Glassdoor CEO Watch List: How Does your CEO Rate?

It’s that time again – time for the Glassdoor Quarterly CEO Watch List. We’ve identified which CEOs are at the top of their game and who needs some help with their moves – ones we’ve place “on watch” for potential replacement. Let’s start with the ones on the bottom…

The Watch List (Lowest Rated CEOs)

Since we began tracking the CEO Watch List last year, six CEOs on the watch list have “moved on” from their positions at the top, shaking up the list quite a bit and providing space for a few new entrants. One position that has not changed, however, is Office Depot’s Steve Odland who holds the least popular CEO spot (with at least 50 reviews of more) for the third quarter in a row. He is followed by LexisNexis’ Andy Prozes and United Airlines’ Glenn Tilton, who are in the second and third positions for the second consecutive quarter at 7% and 9% approval ratings respectively. We also observed a few Watch List CEOs take a minor climb in approval ratings compared to Q109, including Rain Bird’s Anthony LaFetra, Affiliated Computer Services’ Lynn Blodgett, CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau’s James Pouliot, RadioShack’s Julian Day and Amgen’s Kevin Sharer.

A few other highlights to point out about the lowest rated CEO list are three newcomers: Time Warner Cable’s Glenn Britt, NCR’s Bill Nuti and Coca-Cola Enterprises’ John Franklin Brock. On the brighter side, two CEOs have successfully made it off list with a very slight edge in ratings: Hewitt Associates CEO Russ Fradin (28% approval rating) and Mercer’s M. Michele Burns (27% approval rating).

We also saw Chrysler fall off the CEO Watch List this quarter given that the company successfully signed a deal with Fiat. We will keep you posted on how Sergio Marchionne, the new CEO of Chrysler, fairs in the top spot at the company.

The Highest Rated CEOs

For the second quarter in a row, General Mills CEO Ken Powell holds the top spot as the highest rated CEO with at least 50 or more employee reviews. What’s new this time around is that Northwestern Mutual CEO Edward Zore has climbed up two spots from fourth place to second as compared to when we last reported the CEO Watch List in April. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings drops down one spot to third place and saw a 4 point slide in his approval rating. And Apple’s Steve Jobs seems to be making a comeback, not only to the office, but also in his rank among popular CEOs as he has moved up from sixth place to fourth.

Another update since last quarter stems from the news regarding Genentech’s CEO Art Levinson (#3 in Q1) who stepped down in May after the company’s merger with Roche. Levinson was one of the highest rated CEOs for two consecutive quarters (Q408 and Q109) and his approval rating never fell below 93%. We’re watching Levinson’s replacement, Pascal Soriot, who now heads up the biotech company, to see if he will be able to garner the same support from employees.