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Glassdoor Q4 CEO Watch List: Another One Bites the Dust – Rob Glaser

Glassdoor Team — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:20:41 +0000

Since Glassdoor began reviewing CEO approval ratings in 2008, we’ve been monitoring the lowest-rated CEOs on Glassdoor.com through our quarterly Watch List. Since then, six CEOs from the list left their respective buildings – until last week, when Rob Glaser of Real Networks brought the number to seven. Glaser was on the list in the first three quarters of 2009, and although his approval rating had edged up slightly in Q4, last week it was announced he is leaving the company, effective immediately. As of January 1, 2010, Glaser’s approval rating was 21%. He joins a notable group of now departed CEOs:

The CEO ratings report is based on quarterly analysis conducted by Glassdoor’s analytics team to see which leaders (with a minimum of 50 CEO ratings) are gaining points among their employees and which ones are worthy of making the CEO watch list. The Top and Bottom rated CEOs are outlined below.

The CEO Watch List* (Lowest Rated CEOs):

Frost & Sullivan CEO Krishna Srinivasan is the lowest rated CEO on our Watch List for the second quarter in a row. At the end of Q4, he had a 3% approval rating. Srinivasan is followed by LexisNexis’ Andy Prozes (7% approval), and Xilinx’s Moshe Gavrielov (10% approval).

Here are some recent reviews from employees with one of the three lowest rated CEOs:

“Krishna is a smart guy but the bloke has not worked anywhere else in his life so he does not have any idea of what world class companies look like.” – Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst (Palo Alto, CA)

In advice to senior management, a Xilinx Staff Software Engineer writes: “Xilinx needs to return to its core values, placing people above profits. Cutting vital engineering jobs is a short-sighted strategy that only serves to demoralize the workforce and weaken the products.”

“Please either drop the “employee engagement” campaign or put your best effort behind it.” – LexisNexis Manager (Cary, NC)

While there does appear to be a correlation between the Glassdoor list of lowest-rated companies and low CEO approval ratings, five companies on the Watch List run counter to this trend as employees rate their opinion of the company as “satisfied” (3.5 or higher) or “neutral” (2.5 – 3.4) versus “dissatisfied” (2.4 or lower). The company satisfaction ratings ask employees how they would rate: career opportunities, communication, compensation & benefits, employee morale, recognition & feedback, senior leadership, work/life balance, and fairness & respect.

Of these companies with neutral ratings, Sun Microsystems has the highest company rating (3.2) on the Watch List, but CEO Johnathan I. Schwartz has just a 20% approval rating from employees (as of 1/1/10). Others companies with low CEO approval rating but moderate company ratings include:

• Amgen: 3.1 company rating, CEO Kevin W. Sharer 20%
• Pfizer: 3.0 company rating, CEO Jeff Kindler 19% approval
• Kimberly-Clark: 2.8 company rating, CEO Tom Falk 18% rating
• Nortel Networks: 2.8 company rating, CEO Mike S. Zafirovski 11% approval rating

Highest Rated CEOs*

The highest rated CEO is General Mills CEO Ken Powell who for four consecutive quarters has made the #1 CEO on Glassdoor.com – he holds a 96% approval rating. Powell has held on to a very stable approval rating among his employees. Plus it can’t hurt Ken Powell when his company reports positive earnings in one of the worst recessions in history.

Powell is followed by Southwest Airline’s Gary Kelly (94% approval) and Apple’s Steve Jobs (91% approval). Notably Southwest Airlines and General Mills, respectively, were the top two highest rated companies in Glassdoor’s Annual Employees Choice Awards, 50 Best Places to Work in 2010. Apple came in #22.

“Work Life Balance -the company encourages people to do what it takes to be their best at work.” – General Mills Sourcing Manager (Golden Valley, MN)

“Southwest really tries to take care of their employees with good communication materials, open discussions between upper management and junior employees, and good relations between the TWU and IAM unions representing southwest employees.” – Southwest Airlines Ramp Agent (location n/a)

“Great Atmosphere. Helpful colleagues. Lot’s of enthusiasm. Helpful management with lots of training.” – Apple Hardware Engineer (location n/a)

How does your CEO rate? Want to sound off on your approval or disapproval? Be sure to complete a review and rate your company and CEO (http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm). Don’t worry: it’s anonymous.

We’d love to hear from you about your past work experiences and how a good or not so good CEO has impacted your career or job satisfaction.

* Ratings provided as of 1/1/10

Glassdoor Q4 CEO Watch List: Another One Bites the Dust – Rob Glaser is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Glassdoor Q3 CEO Watch List Report: Highest and Lowest CEO Approval Ratings Reveal Employee Opinions May be Influenced by Proximity to CEO

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:49:01 +0000

The Glassdoor quarterly report* on CEO performance is out, and it seems the down economy and internal actions may have impacted the popularity of CEOs across the board. More than 60% of CEOs on both the highest and lowest rated lists — ranking 25 CEOs each — recorded a decline in overall approval ratings since the beginning of July while less than 25% moved up. New analysis this quarter reveals that, at many companies, opinions of the CEOs vary widely depending on whether an employee works close to the power center in the corporate headquarters or further removed from the CEO in a satellite office.

In fact, 68% of CEOs on both the highest and lowest rated lists have higher approval ratings from employees in headquarters than employees working in non-HQ offices. A perfect example of this phenomenon is Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, who happens to be one of the highest rated CEOs on Glassdoor. While his score has slid from 91% approval in Q2 to 76% in Q3, most of the decrease has to do with an influx of negative reviews from Netflix operations in Oregon – as of early October, Hastings had a 92% approval rating among headquarter employees and 55% approval rating aggregated from employees in other locations.

Below highlights some of the most noted variances among those on the highest and lowest rated CEOs:

The CEO Watch List

Since we began reporting CEO approval ratings last year, six CEOs on the “Watch List” have left the building. While no CEOs have been unseated since the Q1 report there has been some movement. Frost & Sullivan CEO Krishna Srinivasan has moved onto the list as the least favored CEO with a 4% approval and 84% disapproval rating; Srinivasan’s approval rating is up just one percentage point from early July. Seven CEOs have been on this list since December 2008: Office Depot’s Steve Odland (7% approval, 80% disapproval); Rain Bird’s Anthony LaFetra (11% approval, 72% disapproval); CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau’s James Pouliot (13% approval, 72% disapproval); Affiliated Computer Services ‘s Lynn Blodgett (17% approval, 57% disapproval); Amgen’s Kevin Sharer (18% approval, 54% disapproval); eBay’s John Donahoe (20% approval, 53% disapproval); and, Sun Microsystems’ Jonathan Schwartz (21% approval, 57% disapproval).

Of these, there are some notable differences among employees by location. For example, Affiliated Computer Services Lynn Blodgett, who has 17% approval rating overall has a 36% approval rating from employees in the headquarter office, but just 10% approval rating outside HQ. However, Corporate Executive Board CEO Thomas Monahan receives only half as much support in his HQ office than in remote locations. In the HQ office located in Arlington, VA, Monahan garners an 18% approval rating whereas elsewhere he garners a 36% approval rating.

Highest Rated CEOs

Four out of the top five CEOs reported in Q2 report remain among the top five highest rated CEOs this quarter, this includes: General Mills’ Ken Powell (96% approval, 3% disapproval), Northwestern Mutual’s Edward Zore (90% approval, 3% disapproval), Apple’s Steve Jobs (90% approval, 4% disapproval) and Google’s Eric Schmidt (87% approval, 4% disapproval). Only General Mills CEO Ken Powell has been among the top five highest rated CEOs for three consecutive quarters. And, although Google CEO Eric Schmidt holds steady with an 87% approval rating, we did observe that his ratings can quickly fluctuate between our quarterly reports as we noted when we compared 30-day trailing averages with Yahoo’s Carol Bartz.

It’s also worth noting that only three CEOs among the highest rated list had an uptick in their approval ratings this quarter compared to last; These CEOs each achieved a one percentage point improvement this quarter: Chevron’s Dave O’Reilly (79% approval, 11% disapproval), Marriott’s Bill Marriott Jr. (75% approval, 15% disapproval) and Costco’s Jim Sinegal (74% approval, 12% disapproval).

As we mentioned earlier Netflix caught our attention for the notable variances in approval rating by office location, however they were not alone. For example, FactSet’s Phillip Hadley has a 93% approval rating from employees in the headquarter office located in Norwalk, CT and a combined 76% approval rating from employees working in non-headquarter locations. Also Disney’s HQ employees have higher opinions of CEO Bob Iger with 78% approval rating compared to the 65% approval from employees working outside of the Burbank headquarters. On the flip side, salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff receives a 100% approval rating from employees working outside of the San Francisco HQ and 70% from those who sit in the power center.

Also of note is that NIKE CEO Mark G. Parker seems to be on a steady downward slope in terms of his approval ratings. As reported in the end of March, he held a 90% approval rating that fell to 85% in July, and as of October 1, it’s 79%.

REMINDER: In addition to CEO approval ratings, Glassdoor users can also search company ratings and reviews, salaries, and even job interview reviews by location by selection the city in the drop down menu on the company landing page. If you have not yet reviewed or rated your company and CEO (past employers w/in three years also ok), isn’t it about time? Information you leave can help others.

For more information on past updates to the CEO watch list and highest rated CEOs, click on any of the report links below:

*This report looks at the 25 highest and lowest rated CEOs according to employees. Each CEO on the report has been reviewed by at least 50 employees.

Glassdoor Q3 CEO Watch List Report: Highest and Lowest CEO Approval Ratings Reveal Employee Opinions May be Influenced by Proximity to CEO is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Glassdoor CEO Watch List: How Does your CEO Rate?

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:42:07 +0000

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.

Glassdoor Report: CEO Watch List
Company	CEO	Approval Rating (%) as of 7/1	Approval Rating (%) as of 3/31	% Point Change
Office Depot	Steve Odland	7	6	1
LexisNexis	Andy Prozes	7	7	0
United Airlines	Glenn F. Tilton	9	9	0
Rain Bird	Anthony LaFetra	11	9	2
RadioShack	Julian C. Day	13	13	0
CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau	James R. Pouliot	14	13	1
Nortel Networks	Mike S. Zafirovski	15	17	-2
Affiliated Computer Services	Lynn R. Blodgett	15	12	3
Amgen	Kevin W. Sharer	15	12	3
Level 3 Communications	Jim Crowe	17	18	-1
Sears Holdings	W. Bruce Johnson	20	24	-4
US Postal Service	Jack Potter	20	22	-2
UnitedHealth Group	Steve Hemsley	20	22	-2
Time Warner Cable	Glenn A. Britt	20	21	-1
Pfizer	Jeff Kindler	21	21	0
eBay	John J. Donahoe	21	20	1
Gannett	Craig A. Dubow	21	23	-2
NCR	Bill Nuti	22	23	-1
Computer Sciences	Mike Laphen	22	23	-1
Real	Rob Glaser	22	25	-3
Corporate Executive Board	Thomas L. Monahan III	23	28	-5
Sun Microsystems	Jonathan I. Schwartz	23	25	-2
Coca-Cola Enterprises	John Franklin Brock	25	21	4
Williams-Sonoma	W. Howard Lester	26	27	-1
BearingPoint	Ed Harbach	26	27	-1

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.

Glassdoor Report: Highest Rated CEOs
Company	CEO	Approval Rating (%) as of 7/1	Approval Rating (%) as of 3/31	% Point Change
General Mills	Ken Powell	97	96	1
Northwestern Mutual	Edward J. Zore	92	93	-1
Netflix	Reed Hastings	91	95	-4
Apple	Steve Jobs	91	91	0
Google	Eric E. Schmidt	87	88	-1
Procter & Gamble	A.G. Lafley	87	89	-2
Goldman Sachs	Lloyd C. Blankfein	87	87	0
FactSet	Philip A. Hadley	86	91	-5
NIKE	Mark G. Parker	85	90	-5
CareerBuilder	Matt Ferguson	82	86	-4
USAA	Joe Robles Jr.	79	83	-4
Disney	Bob Iger	78	80	-2
Adobe	Shantanu Narayen	78	78	0
NetApp	Dan Warmenhoven	78	77	1
Chevron	Dave O’Reilly	78	76	2
Schlumberger	Andrew Gould	77	78	-1
Rackspace	A. Lanham Napier	76	84	-8
Caterpillar	Jim Owens	76	78	-2
Cisco Systems	John T. Chambers	76	77	-1
Ernst & Young Global	Jim Turley	74	77	-3
Marriott	Bill Marriott Jr.	74	75	-1
salesforce.com	Marc Benioff	74	76	-2
Humana	Mike McCallister	74	75	-1
RIM	Jim Balsillie	74	71	3
National Instruments	James J. Truchard	73	75	-2

Glassdoor CEO Watch List: How Does your CEO Rate? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Glassdoor CEOs – Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Gone?

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:16:52 +0000

The last time we reported on CEO ratings on Glassdoor.com was at the end of 2008 when we looked at the Naughty and Nice CEOs of 2008. Now that the first quarter is over, we’ve updated the Glassdoor.com lists of highest and lowest rated CEOs, which includes the CEO Watch List (a list of lowest rated CEOs) and highest rated CEOs. Interestingly, a number of the Watch List’s previous members have – uh, well – moved on. (Most recently AOL’s Randy Falco).

At of the end of March, the CEO with the lowest approval rating is Office Depot‘s CEO Steve Odland, who has a 5% approval rating and 83% disapproval rating. Following is LexisNexis‘ Andy Prozes at 7%, dropping 6 percentage points and who also holds an 83% disapproval rating. Between Odland and Prozes, they hold the highest disapproval rating among the least popular CEOs. Rounding out the bottom three is United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton with a 9% approval rating and an 83% disapproval rating, according to his employees. As we’ve collected more data, eligibility for the CEO Watch List has expanded and 10 CEOs are newcomers among the 25 lowest rated, these include: Jim Crowe of Level 3 Communications with a 16% approval rating, Jack Potter of the USPS with a 22% approval rating and Mike Laphen of Computer Sciences who has a 22% approval rating.

Glassdoor Report: CEO Watch List*
Lowest Rated CEOs
Company	Company Rating	CEO	CEO Approval Rating (%) as of 3/2009	CEO Approval Rating (%) as of 12/2008	Quarterly change in approval rating (%)
Office Depot	2.3	Steve Odland	5	4	1
LexisNexis	2.4	Andy Prozes	7	13	-6
United Airlines	1.8	Glenn F. Tilton	9	12	-3
Rain Bird	2.1	Anthony LaFetra	9	9	0
Motorola	2.7	Greg Brown	10	10	0
Affiliated Computer Services	2.3	Lynn R. Blodgett	11	9	3
CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau	2.3	James R. Pouliot	12	13	-1
RadioShack	2.1	Julian C. Day	13	11	2
Amgen	3.1	Kevin W. Sharer	13	15	-1
Level 3 Communications	2.3	Jim Crowe	16	24	-8
Nortel Networks	2.8	Mike S. Zafirovski	17	20	-2
Sears Holdings	2.8	W. Bruce Johnson	20	18	2
eBay	2.8	John J. Donahoe	20	20	0
Pfizer	2.9	Jeff Kindler	21	23	-2
US Postal Service	2.7	Jack Potter	22	26	-4
Computer Sciences	2.8	Mike Laphen	22	22	0
Gannett	2.8	Craig A. Dubow	24	19	4
UnitedHealth Group	2.7	Steve Hemsley	25	25	0
Sun Microsystems	3.1	Jonathan I. Schwartz	25	25	-1
Chrysler	2.6	Bob Nardelli	25	16	9
Real	2.7	Rob Glaser	25	26	-1
Mercer	3.3	M. Michele Burns	26	25	1
Hewitt Associates	2.6	Russ Fradin	26	29	-4
Williams-Sonoma	3.1	W. Howard Lester	27	31	-4
BearingPoint	3	Ed Harbach	27	26	1

* CEOs listed have at least 50 reviews or more

Since we began tracking the CEO Watch List in August 2008, six members have ‘left the building’ at their respective employers, including AOL‘s Falco, Wal-Mart’s H. Lee Scott Jr., Yahoo‘s Jerry Yang and Merrill Lynch‘s Greg Fleming. Employees can certainly give us insight into the happenings within companies, and maybe an indicator of CEO tenure – or lack thereof.

Glassdoor Report: Lowest Rated Former CEOs (These CEOs were previously on Glassdoor’s Watch List)
Company	Former CEO	Job End Date	Approval Rating (%)
AOL	Randy Falco	3/16/2009	13
Merrill Lynch	Greg Fleming	10/27/2008	31
Walgreen	Jeffrey A. Rein	11/4/2008	37
Wal-Mart	H. Lee Scott Jr.	2/25/2009	30
Washington Mutual	Kerry K. Killinger	9/16/2008	10
Yahoo!	Jerry Yang	1/14/2009	34

Among the highest rated CEOs, according to employees, we note Genentech‘s Art Levinson remains among the top three highest rated CEOs on Glassdoor.com compared to what was reported in December (Last December Art Levinson was the #1 highest rated CEO followed by Apple‘s Steve Jobs (90%) and Goldman Sachs‘ Lloyd C. Blankfein (88%)). The biggest climb in ratings is with SAP CEO Henning Kagermann who climbed up to a 72% approval rating, 4 percentage points higher than what was reported in late December. The biggest drop in CEO approval rating among the highest rated CEOs at this time is NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang who dropped 8 percentage points in the past three months and now sits at a 73% approval rating. Also interesting to note that American Express CEO Ken Chenault dropped off the list of highest rated CEOs altogether – he now comes in as the 36^th most highly rated CEO.

Glassdoor Report: Highest Rated CEOs*
Company	Company Rating	CEO	CEO Approval Rating (%) as of 3/2009	CEO Approval Rating (%) as of 12/2008	Quarterly change in approval rating (%)
General Mills	4.4	Ken Powell	96	96	0
Netflix	4.1	Reed Hastings	95	95	0
Genentech	4.0	Art Levinson	94	93	1
Northwestern Mutual	4.1	Edward J. Zore	93	94	-1
FactSet	4.1	Philip A. Hadley	91	89	2
Apple	3.8	Steve Jobs	91	91	0
Procter & Gamble	4.1	A.G. Lafley	90	89	1
Google	4.0	Eric E. Schmidt	88	88	0
Goldman Sachs	3.7	Lloyd C. Blankfein	87	87	0
McKinsey & Company	4.1	Ian Davis	87	86	0
Disney	3.5	Bob Iger	80	80	0
Caterpillar	3.7	Jim Owens	78	80	-2
Adobe	4.2	Shantanu Narayen	78	78	-1
NetApp	3.8	Dan Warmenhoven	77	78	-1
Cisco Systems	3.6	John T. Chambers	77	77	-1
Ernst & Young Global	3.6	Jim Turley	77	78	-2
Schlumberger	3.6	Andrew Gould	76	76	1
Citrix Systems	3.6	Mark B. Templeton	76	78	-3
Marriott	3.6	Bill Marriott Jr.	75	81	-6
Intuit	3.9	Brad D. Smith	75	76	0
National Instruments	3.7	James J. Truchard	75	75	0
NVIDIA	3.2	Jen-Hsun Huang	73	81	-8
salesforce.com	3.6	Marc Benioff	72	72	0
SAP	3.6	Henning Kagermann	72	68	4
JPMorgan Chase	3.2	Jamie Dimon	71	73	-1

* CEOs listed have at least 50 reviews or more

Glassdoor CEOs – Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Gone? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Which CEOs Have Been Naughty or Nice According to Their Employees?

Glassdoor Team — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:25:39 +0000

Yes, that’s right. It’s that time of year where we’re making our list and checking it twice trying to find out which CEO’s rated on Glassdoor.com have been naughty or nice in the eyes of their employees this year.

Genentech‘s Art Levinson comes in as the #1 rated CEO (with at least 50 employees) with a 92% approval rating while and Office Depot‘s Steve Odland is the least popular CEO with the highest disapproval rating of 80%.

NICE: Coming in at second place after Art Levinson is Apple’s Steve Jobs with a 90% approval rating. And despite a volatile year, four out of five Goldman Sachs’ employees approve of the job Lloyd Blankfein is doing.

Here are just a few of the reasons Art Levinson gets ranked so highly in Glassdoor.com reviews:

“Great products that make a difference in people’s lives, smart, interesting, fun people, company clearly values its employees and takes good care of them, very science and patient-driven, great perks and lovely campus.”

“A lot of employee centric benefits, along with the chance of working for a company that is very cutting edge. The company has a lot of potential for the future, and this is a great place to gain experience and to be able to include as part of my professional resume. This is a very friendly environment where employees are encouraged to network as well as take time off to be able to decompress. Every 6 years, a six week sabbatical is included to coincide with the 5 weeks of vacations that can be accrued for a total of 11 weeks off (that’s nearly 3 months off in 1 year.”

“A strong emphasis on communications and collaboration. A company wide decision-making structure that intrinsically forces authority downward to the lowest possible level providing many opportunities to exercise and test one’s judgment.”

Nice CEOs
Company	Company Rating	CEO	CEO Approval Rating (%)
Genentech	3.8	Art Levinson	93
Apple	3.8	Steve Jobs	90
Goldman Sachs	3.8	Lloyd C. Blankfein	88
Google	4.0	Eric E. Schmidt	88
Procter & Gamble	4.0	A.G. Lafley	88
McKinsey & Company	4.0	Ian Davis	86
American Express	3.6	Ken Chenault	80
NVIDIA	3.4	Jen-Hsun Huang	80
Adobe	4.2	Shantanu Narayen	79
NetApp	3.9	Dan Warmenhoven	78

NAUGHTY: A Department Manager at Office Depot in Dallas, Texas writes “Fire Odla nd and k ill r idiculous programs like ones listed above. Please, Please, Please give this company back to its workers. The corporate office in Delray Beach, FL is asleep at the wheel and frankly incompetent. Maybe If some of them would listen to or maybe even spend a few hours in a store they would understand their own business a little better. This company will fail If you do not get back to basics! Cheap no hassle prices and fast checkout! NO MORE PROGRAMS PLEASE!”

The naughty list is synonymous with our “Watch List” – a term we coined for the CEOs with the highest disapproval ratings (with at least 50 reviews) and are at risk of being ousted. Other CEOs who’ve made the list, include recent additions like CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau‘s James R. Pouliot (62% disapprove), Amgen‘s Kevin Sharer (54% disapprove), Sun Microsystems‘ Jonathan Schwartz (50% disapprove) and eBay‘s John Donahoe (49% disapprove). RainBird CEO Anthony LaFetra is a “Watch List” veteran who remains a close second, followed by AOL CEO Randy Falco who is the third least popular.

Naughty CEOs
Company	Company Rating	CEO	CEO Approval Rating (%)	CEO Disapproval Rating (%)
Office Depot	2.2	Steve Odland	4	80
Rain Bird	2.1	Anthony LaFetra	9	75
AOL	2.7	Randy Falco	13	68
Motorola	2.6	Greg Brown	10	66
EDS	2.6	Ron Rittenmeyer	12	65
CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau	2.2	James R. Pouliot	12	62
Amgen	3.2	Kevin W. Sharer	15	54
Affiliated Computer Services	2.4	Lynn R. Blodgett	10	53
Sun Microsystems	3.2	Jonathan I. Schwartz	26	50
eBay	2.8	John J. Donahoe	20	49

In looking back on our Watch List members this year, a few received their own pink slips. Any opinions which CEO on the “naughty” list is next? Anyone else who should be?

*CEO Approval Ratings are based on more than 50 employee reviews

Which CEOs Have Been Naughty or Nice According to Their Employees? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

eBay Layoffs – Will Donahoe Be Next?

Tim Anderson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:30:10 +0000

So the economy is tanking and there’s no shortage of bad news out there, but for today we thought we’d take a break from talking about financial services to talk about a local high-tech favorite – eBay.

Yesterday, John Donahoe, the new CEO of eBay, announced he would be “streamlining” – otherwise known as laying off 10% of their workforce and letting go of several hundred temporary positions (1,600 jobs in total). Layoffs by themselves are not surprising in this economy, but if you’ve been reading any of the eBay reviews from the last month you’d know that that employees themselves will be looking for John himself to be included in this round of cuts.

Company	CEO	Approval Rating
Motorola	Greg Brown	10.6%
Rain Bird	Anthony LaFetra	11.4%
AOL	Randy Falco	13.4%
EDS	Ron Rittenmeyer	13.5%
Computer Sciences	Mike Laphen	19.3%
Wal-Mart	H. Lee Scott Jr.	23.5%
eBay	John Donahoe	25.2%
Nortel Networks	Mike S. Zafirovski	25.5%
UBS	Marcel Rohner	27.0%
Sun Microsystems	Jonathan Schwartz	28.9%

With a dismal 25.2% CEO approval rating (among the 10 worst with 50 or more reviews), employees haven’t been holding back. Whether its managements need for yet another re-org, change upon change that shows a lack of understanding and appreciation for the eBay ecosystem, or concerns about management killing the “cash cow” or “golden goose” (take your pick) – eBay employees have been especially active on Glassdoor lately.

eBay is pure chaos every day. Upper management is constantly changing which means regular re-orgs. We’re a horizontal org, then a vertical one, and back and forth. We work in centralized teams, then six months later we’re decentralized. Employees don’t feel confident that the initiative they’re working on today will be around next month or even next week.” — Program Manager in San Jose

Crazy hours doing crazy things that are alienating everyone – employees, sellers, buyers, shareholders, analysts. Anyone with a stake in eBay is wondering what the hell is going on, or we would wonder if we weren’t so exhausted. We do things, people get upset, we change them, and upper management keeps asking us to make the same mistakes.” — Project Manager in San Jose

Donahoe has made eBay a miserable debacle and it’s getting worse every day…I never thought I would say this, but I miss Meg! Come back Meg!!!!!” — Software Engineer in San Jose

I guess it’s not surprising that this last employee is looking for Meg to return, her approval rating was 75% when she stepped down (3x that of John’s).

There are definitely strong feelings here, so let’s look for a positive – the employees are passionate (and so he has that going for him – which is nice!). Let’s hope that Jon can turn that passion into something positive. Our “hitlist” of the CEOs with the lowest Glassdoor approval ratings has already predicted the departures of CEOs at WaMu, AMD, and Alcatel-Lucent – you have to wonder who will be next? After all, employees know best.

eBay Layoffs – Will Donahoe Be Next? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog