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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

Wal-Mart Behind The Scenes: An Employee Perspective

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:00:30 +0000

With the holidays and Black Friday approaching, Wal-Mart, recognized as the world’s largest retailer, is poised once again to attract millions of eager shoppers across the nation. But as shoppers scour the aisles of Wal-Mart, what’s it like for those who work behind the register, stock the shelves, manage the inventory or handle our photos?

Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, turns to the recent company reviews shared by Wal-Mart employees to dig into the pros, cons and everything in between. Overall, the Arkansas-headquartered company garners a 2.9 (OK) company rating, based on more than 1,600 employee reviews and CEO Michael Duke receives a 46% approval rating (54% disapproval rating).

Wal-Mart Salaries | More details for Wal-Mart Jobs | Wal-Mart Reviews | Wal-Mart Interview Questions & Reviews

When diving deeper into Wal-Mart company reviews, it’s interesting to note that employees are most satisfied with workplace factors including career opportunities, compensation & benefits and work-life balance- all receiving a 3.0 (OK) rating.

Here’s what Wal-Mart employees have to say about what’s working well, as well as what needs to be improved:

Pros:

“Wal-Mart is a good company to work for they like to promote from within, they also listen to associates ideas.” – Wal-Mart Employee (DuBois, PA)

“Can advance in career quickly if a person has a degree. Benefits are OK, considering the discount for the associates.” – Wal-Mart Employee (Murray, KY)

“When you get off work, if there is anything you need, more than likely you can get it at the store after you clock out.” – Wal-Mart Employee (Marietta, OH)

”The associates really are your Wal-Mart family, I have so many Wal-Mart sisters and brothers, and children over the years that I still stay in touch with.” – Wal-Mart Employee (location n/a)

Cons:

“You must be physically busy doing something every minute you’re on the clock. Socializing with coworkers is not allowed unless you’re on lunch or break. Costly but crappy medical benefits.“ – Wal-Mart Guest Service Team Member – Cashier (location n/a)

“Long hours and never catching up. High volume leads to fast turnover of goods causing extra work that would otherwise not be needed.” – Wal-Mart Assistant Manager (location n/a)

“Will have to work weekends and nights starting off with fairly low pay and no store discount for 90 days.”- Wal-Mart Sales Associate (Huntsville, TX)

“Respect for one another is not a common practice, retaliation is happening, favoritism is alive and well…doesn’t seem like you can trust management in the store.”- Wal-Mart Manager (Fort Worth, TX)

Do you work at Wal-Mart or another store in the retail industry? Share a company review.

Want to learn more about Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart Behind The Scenes: An Employee Perspective is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Top 10 Companies Where Employees Love The Food

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:41 +0000

For many employees, lunch at work is typically about chowing down on last night’s leftovers or heading out to a nearby deli to grab an overpriced sandwich. For some, however, breakfast, lunch and dinner are just a few steps away from their cubicles, and come courtesy of their employers – even during this struggling economy.

So what are the companies where employees rave about food at work the most? The Glassdoor data team sifted through more than 375,000 company reviews to find out. In our latest report, we shine a light on the top 10 companies where employees love the food¹. Plus, the report highlights what employee morale is like at each of the companies.

While there doesn’t appear to be a consistent relationship between employee morale and on-site food, it’s interesting to note the highest rated companies on this list in terms of employee morale include: Facebook (4.4), DreamWorks Animation (4.2) and Google (4.2). The average employee morale rating on Glassdoor is 3.1 – both Marvell Technology and Zynga come in just under the average, receiving a 2.6 and 2.8 respectively.

To get a better perspective on what employees like so much about the food, here’s what several employees had to say:

“It has free foods! It is a big company with nice benefits. Comfortable working environment. A lot of groups and doing a great variety of business.”- Bloomberg LP Employee (New York, NY)

“Free food! Beautiful place to come to work every day. People are generally happy and friendly (when not in fear of being laid off after a bad movie release).” – DreamWorks Animation Research and Development Manager (Glendale, CA)

“Amazing food. We get breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner served up by the best chefs around. Menus change daily and my favorite to date has been the Willy Wonka themed lunch menu. Sushi day is legit too.” – Facebook Employee (Palo Alto, CA)

“The free lunches (Mon – Thurs), open stocked kitchen is quite an incentive and the ability to charge meals is a good way to keep up morale and improve productivity at a relatively low cost.” – FactSet Systems Engineer (Chicago, IL)

“Google has great benefits like free food. I’ve forgotten how to make my own lunch.” – Google Software Engineer (location n/a)

“Incredible benefits (unlimited food and magic whiteboard – you write what you want and it appears).” – LinkedIn Marketing Employee (Mountain View, CA)

“The cafeteria serves great quality food that rivals food at Google.” – Marvell Technology Employee (Santa Clara, CA)

“As many are aware, they provide free lunch with many different healthy choices. In addition, self-serve breakfast items are available each day (cold & hot cereal, hard-boiled eggs, bagels and breads, yogurt, coffee, tea, etc.).” – Susquehanna International Group Employee (Bala Cynwyd, PA)

“The catered lunches are a nice perk – they remove one thing to worry about.” – TripAdvisor Software Engineer (Newton, MA)

“The company spends an excessive amount of money to provide their employees with food, snacks, freebies, weekly happy hours, and team outings.” – Zynga employee (San Francisco, CA)

Interested in working at one of these companies and trying the food yourself?

Bloomberg L.P. jobs

DreamWorks Animation jobs

Marvell Technology jobs

Susquehanna International Group jobs

TripAdvisor jobs

Zynga jobs

¹Report based on companies with at least 500 employees, 20 approved company reviews and approximately 20 reviews mentioning the on-site food. The report does not include restaurants, grocery stores, other companies in the food service industry, or weight and health management companies.

Top 10 Companies Where Employees Love The Food is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Good News — The Good Guys Are Winning!

Dr. Laurie Bassi — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:00:23 +0000

It’s a thrill to be writing my first post for Glassdoor. I originally got to know the folks at Glassdoor when my co-authors and I were in the early stages of writing Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era. We were looking for a way to get the inside scoop on what it’s really like to work for a wide range of companies, and Glassdoor provided us with the opportunity to “see inside.”

This ability to see inside is an example of a hugely important and very hopeful phenomena, which we call “technology-enabled people power.” It is forcing companies to become “good companies” – by being good to their employees, their customers, the communities in which they operate, and the environment.

I realize you may be skeptical. Examples of the “bad guys” doing well are discouragingly common: companies shirk taxes while padding profits, firms foul the planet but keep raking in revenue, and reckless greed on Wall Street goes largely unpunished. But quietly, thanks to technology-enabled people power, a different and more hopeful era – which we refer to as the “Worthiness Era” – is unfolding. Increasingly companies will have to do good in order to do well. Current concepts of “social responsibility” – which are all too often little more than PR efforts or considered nice but not necessary – are ceding to more genuine efforts by companies to become worthy of their employees’ best efforts, their customers’ loyalty, and their investors’ money.

Proof is in the numbers. We created the Good Company Index™, based on a quantitative rating system of how good companies are as employers, sellers, and stewards. (Employee ratings on Glassdoor were used as a component of our rating system.) We used this system to assign a grade – from A to F – to each of the publicly traded Fortune 100 firms. Then we compared how firms in the same industry performed in relationship to the Good Company grade. The results are clear and compelling.

Over the previous three years, the company with the higher Good Company Index score performed, on average, more than 4 percentage points better per annum in the stock market than the paired company from the same industry with the lower Good Company Index score.

Most of the differences in stock performance occur when the difference in Good Company Index scores between the two paired companies is three points or greater, corresponding to at least a letter grade in our overall ranking system. Companies outscoring their peers by three points or more on the Good Company Index outperformed them, on average, by 11 percentage points annually in the stock market over the previous three years. T he relative annual performance of each of these twelve industry-matched pairs over the three-year period is displayed in the figure below.

Goodness pays!

Good News — The Good Guys Are Winning! is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

HR Pros Sound Off On Job Satisfaction, Work-Life Balance Edges Up

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:43:47 +0000

As we get ready to head to the annual Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference (Booth #1267), we wanted to take a moment and get a closer look at what it has been like to work in HR over the past few years as the folks in Human Resources have been on the front lines and have had to make some hard calls as companies looked to weather the economic downtown. As an HR professional, your job revolves around how company strategies and policies effect individuals in the workplace from entry-level employees to senior executives. While HR professionals maintain a focus on the company and the workforce instead of their personal happiness, we were curious to see if there had been a shift in the “on-the-job satisfaction” for employees in this industry since the recession hit.

Glassdoor turned to the hundreds of reviews left by HR professionals to get an insiders perspective on the industry. The report shows that there have definitely been some discouraging moments, however, things seem to be picking up: people in the HR industry are reporting greater job satisfaction lately – is this a trend we’ll continue to see? Only time will tell.

HR Industry Report Highlights

HR professionals’ job satisfaction declined as recession took hold. When comparing company reviews and ratings during June 2009 through May 2010 (Year 2) and June 2008 through May 2009 (Year 1), job satisfaction was down for HR industry professionals across the board. During Year 1, HR employees said their employers were ‘OK’ (3.3) places to work; 12 months later (Year 2) overall average ratings fell to 2.8. (Ratings are based on a 5-point scale). Employee morale took the biggest hit between Year 1 and Year 2. Ratings started at 3.3 and dropped one year later to 2.7. Satisfaction with career opportunities, compensation & benefits, and fairness & respect in the workplace all fell by .4.
Past year shows improvement in HR professionals’ job satisfaction. Between June 2010 through May 2011 (Year 3), HR professionals have become more satisfied with their companies and jobs than in Year 2. Overall company ratings from HR professionals had a .3 bump – bringing the average company rating that year to 3.1. Employee morale also crept back up in the last year to a 3.2 rating, .5 higher than the year before. In addition, work-life balance ratings improved as they came in at a 3.4 rating, .4 higher than the year before.
Work-life balance continues to improve. Work-life balance ratings are the only workplace category to see improvement in Year 3 over both Year 1 and 2.

We’ve also looked deeper into company reviews posted by HR professionals to get a better feel for the recent job and work environment…

Feedback on working in HR

“[PROS] The atmosphere is changed constantly and you were always stretched to learn a different way of handling HR related tasks… [CONS] Work-life balance was always addressed but never resolved.” – Accenture Human Resources Consultant/Specialist (location n/a)

“[PROS] Smart people. Real business challenges. Good pay. PepsiCo’s reputation is very positive and solid and the benefits of being a PepsiCo alumni last beyond your time at the company… [CONS] Long hours. Too much internal competition and politics.” – PepsiCo Human Resources (Chicago, IL)

“[PROS] Chase has made many improvements since converting from Washington Mutual including benefits, work life balance, fairness in hiring, promoting, etc…CONS] Chase is a really large bank and has the same issues WaMu had in communicating with employees. It’s frustrating to hear about company changes in the news instead of through management channels.” – JPMorgan Chase Human Resources Manager (Seattle, WA)

“[PROS] Wal-Mart was a great place for me to work- there is ample room for growth….if you have the initiative and drive, you can get promoted and achieve success!…[CONS] Long hours- when you have your blackberry, you are expected to be available 24/7.” – Wal-Mart Human Resources (location n/a)

“[PROS] Opportunities for growth and development, including tuition reimbursement. Very competitive pay, after a few years…[CONS] The P&C industry is going through major changes, which may impact future employment.” – State Farm Human Resources Generalist (location n/a)

“[PROS] One of the leadership principles is to have a backbone. You are expected to speak up if you disagree with something. You don’t see this in a lot of corporate environment. You’re not just a worker bee… [CONS] Things change so quickly at Amazon that it can be difficult to keep up with the latest initiative.” – Amazon.com Human Resources (location n/a)

“[PROS] The “get fit / stay fit, change the rules, change the game” strategy was an excellent beacon during very difficult times…[CONS] Leadership change usually means regime change. It is not what you know, but who you know.” – Dow Chemical Human Resources Leader (Midland, MI)

“[PROS] Cutting edge HR planning and techniques, ability to learn and take on as much as desired…[CONS] High HR to manager ratio, good support to hi-level managers by HR but little support available to supervisors and lower level people managers.”- Hewlett-Packard Human Resources Business Partner (location n/a)

Do you work in HR? Share a company review on Glassdoor and give an update on what’s working well and what needs to be improved.

Headed to SHRM11? Stop by our booth #1267 and connect with us on Twitter (@glassdoordotcom), Facebook and LinkedIn.

HR Pros Sound Off On Job Satisfaction, Work-Life Balance Edges Up is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Travelers Take Note: Unsatisfied Employees Could Impact Your Vacation; Travel Sector Employment Grade

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:00:31 +0000

TripAdvisor reports more people are planning leisure trips this year than last. To increase the odds of your travel plans going smoothly, we thought it would be helpful to look at what employees behind some of the largest travel companies think about their jobs as it may come through in how they treat you.

In Glassdoor’s 2011 Travel Industry Report Card¹, we have combed through ratings and reviews shared by employees over the past two years to shed some light on what it’s like to work at more than 40 different travel companies², in hopes to help to narrow the best airlines, hotels, car & truck rental companies, online travel agencies, review sites and Global Distribution Services (GDS), as well as cruise lines. Where appropriate, we’ve called out movement since our 2010 report.

Travel Industry Highlights:

Top rated companies: Southwest Airlines (4.2), Virgin America (4.2) Four Seasons Hotels (3.6), Orbitz Worldwide (3.6), Kimpton Hotels (3.5) and Continental Airlines² (3.5). (Company ratings are based on a 5-point scale³.)
Top rated CEOs: Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stands out from the pack with a near perfect approval rating of 99%; Marriott CEO Bill Marriott Jr. and Hotwire² CEO Clem Bason follow closely, each earning an 89% approval from their respective employees.
Companies to see the biggest increases in ratings include: American Eagle held a 2.9 in our 2010 report and climbed .5. United Airlines’ held a 2.1 in our 2010 report and climbed up to 2.6 this year.
Companies to see the biggest decline in ratings include: Hotwire received a 4.3 as of 2010 but in 2011 receives a 3.4 rating. Southwest Airlines, Avis Budget and Hyatt dropped slightly (.4).
CEOs to see the biggest changes in approval ratings include: Hilton Hotels CEO Christopher Nassetta saw his approval rating climb 30 percentage points to 62% approval. Sabre’s² Sam Gilliland saw his approval rated decline 16 points to 67% approval.

Outlined below is a breakdown of employee satisfaction and ratings for major companies in the travel industry from an employee perspective where you can find what’s working well (pros) and what needs improvement (cons).

Airlines:

Southwest Airlines and Virgin America are the highest rated airlines – both receive a 4.2 company rating according to employees. They are followed by Continental Airlines (3.5), Air Canada (3.4) and American Eagle (3.4). The highest rated CEOs in the airlines industry are: Air Canada’s Calin Rovinescu (100% approval), Southwest’s Gary Kelly (99% approval), Virgin America’s David Cush (80% approval) and United Airlines’ Jeffery Smisek (80% approval).

United Airlines has made a big comeback with Smisek at its helm – Smisek’s approval rating is 80%, 67 points higher than his predecessor Glenn Tilton, who had just 13% approval in our 2010 report. Both American Airlines’ and Southwest Airlines’ CEOs saw a four point boost in their approval ratings since Glassdoor’s report last year.

Hotels:

The top rated hotels according to employees are Four Seasons Hotels (3.6), Kimpton Hotels (3.5) and the Ritz-Carlton (3.5). Four Seasons edged up from a 3.4, marking the most significant increase while Hyatt saw the biggest drop in the past year – from a rating of 3.3 in 2010 to 2.9 currently.

The hotel industry’s top bosses include: Omni Hotel’s Jim Caldwell (100% approval), Marriott’s Bill Marriott Jr. (89% approval), Kimpton’s Michael Depatie (86% approval). Choice Hotels CEO Stephen Joyce is far from “choice” with employees with just a 20% approval rating.

Car & Truck Rentals:

In a neck-in-neck comparison, Hertz has the edge with employees receiving a 2.9 company rating. However it’s Dollar Thrifty Automotive’s Scott Thompson who currently leads in CEO approval ratings with a 67% approval rating from employees.

While Avis Budget fell slightly (.4) to a 2.7 rating, CEO Ron Nelson saw a notable improvement in his approval rating – climbing eight points to a 50% approval.

Online Travel Agencies, Review Sites and GDSs:

Among the online travel agencies, review sites and Global Distribution System (GDS) companies (a GDS is a company which provides automated services to travel vendors such as hotels, airlines and car rental companies), Orbitz stands tall with a 3.6 company rating, followed by Hotwire (3.4), Travelocity (3.3), TripAdvisor (3.3), and Expedia (3.0). ² ⁴

Among the top bosses, however, Hotwire’s CEO Clem Bason rates highest with employees, earning an 89% approval rating with his rank and file. Orbitz CEO Barney Harford saw the most improvement in approval ratings – Harford’s rating went up seven points to a 76% approval.⁴

Cruises:

In the cruise industry, the Carnival Corporation comes out on top with a 3.1 company rating. Royal Caribbean Cruises CEO Richard Fain, however, is the top rated among this group – he receives an 82% approval rating.

Do you think employee opinions about these travel companies could impact your experience? Do you have any recent experiences to share?

Are you already employed in the travel sector? Don’t see your employer on this list and want to find out how they stack up? Submit a review for your company, and we’ll have more details to share in future reports as our community builds.

______________________

¹ The 2011 report takes into account companies with at least 10 approved company reviews shared between May 2009 and May 2011; The 2010 report takes into account companies with at least 10 approved company reviews shared between June 2008 and June 2010. *Highlights CEOs with less than 10 reviews.

² United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), the new holding company for United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Sabre Holdings supports four companies: Travelocity, Sabre Travel Network, Sabre Airline Solutions, and Sabre Hospitality Solutions. Note Hugh Jones, CEO of Travelocity, transitioned to sister company Sabre Airline Solutions in late April 2011. Expedia, Inc. is the parent company to a global portfolio of leading consumer brands, including Hotwire.

³ Ratings Scale: 5.0 – 4.01 = Employees are “Very Satisfied”, 4.0 – 3.51 = Employees are “Satisfied”, 3.5 – 2.51 = Employees say it’s “OK”, 1.51 – 2.5 = Employees are “Dissatisfied, 0.0 – 1.5 Employees are “Very Dissatisfied.”

⁴ TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer is currently a member of Glassdoor’s Board.

Travelers Take Note: Unsatisfied Employees Could Impact Your Vacation; Travel Sector Employment Grade is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

What It’s Like To Work As A Coroner

Aol Jobs — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:00:14 +0000

The truth is, it’s nothing like what you see on television. Read these confessions from a coroner…

As I stood over the railroad tracks, freezing and cold on a damp, rainy December morning, I couldn’t tell whether what I was looking at was ever human. Some kid had decided to throw himself in front of an Amtrak train — and now I, as the coroner, was out at 3:00 a.m. scooping up body parts to somehow make him whole again, so his family could bury him.

What a life.

Far from glamorous

Everyone who watches any or all of the ‘CSI’ television shows thinks that being a coroner is glamorous work. While that might be true in some circles, for the most part, those of us who work in coroner’s or medical examiner’s offices find it a much more mundane and ugly line of work. There aren’t any fancy laboratories with huge, clear computer screens lining the walls, nor all the latest high-tech gadgets to determine if a person’s last meal had more starch than protein. No, the day-to-day reality is that the coroner’s office handles all the accidental deaths, as well as those of people who die alone, or without medical attention. Most of the cases are pretty boring.

Many of the deaths investigated by the coroner’s office are routine, often old people who die at home, of natural causes. Then there are the homicides, accidents and suicides, which every office deals with — but that don’t happen nearly as frequently as those television shows would like you to believe. Those cases are the ugly scenes, the ones requiring the coroner’s office to send out representatives to survey the scene and then begin piecing together exactly what happened. It’s these days that a coroner relishes the job, since it gives us a chance to put together the pieces of a puzzle of someone’s death.

In most areas, coroners are medical doctors who specialize in pathology. They choose to work with the dead, to unearth the questions of how someone died, often in the hopes of helping those left behind. Some more rural areas, however, don’t have the funds to pay for a medical doctor, so the coroner’s role is filled by the local funeral director, who teams with law enforcement. A pathologist will only be called in (and paid for) when they feel it’s warranted. One has to wonder how often deaths are misdiagnosed in these areas, since even the best of instinct and training can’t replace the medical background a pathologist brings to the table.

Often gruesome

Most coroners wish that they had the glamorous job portrayed on television. The reality is that most of them wade through death scenes, stepping around blood and body fluids, trying not to gag over the smell, all the while doing their best to make an accurate determination of what happened. Picking up the multitude of pieces left from a dead body after trauma is not a pretty picture, somewhat reminiscent of road kill. And as I’ve mentioned above, sometimes it’s hard to tell that the pieces you’re picking up were once human.

Sticking your hands into the belly of a bloated, decomposed body is no fun. While many of the deaths are fairly routine, it’s the “floaters” — the severely decomposed and bloated bodies — that test the constitution of even the most steadfast individuals. One time in a high-rise tenement, I was called on to move the remains of a woman who had weighed over 450 pounds. She had been dead in her apartment for at least a week in a heat wave. There were so many flies you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face. And, despite the initial officers on the scene opening up the windows, the odor was overwhelming. Her body was so swollen that the first movement caused her skin to split, and you can just imagine the rest. When people want to know if a coroner’s job is really like television, that’s the story I tell them.

Sometimes heartbreaking

And then there are the children. No matter how long you’re on the job, handling the deaths of children brings extra pain to the experience. Virtually everyone in the coroner’s office is dedicated to finding out exactly how someone died, but they all put a little special effort into the death of a child. Even the most seasoned veterans have a hard time dealing with those cases.

So the next time you’re watching the glamorous, clean and tidy forensic examinations that wrap up in a little under an hour on television, think of the “real” people in the coroner’s office – the ones who will gently move your grandmother when she dies at home, alone; or who will tirelessly attempt to find the reason your Uncle Bob died suddenly in his sleep. Those are the real unsung heroes of the coroner’s office.

- By Susan Batko

Originally published on AOL Jobs

What It’s Like To Work As A Coroner is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Want A Job At Google? Here’s What You Need To Know

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:14:43 +0000

With Google expected to hire 6,000 people, many of you may be asking: “Could Google be the next place for me?” and “How do I get a job at Google?”

As Alan Eustace, Google’s SVP of Engineering and Research wrote on the company blog, “We’re looking for top talent—across the board and around the globe—and we’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science.”

He adds, “There’s something at Google for everyone…That’s why the vast majority of our people stay with us, building their careers and taking on new challenges within the company.”

We wanted to put that to the test and find out from other Google employees what they like about their job and employer, as well as some of the downsides, to help provide people who are serious about an opportunity with the Internet powerhouse see both sides of the coin.

In this report, we show how Google is rated by employees in different office locations, how salaries for different job titles compare and what employees have to say about working at Google.

How Employees Rate Google

Overall, it appears employees at several locations are satisfied working for Google. We did note that there are some slight variations within the overall company rating, and we looked deeper into the ratings to see how several offices compared when it comes to satisfaction with career opportunities, work/life balance and more.

When it comes to eight different workplace factors, there are definite variances between offices. For example, employees in the Los Angeles office rate satisfaction with career opportunities a 3.7 (satisfied), while the Dublin, Ireland location rates them 3.2 (OK). The L.A. office also receives the highest ratings in three other categories, including compensation & benefits (4.2), senior leadership (4.2) and fairness & respect (3.7). However, if it’s work/life balance and employee morale that you treasure most, the London office may be the place for you. Employees here provide the highest ratings in both of these categories, 4.3 and 4.6 respectively. If you value recognition & feedback, senior leadership and fairness and respect the most, you might want think carefully about the New York office – employees here designate each category as “OK.”

It may be no surprise to hear, considering Google has been a Best Place to Work in Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards three years running, that no matter the office, employees think the company is ‘OK’ or better. In other words, on average no one is dissatisfied working there.

What Google Employees Earn

Below is a sampling of jobs at Google and insights on the average base salary and bonuses. Not only do the average base salaries come well above the national average salary for most Americans (BLS reports average annual salary in the US is $43,460), but the bonuses appear to be pretty generous as well.

What Google Employees Have to Say

Pros of working at Google

“Peers are sheer geniuses in their realm, very low amount of low performers…AWESOME annual bonus.” – Google Corporate Operations Engineer (Mountain View, CA)

“Many events and theme days make going to work fun and it’s really much more than your average company.” – Google employee (London, UK)

“There has been a lot of work on addressing past weakness with career development through more manager training, more developed mentorship programs, and more talks / transparency on the performance review process.” – Google Software Engineer (Seattle, WA)

“A wonderful employer, with a very good compensation package and equity grants program, awesome perks (gourmet quality free food, wonderful support from facilities staff) and great growth opportunities.” – Google Senior Software Engineer (Zurich, Switzerland)

“People are friendly, intelligent, honest, and genuinely concerned about the user experience above all else.” – Google Associate (Mountain View, CA)

Cons of working at Google

“Lots of internal procedures are always changing and often confusing; not enough hierarchy; difficult to maintain a balance with so many things going on at once,” – Google Software Engineer (New York, NY)

“Can’t get anything done, so much red tape. As a Recruiter you are really just a paper shuffler and Hiring managers rule the roost so if they are incompetent then your hands are tied and there is no way to be successful.” – Google Leadership Recruiter (Mountain View, CA)

“Google isn’t a place for long term career planning. After a point in time you are stuck, and your role leads you no where.” – Google Product Manager (Hyderabad, India)

“Google is fighting the ‘law of large companies’, and is doing pretty well but there’s a certain inevitability afoot too: Over the four years I’ve been there, I’ve noticed scaling back of perks (and also at times a sickening culture of employee entitlement), a steady rise of red tape to run a scalable service in the production environment, a certain amount of stiff corporate speak and a uptightness over branding, image, and in some cases (though definitely not all) an aversion to risk taking has to some extent dampened my enthusiasm a little bit. Still an amazing place to be though.” – Google Senior Software Engineer (Mountain View, CA)

“Sometimes it can take too long to be promoted or get where you want to go. Company is also turning more corporate away from the start up mentality.” – Google employee (London, UK)

Still thinking Google is the place for you? Check out what jobs they have open.

If you land an interview, let us know how it’s going by sharing an interview review on Glassdoor. And if you make it through the gauntlet of interviews and accept a job at Google, come back and share a company review and salary report so you can help pay it forward for the other job seekers out there who’d like to land a spot at the company too.

Want A Job At Google? Here’s What You Need To Know is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

SAP Employees More Satisfied Than Oracle Employees; Will It Help Them To Retain Customers Following Copyright Suit?

Glassdoor Team — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:39:46 +0000

Last week news broke that German-based software company SAP faces $1.3 billion jury verdict for stealing Oracle’s intellectual property. As the Associated Press reported, the jury in the case found that SAP’s behavior in plundering software and documents from rival Oracle Corp.’s secured websites was so egregious that it awarded Oracle nearly all of the damages it was seeking.

While SAP decides whether to appeal the decision, we turned to the employees to find out how these companies internal reputations are faring. To date, SAP holds a slightly higher company rating than Oracle, and SAP’s co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe share an 81% approval rating, just three percentage points higher than Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

But will SAP be able to persevere with its more satisfied workforce? Only time will tell.

In looking at more specific workplace satisfaction ratings, it’s interesting to note that SAP has a clear advantage when it comes to employee morale: SAP receives a 3.6 (satisfied) rating compared to Oracle’s 3.1 (OK) rating. It’s also worth pointing out that another strong area for SAP are ratings for fairness & respect: SAP receives a 3.2 (OK) rating and Oracle receives a 2.8 (OK) rating. Will SAP employee ratings hold as the impact of the suit and public notoriety sets in?

Curious what else employees have to say about working at these two companies? Below are some recent reviews shedding light on the culture within these companies.

In the SAP company reviews on Glassdoor, we find employees speaking highly about team culture, employee empowerment and notable brand name:

“Strong brand name, good reputation, good benefit, combination of business knowledge and technology skills, solid customer base, relax working environment,” - a SAP employee

“I’ve never seen a business where information is shared so freely among co-workers and teams. It’s a very entrepreneurial company, so you can really mold your experience here depending on what you are interested to do.” – SAP Solution Manager

“SAP is looking to change for the better – to empower employees, become more agile, sort out work life balance,” – SAP employee

Over at Oracle, employees write in about the senior leadership and the intense work ethic:

“Executive management is really strong at running a business and making it profitable.” – Oracle Principle Product Manager

“Great to participate in a winning company. Management is brilliant.” – Oracle employee

“Incredible, hard-working people, with great personalities and very strong work ethic; slackers are weeded out and don’t last.” – Oracle Senior Director

Do you work at SAP or Oracle? Share a company review and tell us what it’s like where you work. Does all this public and legal attention of your employer impact your job?

SAP Employees More Satisfied Than Oracle Employees; Will It Help Them To Retain Customers Following Copyright Suit? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog