc. but how do we know that it can attract and retain talent, especially in a time of hyper-competitive hiring of the best people? It won’t achieve high growth if it can’t! I don’t know which other info sources can help us to gauge that. Maybe if you’re fortunate enough to know an employee and you trust their assessment.

I’ll close by repeating ZM’s scores: 98% Approve CEO, 96% Recommend to a Friend. Who wouldn’t want to help row that boat?

Jon

3 Likes

When the stock is rising, employees almost always love their CEO. The inverse pretty much works the same way unless the CEO can communicate trust and patience with the strategy. So read Glassdoor ratings with a pinch of salt. Instead of just comparing the ratings, I suggest reading the reports that will give you a clearer idea of the temperament of the culture. And deep dive more, if you see a abnormally low Glassdoor rating with a fast rising stock. This is a better indicator of something wrong below the surface.

-zane

4 Likes