Glassdoor Blog » In the News

Glassdoor Survey Reveals One In Ten Have “Made Love” In The Office

Glassdoor Team — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:58:05 +0000

If you think the workplace is strictly about business, corporate meetings and increasing profits, think again.

This Valentine’s Day, Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, is revealing the steamy results of its latest survey shedding light into love and romance in the workplace. More than 1,000 anonymous Glassdoor users (including those who are employed or unemployed but looking) shared their secrets about love while on the job. Check out the red hot results:

Office Romances

The majority of employees and unemployed job seekers (51%) say it’s OK to be romantically involved with a co-worker.
More than one-third (37%) report they have been involved with a co-worker romantically.
One in ten (12%) admit to actually “making love” in the workplace. One in five (22%) say that while they have not made love in the workplace, they have thought about doing it; and, 41% say they believe some of their co-workers have made love in the workplace.
18% admit they are attracted to at least one of their co-workers.
The majority (54%) say that most office romances end with some or a lot of ‘awkwardness’ at work.
When it comes to breaking rules (or not) with romance at work, 41% say they’re unsure whether their employer has a policy regarding office romances; and, 28% believe their current or most recent employer does not have this kind of policy.

Valentine’s Day Workplace Celebrations

Few (8%) say they buy Valentine’s themed gifts for their co-workers, whereas 31% report that they have received a Valentine’s themed gift from a co-worker.
Flowers are still your best bet. When asked what they would most want to receive from their significant other at work on Valentine’s Day, people reported: Flowers (27%), a Valentine’s Day card (14%) and chocolates (13%). The least popular gift to receive on Valentine’s Day? A singing telegram (1%).

So what should you do if you fall in love with a co-worker? Here are some tips from Glassdoor’s career and workplace expert Rusty Rueff:

Don’t feel guilty for falling in love at work. Your employer worked hard to fill the company with people who share the same values, principles, work ethic, skills, and education. Plus, you’re together for 8 to 12 hours a day. So it’s not that surprising that romances tend to spark between employees. No matter what happens, don’t feel guilty.
Don’t go public until you’re sure the relationship will last. Since not all companies will be happy about your good news, it’s in your interest—and the interest of your partner—to be sure the relationship is real and worth investing in before having that conversation with the boss.
Stay mum while at work. You may be privy to confidential information because of your relationship, but don’t disclose it at work. Keep your relationship and work separate as much as possible.

What’s your take on love in the workplace and office romance?

Glassdoor Survey Reveals One In Ten Have “Made Love” In The Office is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Should Monday After The Super Bowl Be A National Holiday?

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:40:46 +0000

Every year, there are a few brave souls who suggest that the Monday after the Super Bowl should become a national holiday. After the Super Bowl two years ago, Yahoo! Sports wrote, “You shouldn’t have to work today. You shouldn’t even have to get out of bed. This should be a day where you can sleep in, sleep off the effects of all the “soda” you drank yesterday.”

These may not be the most compelling reasons for an employer to condone a day off, but it is true that much of America will be tuned into the game on Sunday. Last year, a record 111 million viewers tuned in to watch the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

While it’s not likely to receive national holiday status anytime soon, we at Glassdoor were curious to see if many people are planning to take time off to recuperate from overzealous Super Bowl celebrations. We also wanted to uncover the productivity level and mood in the office for those who do punch in. Here’s what employees had to say in our Superbowl survey*:

20% of employees say that morale is typically better in the office the day after the Super Bowl
However, 22% of employees also note that it’s commonly a less productive day than usual
One in ten (8%) employees plan not to work the day after the Super Bowl
One in ten (9%) employees plan to take Monday off as a vacation
3% admit that they will take a ‘sick day’ the Monday after the Super Bowl

When we asked employees if their employers offer any sort of perks on the Monday after the Big Game, several Glassdoor users noted that they are either allowed to work from home, use as a flex day, or have their regular Monday morning meeting postponed for later in the day. Some also reported that their employers buy breakfast for employees the Monday after the game.

What’s your work experience typically been like on the Monday after the Super Bowl? Let us know below.

* Online survey was conducted between 1/28/11 and 2/3/11. Included responses from 500 Glassdoor users including those who are employed (full/part/self) or unemployed but looking.

Should Monday After The Super Bowl Be A National Holiday? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Apple Didn’t Make Fortune’s Best Companies List; 4-Time Winner Of Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:25:01 +0000

Today, Fortune released its list of the “100 Best Companies to Work for 2012,” which includes companies like Google, Boston Consulting and SAS Institute… but interestingly not Apple. We were curious to see what other companies made the Fortune list, or didn’t make it, and compare to Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2012.

First, it’s worth pointing out that Glassdoor’s methodology is fundamentally different than Fortune’s. While Fortune includes some employee feedback, Glassdoor’s list is based entirely on feedback from those who truly know what its like to work at a given company – the employees themselves. Glassdoor takes into account hundreds of thousands of anonymous employee reviews submitted throughout the year (instead of one short period of time), and unlike Fortune’s list, there is no company self-nomination. With Glassdoor’s list, employees nominate their company through surveys in which they rate and review their employer.

So what’s similar or different between the two lists this year? Here are some interesting comparisons:

Top 5 Differences: Only 1 company among Glassdoor’s top 5 appears on Fortune’s list – Google, which tops Fortune’s list and ranks #5 on Glassdoor’s list. Bain & Company (#1), McKinsey & Company (#2), Facebook (#3) and MITRE (#4) are all absent from Fortune’s rankings, though they top Glassdoor’s list. In addition, only Google and MITRE appeared on Fortune’s list last year, ranking #4 and #96 respectfully.
Apple Absent From Fortune’s List, But Always On Glassdoor’s List: For the first time, Apple cracked the top 10 on Glassdoor’s list, and has been a recipient of Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. However, Apple has never appeared on Fortune’s list during these four years.
Facebook Also Absent From Fortune’s List, But Highly Ranked on Glassdoor’s List: While Facebook ranks incredibly high on Glassdoor’s list, #3 in 2012 and #1 in 2011, the social networking giant doesn’t appear on Fortune’s list in either of these years. Interestingly on Glassdoor, CEO Mark Zuckerberg garners a 93% approval rating among Facebook employees.
Google Improving: Google made serious traction on both lists over the past year. On Glassdoor’s list, Google moved up from #30 in 2011 to #5 in 2012. On Fortune’s list, Google moved up from #4 in 2011 to #1 in 2012. Perhaps some of the changes happening under CEO Larry Page, who took over the top executive job from Eric Schmidt in April 2011, are having a favorable effect.
REI Tops Retailers: Looking at what’s consistent on both lists, REI ranks highest among retailers, as it holds the #8 position on both Glassdoor and Fortune’s list.
Companies In Common: In all, 10 of the Glassdoor 2012 Employees’ Choice Award Winners cracked Fortune’s top 50, while 18 companies that were honored by employees and recognized on the Glassdoor list made their “100 Best Companies to Work For 2012.”

Here’s how Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list compares to Fortune’s list:

Has either (or both) list left off a really great place to work, or awarded a company that is only so-so? We welcome your opinion!

Want to see which of these companies are hiring, as well as what it’s like to work at a specific company, what they pay and what it’s like to interview?

Apple Didn’t Make Fortune’s Best Companies List; 4-Time Winner Of Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Employee Confidence In Job Market & Pay Raises Increases; Unemployed Job Seekers More Optimistic

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:25:22 +0000

The New Year is off to a good start with both the employed and unemployed showing increased confidence in the job market.

In the latest Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey, employee optimism related to the job market, company outlook and pay raises increased in the fourth quarter of 2011. In addition, pessimism among the unemployed fell to a new low in the fourth quarter, with just 21 percent of unemployed job seekers reporting they think it is “unlikely” they will find a job in six months, down 11 points from the third quarter of 2011 to the lowest level since Glassdoor initiated this survey in 2008.

The quarterly survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Glassdoor, reveals encouraging news when it comes to the job market. During the fourth quarter, 41 percent of employees (including self-employed) believe it is “likely” they would be able to find a job matched to their experience and compensation levels in the next six months if they lost their job, an increase of three points from the third quarter. Among unemployed job seekers, 30 percent believe they can land a job that meets their compensation and skill levels in the next six months, up three points from the third quarter.

After an increase in the second quarter of 2011, layoff concerns have remained relatively flat for the past two quarters (16 percent in quarter three and 17 percent in quarter four). In addition, concern for co-workers being laid off dropped four percentage points from the third quarter to 28 percent, the lowest level since the survey began.

As for salaries and pay raises, things seem to be slowly improving. During the fourth quarter, 38 percent of employees said they expect a pay raise in the next 12 months, up two points from the third quarter. However, more employees do not expect a pay raise in the next 12 months than those who do. 41 percent of employees report that they do not expect a pay raise in the next 12 months, down 5 points from the third quarter.

It’s also interesting to note that men (42 percent) remain more optimistic than women (33 percent) when it comes to the possibility for a pay raise in the next 12 months. In terms of company outlook in the next six months, more men indicated optimism than women (41 percent of men compared to 38 percent of women), which is consistent with previous surveys.

Are you looking for jobs? How do you feel about today’s job market? Do you feel like it’s getting better or worse?

———————————————-

Interested in more insights into current employee and job seeker sentiment by age, location and gender? View the complete results for the Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey.

Employee Confidence In Job Market & Pay Raises Increases; Unemployed Job Seekers More Optimistic is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Unemployment Rate Falls To Lowest Since March 2009

Aol Jobs — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:51:28 +0000

The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest level in more than two and a half years, as employers stepped up hiring in response to the slowly improving economy.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 8.6 percent last month, down from 9 percent in October. The rate hasn’t been that low since March 2009, during the depths of the recession.

Still, 13.3 million Americans remain unemployed. And a key reason the unemployment rate fell so much was because roughly 315,000 people had given up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

Employers added 120,000 jobs last month. And the previous two months were revised up to show that 72,000 more jobs added – the fourth straight month the government revised prior months higher.

Private employers added a net gain of 140,000 jobs last month. Governments, meanwhile, shed another 20,000 jobs, mostly at the local and state level. Governments at all levels have shed almost a half-million jobs in the past year.

More than half the jobs added were by retailers, restaurants and bars, a sign that holiday hiring has kicked in. Retailers added 50,000 jobs, the sector’s biggest gain since April. Restaurants and bars hired 33,000 new workers. The health care industry added 17,000.

The presidential election is less than a year away, which means President Barack Obama will almost certainly face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any president since World War II.

And Europe’s financial crisis threatens to slow U.S. growth next year. A recession in Europe could reduce U.S. exports, hurt global financial markets and dampen business confidence.

Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, estimates that the economy will expand 2.5 percent in the last three months of this year. But he expects growth to slow to 1.5 percent in 2012, partly because of the crisis in Europe. And if Congress fails to extend the Social Security tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits this month, growth is likely to slow even further.

Weak job growth means companies don’t have to raise pay to keep their employees. Fewer jobs and lower pay leaves consumers with less money to spend. That’s holding back economic growth.

In the past three months, the economy has added an average of 143,000 net jobs per month. That’s enough to keep up with population growth and better than the previous three months, when the economy averaged just 84,000.

Other recent economic reports have been positive, too.

Factory output expanded last month. Retailers reported a strong start to holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumer confidence surged in November to the highest level since July, and Americans’ pay rose in October by the most in seven months.

Car sales also rose sharply in November, normally a lackluster month for the auto industry. Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai all reported double-digit gains on Thursday, compared to a year ago. – Originally posted on Aol Jobs by Christopher Rugabar

Unemployment Rate Falls To Lowest Since March 2009 is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

REI Highest Rated Retailer; Retail Industry Report Card 2011

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:34:43 +0000

With holiday retail sales expected to increase 2.8 percent this year, according to the National Retail Federation, and major retailers like Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target have announced hiring more seasonal workers this holiday shopping season, job seekers across the nation are now competing for seasonal jobs within the retail industry. And, considering that consumer retail sales shot up three times stronger than expected in October, according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, the holidays this year could be even busier than expected for retailers and their employees.

But as the holiday shopping season heats up and many retailers are still looking to hire, which retailers are really the best to work for?

Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, is revealing its annual Retail Industry Report Card, which sheds light into which U.S.-based retailers rate highest among employees, as well as those that have improved over the past year, The report takes into account close to 20,000 company reviews shared by retail employees during 2011 and 2010, including those that specialize in clothing, accessories, electronics, home goods, bedding, office products and more.

Retail Industry Report Card – Company Highlights: ¹

Highest Rated Retailers 2011: REI (4.0) J.Crew (3.9) and Wayfair (formerly CSN stores) (3.8). (Company ratings based on a 5.0 point scale: 5.0=very satisfied, 3.0=OK, 1.0=very dissatisfied).
Most Improved Retailers: ² Retailers with the greatest increase in company ratings this year compared to last include: Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores), which holds a 3.8 rating this year compared to 2.4 last year. Second is Costco, which sits at a 3.1 rating this year, up from a 2.6 rating last year. Third is J.Crew, which sits at a 3.9 rating, up from a 3.4 rating last year.

Below is the complete break out of the retail industry report card that highlights how retailers rate in 2011. Also as part of Glassdoor’s Retail Industry Report Card, find out how retail CEOs rate.

Do you work in the retail industry? Tell us what your job is like by sharing a company review and see how it compares next year.

¹ 2011 ratings based on approved reviews between 11/3/2010 and 11/2/2011; 2010 ratings based on approved reviews between 11/3/2009 and 11/2/2010.

² Company and CEO annual comparisons based on CEOs with at least 20 reviews in 2011 and 2010.

REI Highest Rated Retailer; Retail Industry Report Card 2011 is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler Rated Highest; Retail Industry Report Card 2011

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:24:38 +0000

With Black Friday right around the corner, retailers and the CEOs that run the companies are anxiously awaiting to see just how big the holiday shopping season will be this year.

So as shoppers get ready to head to the stores this year to buy gifts for those who have been nice and perhaps a little naughty, Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, checks in on the retail CEOs themselves to see how good they’ve been in the eyes of their employees. As part of Glassdoor’s annual Retail Industry Report Card, we find what retail CEOs rate the highest, who has improved and who may have seen their approval ratings fall since last year. (CEO approval ratings take into account how satisfied retail employees are with the way their CEOs are leading the company.)

Retail Industry Report Card – CEO Highlights: ¹

Highest Rated Retail CEOs 2011: J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler (98% approval rating) among employees, Wayfair (formerly CSN Stores) CEO Niraj Shah (97% approval rating) and Costco CEO Jim Sinegal (95% approval rating).

Most Improved Retail CEOs:² Retail CEOs who saw the greatest increase in approval rating among employees this year compared to last year include: Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah holds a 97% approval rating this year, up 45 percentage points from last year. Second is SAM’S CLUB CEO Brian C. Cornell, with a 64% approval rating this year, up 18 percentage points from last year. Rounding out third is Pier 1 Imports CEO Alex Smith with a 66% approval rating this year, up 18 percentage points from last year.

See who else saw their ratings shift in this latest retail report card – CEO edition:

As part of Glassdoor’s Retail Industry Report Card, also check out how the retail companies rate overall according to employees. Do you work in retail? Tell us about your job by sharing a company review .

¹ 2011 ratings based on approved reviews between 11/3/2010 and 11/2/2011; 2010 ratings based on approved reviews between 11/3/2009 and 11/2/2010.

² Company and CEO annual comparisons based on CEOs with at least 20 reviews in 2011 and 2010.

J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler Rated Highest; Retail Industry Report Card 2011 is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Top 10 Highest Rated Companies Hiring For ‘Big Data’ – Report Card

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:14:45 +0000

For the past year or more the term ‘Big Data’ has been spreading like wildfire, and as a result, companies are investing in Big Data and hiring all sorts of specialists to support it.

What exactly is ‘Big Data’?

Simply put, the phrase refers to the tools, processes and procedures allowing an organization to create, manipulate and manage very large data sets and store facilities.

Why has ‘Big Data’ become such a phenonomenon?

Consider the fact that 90% of the world’s total data has been created just within the past two years, says IBM, and platforms are needed to keep up with the daily explosion of data created from mobile devices, online transactions, sensors and social networks.

As the data pours in, many companies are investing in ‘Big Data’ big time from HP to EMC to IBM, while companies like Xignite, Platfora and Opera Solutions have recently raised millions to support innovations around Big Data applications. Not to mention that companies like Twitter are hiring a multitude of specialists from engineers to sales executives to business associates.

According to a recent McKinsey report the demand for ‘Big Data’ talent could soon outstrip supply by 50 to 60 percent, and companies in the U.S. will be looking to hire an additional 1.5 million managers and analysts with a sharp understanding of how big data can be applied.

So as the demand for employees who can support, manage and analyze ‘Big Data’ is on the rise and companies are looking to hire, which companies hiring for ‘Big Data’ today rate highest among employees?

Top 10 Highest Rated Companies Hiring For ‘Big Data’:

Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, turned to its vast database of active job listings and employee company reviews to find out which companies currently hiring for ‘Big Data’ are rated highest by their own employees.

Report based on companies with at least one active job listing featuring “Big Data” in its job title, and/or any keyword including “Big Data,” “Machine Learning,” “Data Scientist,” or “Hadoop” in its job description, as well as at least 100 approved company reviews. Report as of 10/26/11. The report does not include universities or recruitment agencies.

Wondering how other companies hiring for ‘Big Data’ stack up according to their employees? Below is the full ‘Big Data’ report card that looks at more than 50 companies, including the ten featured above, hiring to support their ‘Big Data’ needs and how they rate as an employer.

Interested in knowing what employees at the top 10 companes have to say about working there? Provided below is a sample of employees sounding off as of late on what’s working well and what needs to be improved:

“MITRE has a great work/life balance with respectable co-workers, high standard of education and great pay. If you work in the headquarters locations, there is ample opportunity to find something you’re interested in.” – MITRE Information Security Engineer (location n/a)

“MITRE tends to exhibit many older company ideals such as secretive promotions and compensation decisions, cliquish upper management tendencies and a ‘wait your turn’ mentality.” – MITRE Principal Information Systems Engineer (Colorado Springs, CO)

“Between on-site gyms, massage, a wide selection of health benefits, 401k and stock grants, competitive salary, and of course the free, gourmet meals, it’s one of the cushiest jobs in Silicon Valley.” – Google Software Engineer II (Mountain View, CA)

“Management can be clueless or absent at times. It can take a lot longer to get things done than you expect.” – Google Software Engineer III (New York, NY)

“The company is innovative, the corporate culture is amazing. You are truly setup for success when you start working there. I have found that management is open and ready to help.” – Apple Data Analyst (Elk Grove, CA)

“It is a very demanding environment at Apple. Folks work a lot of hours. Management expects a lot from employees. If you do not like, it is not a right environment for you.” – Apple Program Manager (location n/a)

“Excellent products, excellent sales force, consistent corporate earnings performance, outstanding benefits, excellent work-life balance, plenty of opportunity to move into other positions or for career advancement, all in all a great place to work.” – NetApp Product Operations Employee (Research Triangle Park, NC)

“Many long time NetApp people, therefore company suffers from lack of mid-level managerial talent and competence. Certain groups (Marketing, Professional Services, Management Software Product Group) are disorganized and dysfunctional.” – NetApp Marketing Employee (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Opportunities to work and innovate in a wide-range of technical disciplines. Internal mobility is higher than at most companies, which helps to prevent burnout. Solid benefits and employee profit sharing.” – Qualcomm Employee (location n/a)

“Salary tends to be only average for the field positions but the health benefits are good. May have to put in weekends during hard times.” – Qualcomm Hardware Engineer (San Diego, CA)

“Management seeks feedback to determine direction. Frequent all hands meetings to keep us informed and motivated.” – Intuit Staff Security Analyst (Westlake Village, CA)

“They have their ways of doing things which can take years to get things done. They think nothing is wrong with their company culture they don’t take changes well.” – Intuit Implementation Specialist (Cary, NC)

“Collaborative, supportive co-workers, the opportunity to work on market-leading products, flexibility on time/working from home.” – Adobe Senior Product Marketing Manager (San Francisco, CA)

“Prohibitive procedures slow down ability to get things done. Little communication across different business unites. To many decision makers (mid – level management).” – Adobe Employee (San Francisco, CA)

“Strongest vision of any enterprise software company out there. Team is it in to win and continue fast growth path. Willing to take risks. Very talented teams.” – Salesforce Product Management Senior Director (San Mateo, CA)

“No work life balance even though they talk about it a lot. You’ll be attending meeting at least 80% of your day. Actual work is usually done after the normal work day.” – Salesforce Employee (San Francisco, CA)

“Benefits, work/life balance, work from home privileges (note: not all teams have this), very strong engineering culture, smart engineers and capable managers, relatively fair review system, tries to be client driven, strong onboarding plan (new hire training, mentors), innovation encouraged.” – FactSet Senior Software Engineer (New York City, NY)

“Employee morale is falling, attrition is rising, bureaucracy prevents rapid innovation from happening, key talent is getting ready to leave while the company worries more about recruiting than employee development and retention.” – FactSet Employee (location n/a)

“In general management is very good. There are a lot of training opportunities within the company for individual contributors. Pay seems ok.” – GE Employee (Niskayuna, NY)

“Leadership still focused mostly on short term goals, no matter the industry dynamics. Big promotions are often reserved for employees hired into one of the management training programs out of college.” – GE Service Director (location n/a)

Interested in a job or career with Big Data?

Big Data Jobs

Top 10 Highest Rated Companies Hiring For ‘Big Data’ – Report Card is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Retailers Staffing Up For The Holidays

FINS from The Wall Street Journal — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:00:55 +0000

Santa is feeling generous about retail holiday jobs this season, but slightly less giving than last year.

The retail sector plans to add about 600,000 seasonal staffers between October and early January, down from 627,600 last year, said John Challenger, chief executive officer of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

That number is a relatively good sign for holiday job seekers, considering the recent layoffs in several industries from media to consumer goods, he said. Many retailers are boosting their seasonal staffs as they get ready to open early on Black Friday and take on the holiday rush.

“There are a lot of temporary hires going on as retailers gear up for the holiday season,” said Challenger. “Consumers might be opening up their wallets a little bit more over the holiday season.”

Among the major retailers that will boost their seasonal hiring, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target said they plan to add more holiday workers than they did last year.

This season Macy’s plans to hire 78,000 holiday workers for its 850 U.S. stores, including Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, up 4% from last year, the company said. Part of that seasonal job growth is for the midnight opening of Macy’s department stores on Black Friday alone.

Kohl’s said it plans to hire more than 40,000 holiday workers this season for its 1,129 U.S. stores, up 5% from last year due to store growth, the company said. In line with last year’s seasonal hiring, Kohl’s expects to bring on an average of 35 additional associates per store. The company had no additional staffing information for Black Friday.

Target plans to hire “slightly more holiday workers” than the 92,000 seasonal staffers it took on last year, the company said. For Black Friday, Target’s 1,767 U.S. stores will increase their staffing by about 67%.

For some of those temporary workers, their performance over the next two months could determine future job opportunities.

“Last year, nearly 40% of the people who joined stayed on after the holidays as regular team members,” said Molly Snyder, a Target spokesperson. “So there is a tremendous opportunity for people to take the holiday season and turn it into a regular year-round position.”

That’s good news for those who find work this season. But the boost in holiday hiring for Macy’s, Kohl’s and Target does not reflect an increase in seasonal employment across the retail industry, said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board.

Among the other big-box retailers, Crate and Barrel plans to hire roughly the same number of holiday workers as they did last year, the company said, while Best Buy said in late September that it plans to cut its holiday hiring in half this year.

“For some of these big department stores, the fact that they are adding 4% or 5% more workers is good news” considering the broader economy, said Levanon. – Originally posted by FINS from the Wall Street Journal by Damian Ghigliotty

Retailers Staffing Up For The Holidays is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Inside Yahoo: Employees Sound Off In Post-Bartz Era

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:05:29 +0000

It’s been almost two months since Carol Bartz was ousted as CEO of Yahoo and the company continues to be a feature story in the news, as rumors have been swirling about the search engine’s next big move. This week alone, Yahoo has made headlines as a result of its annual Product Runway conference which debuted new products like Livestand, and the company’s purchase of Interclick for $270 million.

While Yahoo has been no stranger to the limelight, Glassdoor turns to the employees to get an insider’s perspective as to what it’s been like to work at Yahoo since Bartz left and as the company looks for ways to further innovate.

Advice Yahoo employees have for senior management:

“Yahoo needs a re-boot, it’s time to let go of everyone between manager level and Tim Morse.” – Yahoo Software QA Engineer (New York, NY)

“Be bold and decisive, and create a more unified objective for the company. What is Yahoo today?’” – Yahoo employee (Sunnyvale, CA)

Employee perspective on pros and cons of working at Yahoo:

“It is great to work at Yahoo and I’m proud to be part of it. However, sometimes we just don’t know what our focus is.” – Yahoo Technical Yahoo, Front End Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“[Pros] Yahoo is a great place to get your feet wet with Internet technologies and big datasets. [Cons] Yahoo has been in decline for a long time, and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. The company has lost a huge amount of talent over the past few years, especially after the search deal with MS.” – Yahoo Scientist (Santa Clara, CA)

“[Pros] It has been a great experience working in Yahoo. [Cons] No future direction is causing some concerns amongst employees.” – Yahoo Vice President (Sunnyvale, CA)

Reaction to Bartz’s ousting and opinion of leadership at the company:

“The board seems to have handled the firing of Bartz rather poorly. It was very abrupt and without any good reason. The executive staff is all fairly new to Yahoo, with many of them coming from Microsoft. It gives the impression that Microsoft is slowly taking over, which is not a good thing from my standpoint.” – Yahoo Software Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“[Pros] I like all the Smart people. [Cons] Senior Management is having tough time understanding all product potential.” – Yahoo Senior Manager (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Hire smart ones [senior leaders]. Find a leader who has online industry experience. Get your innovative ideas marketed before the competitor does.” – Yahoo Senior Systems Engineer (location n/a)

Viewpoint on competitive landscape and company priorities:

“INNOVATE and let the company be engineering driven, for some stupid reason, they’re branding it as a premier digital media company. This doesn’t work dude! Just look at AOL and Demand Media, they are barely alive, so don’t be silly!” – Yahoo Technical Yahoo (location n/a)

“Lack of consistent and lasting strategy translates into sometimes competing priorities within the company and much wasted work. With the right management and strategy, Yahoo could remain a force in its industry.” – Yahoo Senior Director (location n/a)

What’s your perspective on Yahoo as of late? Are you a Yahoo employee? Share a company review.

Inside Yahoo: Employees Sound Off In Post-Bartz Era is a post from: Glassdoor Blog