Glassdoor.com

Last month, we posted on the CEOs with the lowest approval ratings following oustings of the CEOs of Alcatel-Lucent and AMD. Recently, WaMu CEO Kelly Killinger, who has been one of Glassdoor.com’s lowest rated CEOs since launch, was given his walking papers. While only 10% of employees said they approved of Killinger, three out of four (75%) said they disapprove.

Some employees may be asking the board what took so long. Last week, new CEO Alan Fishman assumed the top job asserting that he believes WaMu has a future as an independent company. Time will tell.

CEO transition is hard for any company, but in adversity there is often opportunity. In reading reviews from Washington Mutual’s headquarters employees, Fishman could bode well by walking the halls and taking some time to focus internally and listen to the advice from his employees….and even address some of their (perceived?) inequities:

• Morale problems - Take responsibility for decisions that cause the stock price to drop, during layoffs show that you are being affected as well as the folks on the ground doing the work.
• Good times gone. Stop listening only to what your directs are telling you. Get out there among the rank and file for a change. Get out there on the teller line, on the floor, and in the back office. Make your own conclusions about what’s working and what’s not. The Senior VPs are great at telling you what you want to hear - how about finding out the real story for yourself?
• Longevity penalty? Recognize the quality of talent you have within the company, and work with HR to find ways to reward that talent instead of always looking to bring people in from the outside. Make it more equitable, reward your talent, and they will pay you back with their loyalty.

Over time, we plan to be able to report on the approval ratings of past CEOs vs. replacement CEOs. For example, we will be able to show how eBay’s John Donahoe (28% approval rating) is doing relative to former CEO Meg Whitman, or what’s been happening at VMware since popular CEO Diane Greene (one of Glassdoor’s most popular CEOs at 84%) was ousted and replaced by Paul Maritz, who now has a 41% approval rating.

For now, we’ve updated our CEO Watch List. Below are the 20 least popular CEOs who have been reviewed by more than 50 employees or more.

Company	CEO	Approval Rating	Company Rating
Motorola	Greg Brown	10%	2.6
Rain Bird	Anthony LaFetra	12%	2.2
EDS	Ron Rittenmeyer	14%	2.6
AOL	Randy Falco	14%	2.7
Computer Sciences	Mike Laphen	21%	2.8
Wal-Mart	H. Lee Scott Jr.	21%	2.8
Infosys	Kris Gopalakrishnan	26%	2.9
Merrill Lynch	Greg Fleming	28%	3.3
BearingPoint	Ed Harbach	29%	3.1
UBS	Marcel Rohner	29%	3.0
eBay	Jon Donahoe	30%	3.0
Sun Microsystems	Jonathan Schwartz	31%	3.3
AT&T	Randall Stephenson	31%	2.7
Target	Gregg Steinhafel	32%	2.9
UPS	D. Scott Davis	35%	2.9
AT&T Mobility	Ralph de la Vega	37%	2.6
Home Depot	Frank Blake	37%	2.6
CGI Group	Mike Roach	37%	3.0
Symantec	John W. Thompson	38%	3.0
Walgreens	Jeffrey Rein	39%	3.0

Any opinion on who will be the next to fall?

Filed under: CEO Watch List