UPDATE: Microsoft has quickly rectified the administrative glitch regarding several severance packages – The company said the laid off workers could keep the extra payouts.
February 23rd, 2009 
Update: Laid off Microsoft Employees to Keep Extra Payouts
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 23rd, 2009 • 1 Comment
Recent Posts 
Bank of America Hiring as Countrywide Transaction Completes
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 20th, 2009 • 54 Comments
Bank of America today announced that they would be rebranding Countrywide to Bank of America Home Loans, in light of the tarnished reputation that surrounds the lending brand. This news comes on the heels of the January announcement that the company had completed its purchase of Countrywide for $4 billion in stock. Reports are also stating that Bank of America will be adding 1,000 new jobs to staff the new Home Loan division, along with moving 500 current jobs to this new endeavor.
The question is, what does this mean for both past Countrywide and current Bank of America employees? Looking through the reviews and salaries on Glassdoor, we found a few interesting tid-bits we thought we’d share:
Salaries: At Countrywide, a home loan officer earns about $63k/year. But Bank of America home loan officers reportedly earn an average $67K/year. Does this mean that Countrywide loan officers will see adjustments to address equity gaps?
Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s – Part One: Financial Fear
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 19th, 2009 • 46 Comments
Editors Note: Rusty Rueff is Glassdoor.com’s career and workplace expert and a member of the Company’s board of directors. He previously ran global human resource departments at Pepsico and later Electronic Arts and is co-author of Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business, (Prentice-Hall. 2006). He was most recently CEO of SNOCAP, the digital music commerce provider for MySpace, until its sale to imeem in April 2008. Through the Glassdoor.com blog, Rusty contributes practical career advice for employees and jobseekers and provides unique perspectives from an employer’s point of view.
This is the first post of a four-part series on Overcoming Layoff F.E.A.R.s (Financial Fears, Esteem Fears, Achievement Atrophy Fears, and Rejection Fears)We often hear FDR’s quote in our world today, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” There is a lot of fear today around being laid off. Either you have already lost your job and fearful that another job will not be there for you, or you are fearful that you may be the next person in the office to be let go. It is true; fears that are managed and controlled are ones that can be overcome. But, they ...
January’s Review of the Month
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 18th, 2009 • 5 Comments
What? We’re more than halfway through February?!? Well, we may be a little late posting the January Review of the Month but we don’t really know anyone who wouldn’t accept $500 for having written a well-rounded company review.
January’s Review of the Month goes to a Caterpillar employee in Peoria, IL who has one of the greatest sounding job titles to date – ‘Six Sigma Black Belt’. But don’t be alarmed this is not the reason this employee’s review was selected. This month’s winner was selected for its quality peek inside Caterpillar which offers readers valued insights as to what the company does well and where the company falls short. (Note: Caterpillar was recently selected as a Glassdoor Best Place to Work, an employee’s choice award.)
Mobile Company Employees Report What It’s Like on the Inside
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 17th, 2009 • 7 Comments
The Mobile World Congress kicked off Monday in Barcelona, bringing together nearly 50,000 attendees for the largest exhibition in the mobile industry. Not only is this a great opportunity for those in the mobile world to network, but it is also an opportunity to see some of the hottest trends in mobile communications.
Despite the fact that some expect the global mobile market to shrink 9% in 2009, TechCrunch comments that 2009 is expected to be “the year many of the predictions made about the rise of mobile may start to come true. Startups in the space are poised to take advantage of affordable mobile Internet access and sophisticated handsets like the Apple iPhone.”
While we anticipate more announcements and technology previews during the conference, we decided to go beyond the press releases and presentations to see what employees of leading mobile handset manufacturers and wireless carriers really think about their employer’s prospects.
Navigating a Layoff: Tips for Negotiating Your Separation Agreement and Getting the Most from Severance (Employers Listen too!)
Posted by Rusty Rueff • February 16th, 2009 • 73 Comments
January layoff numbers are the worst we’ve seen in decades, which means many affected likely have not been through anything like this before. If you are faced with imminent unemployment, it can be scary and confusing, but there are a few things you can do now as you have conversations with your employer that may make the transition to re-employment easier for you. In today’s economy, it’s important to understand that you are likely to be out of work longer than you might think so whatever you can to do to try to secure some continuity and extend benefits to make the transition easier will be beneficial. Now is also the time to think about “Re” everything; Refinance, renegotiate your lease, redo your spending budget, reduce your debt, recailibrate your expectations to make it through until your next job starts.
The pervasive job-losses, deepening recession and credit crunch we are all facing today make it harder and harder for people who are living, or expecting to live, on the severance packages being offered today. Companies tend to want to provide lump sum severance payments so they can take the full accounting charge in the current quarter and move on. However, many ...
Job Openings at Record Low; 4 People in Need of Every 1 Job Open
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 12th, 2009 • 12 Comments
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their December report on Job Openings and Labor Turnover which shows more bad news. At the end of December, there were 2.7 million job openings available, which was the lowest since they started reporting these numbers 8 years ago. Job hires are down 19% from a year ago, and the job turnover rate is at 1.5%, the lowest since August 2003. The Bureau of Labor reported that impacts to jobs were across the board: “over the 12 months ending in December, the job openings rate did not rise significantly in any industry or region.” What’s also interesting to note in terms of job openings is that “the rate was essentially unchanged in six industries: natural resources and mining; retail trade; information; finance and
insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; and other services.”
Given the increase in job losses over the past several months, Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, takes an interesting take on the news. She found that in December 2007, when many believe the recession began, for each job opening there were 1.9 job seekers. So in other words, for every job available there were two people who needed it. With these new numbers, however, ...
Caterpillar Employees Satisfied Overall; Company Offers 2,000 Early Retirement
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 12th, 2009 • 3 Comments
In today’s tight economy, companies are being forced to take a step back and look at their operation as a whole, and reevaluating what makes sense for them into terms of both workforce and operations. For many, this means laying-off individuals in order to survive, for others this means finding creative ways to save money and for some its a combination of the two.
Some of the most recent news on this front comes out of Caterpillar, who offered 2,000 of their employees the option of early retirement. While in January the company announced the layoff of more than 22,000, this most recent effort seems to be gesture of goodwill toward their current employees. The company has been seeing sales drop significantly as with construction tapering off, the need for bulldozers, excavators and the like are in much less demand. CEO Owens did, however, note that if Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan passes, that he’d be able to hire back some of those individuals that were previously let go.
CEO All-Stars; How Fortune’s Picks Stand with Employees
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 11th, 2009 • Leave a comment
Fortune Magazine recently listed five notable business leaders to watch in the coming year. While the business world may think these individuals are at the of their game, what do their employees have to say? Would they be sad to see them go?
January job cuts hit 35-year high, effects seen in Glassdoor reviews
Posted by Glassdoor Team • February 8th, 2009 • 1 Comment
With all of the news of layoffs last month, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that nearly 600,000 jobs were lost in January – the largest one-month drop since 1974. However, seeing that large of a number at once is still pretty shocking. It’s estimated that with these latest figures, 3.6 million people have been laidoff since December 2007, when experts say the recession initially began.
Here at Glassdoor we’ve seen the current economy’s impact in the reviews that have posted to the site. In January, we saw the greatest number of reviews submitted with the terms “layoff” and “severance” than ever before. Check out the graphic below to see how the percentage of reviews with these terms mentioned has increased over time:
