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?

• Company ratings and reviews
• Salary reports
• Interview questions and reviews
• Jobs

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

Related posts:

1. Best Places to Work vs. 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 – Comparing Glassdoor and Fortune Rankings
2. Glassdoor.com Employees’ Choice Awards: 2011 Best Places To Work Winners Revealed
3. Top 50 Best Places To Work – 2012 Employees’ Choice Award Winners Revealed

We put Fortune’s annual list of most admired companies to the test and turned to their employee’s company reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to see how they stack up.

Highlights:

- Five most admired companies: Apple, Google, Berkshire Hathaway, Southwest Airlines and Proctor & Gamble (according to Fortune)

- Highest rated ‘admired’ companies according to employees: Southwest Airlines (4.4, very satisfied), General Mills (4.2, satisfied), Google (3.9, satisfied), Procter & Gamble (3.9. satisfied) and Apple (3.8, satisfied); (according to employees)

- Lowest rated ‘admired’ companies according to employees: Samsung Electronics (2.1, dissatisfied), eBay (2.9 OK), Wal-Mart Stores (2.9, OK), Yum Brands (3.0, OK) and IBM (3.0, OK) – keep in mind that company ratings are based on a 5-point scale. (according to employees)

- Highest rated CEOs at ‘admired companies’ according to employees: General Mills Ken Powell (99% approval), Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein (97% approval), Apple’s Steve Jobs (97% approval), Southwest Airlines’ Gary Kelly (96% approval), and Google’s Eric Schmidt (96% approval). (Based on CEOs with at least 20 ratings or more)

- Lowest rated CEOs at ‘admired companies’ according to employees: Wal-Mart’s Michael Duke (45% approval), Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer (48% approval), 3M’s George Buckley (50% approval),  IBM’s Samuel Palmisano (56% approval) and Johnson & Johnson’s Bill Weldon (59% approval). (Based on CEOs with at least 20 ratings or more)

Several companies fell in their Fortune rankings this year including: Amazon.com, Wal-Mart and Johnson & Johnson. We look to employees at these companies to shed light on what’s happening, the pros and the cons, within the office and building walls.

Amazon.com

“There is a great team atmosphere at Amazon.com, starting with upper management and trickling down to area managers to their teams.” – Amazon.com employee (location n/a)

“Executives set ridiculous stretch goals and burn people out trying to achieve them. They have an endless appetite but don’t always fund their mandates.” – Amazon.com Senior Program Manager (Seattle, WA)

Wal-Mart

“Some of the best reason to work at Walmart for me is that I have a great team I work with daily that helps me assist and take care of our valuable customers. I also like the good pay rate for my area and the 10% discount isn’t bad either.” – Wal-Mart Sales Associate (Louisburg, NC)

“The culture is fading with the growing size”- Wal-Mart Business Analyst (location n/a)

Johnson & Johnson

“Working for J&J gives you instant recognition in the field, even if your job is the same as before, say at Tier 3 company.” – Johnson & Johnson Category Development Manager (Ontario, Canada)

“The company makes liberal use of contractor and temp employees, but no real effort is made to increase permanent employee headcount.” – Johnson & Johnson Staff Engineer (Warsaw, IN)

See the complete list below for most admired companies and how they rank according to employees:

Do you think these companies should be admired? Or if you work at one of these companies, share a company review on Glassdoor and tell us what you think about your job and the company.

Is Working At An ‘Admired Company’ All It’s Cracked Up To Be? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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2. Bush Should Consider Lowering Salary to Boost Approval Ratings
3. Tech CEO Report Card: Schmidt Goes At All-Time High Approval Rating; eBay’s Donahoe Climbs As Yahoo’s Bartz Falls In Past Year

Comparison Highlights*:

• The top three most admired companies according to Fortune include Apple, Google and Berkshire Hathaway. Whereas the three highest rated companies on Glassdoor.com, according to employees, include Southwest Airlines (4.7), General Mills (4.4) and Proctor & Gamble (4.0) – all of which  were identified as one of the 50 Best Places to Work in 2010 by employees on Glassdoor.com.
• 40% of Fortune’s most admired companies earn a satisfied company rating from employees (>3.5) including: Google (3.9), Marriott International (3.6) and Caterpillar (3.6).
• The three lowest rated companies among the list of most admired according to employees were Hewlett Packard (2.5), Samsung Electronics (2.6) and AT&T (2.7). However, note none of the most admired companies garner a dissatisfied company rating, all score neutral or better.
• Among the most admired companies, 18% of CEOs earn an approval rating of 80% or higher including General Mills CEO Ken Powell (96% approval; 0% disapproval), Apple CEO Steve Jobs (91% approval; 2% disapproval) and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein (84% approval; 3% disapproval).
• The three lowest rated CEOs among the list of most admired according to employees were eBay CEO John Donahoe (20% approval; 51% disapproval), Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent (20% approval; 32% disapproval) and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson (28% approval; 38% disapproval).

Below is Fortune’s List of Most Admired Companies compared to employee ratings of those companies and their CEOs provided by Glassdoor.com:

The list of most admired companies is interesting to scan through and especially to compare to how employees feel about these businesses, but most important to keep in mind if you’re a job seeker is that the list of Top 50 Most Admired Companies is just one tool in your job search arsenal. If Fortune’s list is a starting point for your job search, we invite you to take a moment and read just a handful of the more than 120,000 company reviews on Glassdoor to get a better feel if a specific company is the going to be the right fit for you.

If you are an employee at any of these 50 most admired companies and haven’t yet submitted a review to Glassdoor, take just 5-10 minutes to tell us what you think about your job and the company.

* Note any company or CEO with less than 10 reviews or ratings on Glassdoor were not accounted for in the report above.

Does An Admired Company Mean An Ideal Employer? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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1. Is Working At An ‘Admired Company’ All It’s Cracked Up To Be?
2. Best Places to Work vs. 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 – Comparing Glassdoor and Fortune Rankings
3. Glassdoor Q3 CEO Watch List Report: Highest and Lowest CEO Approval Ratings Reveal Employee Opinions May be Influenced by Proximity to CEO

What we found most interesting was that Glassdoor’s Best Place to Work, Southwest Airlines, was absent from their list, and our #2 slot, General Mills, was ranked #90. It was #1 on our list last year, and barely made Fortune’s rankings at #99. The number one company on Fortune’s listing, SAS, did not make the Best Places to Work top 50 because it had too few reviews to qualify, but it does have a 4.0 rating on Glassdoor, and the CEO, Jim Goodnight, has a 73% approval rating. Fortune’s #2 company, Edward Jones, was also lauded by employees on Glassdoor, however, it was #24 on our list.

Surprisingly Apple, which has been a mainstay on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work and Top Rated CEO lists, was also missing from among Fortune’s ranks. It was also interesting to see Genetech noted as #19 – while most employees surveyed on Glassdoor as “satisfied” with their company, new CEO Pascal Soriat has a low 28% approval rating, which made Genentech ineligible for the company from Glassdoor’s list. (Last year, Genentech ranked #17 on the 2009 Best Places to Work list under then CEO Art Levinson, who had a 94% approval rating)

In all, only 10 of Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work  cracked Fortune’s top 50, and 21 companies in total that were honored by Glassdoor made their “100 Best Companies to Work For 2010”.

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

How do you think the lists compare? Have they left off a really great place to work, or awarded a company that is only so-so? We welcome your opinion!

• NOTE: Folks at Glassdoor.com have participated in the Fortune application process at previous companies, and it typically has management dedicating considerable staff time and money in an attempt to “wow” the Fortune/Best Companies to Work For committee. In creating Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work, we decided our list would simply let employees voice be heard loud and clear.

Best Places to Work vs. 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 – Comparing Glassdoor and Fortune Rankings is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Apple Didn’t Make Fortune’s Best Companies List; 4-Time Winner Of Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards
2. Glassdoor Reveals Top 50 Best Places to Work, 2010: Southwest Airlines Ranked #1
3. Fortune Announces Best Places to Work: How does it compare?

Here are some of the highlights when comparing the top 50 Best Places to Work:

• Only 30% of companies recognized by Fortune made it into Glassdoor’s employee-selected top 10 companies
• 11 companies make both Glassdoor and Fortunes Top 50 Best Places to Work (see those highlighted in yellow)
• Glassdoor’s #1 Best Place to Work, General Mills, falls to 99^th place on Fortune’s list
• Fortune’s #1 Best Place to Work, NetApp, makes the 10^th spot on Glassdoor’s list

It’s surprising to see that eBay pops up on Fortune’s Top 100 list as a Best Place to Work. Based on the company ratings available at Glassdoor, eBay was actually one of the lowest rated companies according to employees. Currently eBay receives a modest 2.8 company rating and CEO John Donahoe garners a low 20% approval rating. (eBay ranked 83rd on the Fortune list)

What makes Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list different to Fortune’s you ask?

Well first and foremost, the companies that make the Glassdoor Best Places to Work list are all entirely based on the rave company reviews and ratings from the people who know them best, the employees.  Unlike other workplace lists and awards, there’s no self nomination process.  The final ranking is determined by overall rating on Glassdoor for those companies that meet the eligibility requirements. If you are interested in learning more about the Glassdoor Best Places to Work 2009 list, please visit: http://www.glassdoor.com/Best-Places-to-Work-LST_KQ0,19.htm.

Fortune Announces Best Places to Work: How does it compare? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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1. Best Places to Work vs. 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 – Comparing Glassdoor and Fortune Rankings
2. Employees’ Choice Unveiled: Glassdoor Announces Top Best Places to Work
3. Glassdoor Announces ‘Best Places to Work’ Awards Deadline