Larry Ellison also stated that, as part of the upcoming layoffs, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz will likely be ousted from the company.  To Sun employees this may come as no surprise — according to Glassdoor’s CEO Watch List, which evaluates the 25 lowest rated CEOs, Schwartz has been consistently noted for his dismal approval ratings. Based on the most recent Watch List,  Schwartz held a low 20% approval rating, and it’s dropped even further to 19% in just 26 days. He has continued to see his approval rating decline for the past four consecutive quarters: Q309 he held a 21% approval rating, Q209 he held a 23% approval rating, and held on to a 25% approval rating in Q109.

Schwartz will be the 8^th Watch List CEO to leave his post since Glassdoor began monitoring the lowest rated executives in 2008. He joins Rob Glaser of Real Networks as the second tech CEO to leave the building in 2010 (Glaser announced he was stepping down earlier this month). Similar to Schwartz, Glaser held a 21% approval rating at the time of his departure and had been on the CEO Watch List for four consecutive quarters.

Here are some recent Sun company reviews that show how Schwartz has earned such a low approval rating among employees, and providing perhaps a clearer picture as to why we may soon see Schwartz’s departure from the company:

“Management has seemed lost and cannot direct the ship. Then in April of 2009, Oracle announced they were purchasing Sun. Management has basically checked out since the announcement.” – Sun Microsystems Senior Program Manager (Menlo Park, CA)

“For the past 8 months Sun has operated under the uncertainty of pending acquisition from Oracle. This has led to a lot of internal stress and “paralysis” within the company. Top management has been missing in action for the past 8 months and it often feels like we are a ship without a sail in a challenging business environment.” – Sun Microsystems Supply Chain Manager (Location n/a)

“Jonathan Schwartz has not shown the ability to heed or learn from advice.” – Sun Microsystems Engagement Manager (Location n/a)

“Senior management lost track of the health of the company. Even with year after year of layoffs and management did not do any major restructuring to make the company profitable.” – Sun Microsystems Software Engineering Director (Menlo Park, CA)

And in advice to senior management, a Sun Microsystems Product Marketing Manager (Menlo Park, CA) adds, “Please take your parachute and scoot. Larry Ellison is just what the Dr ordered. SUN will benefit from some discipline.”

It will be interesting to see how Sun and Oracle employees react as company cultures merge under the leadership of Ellison. We will keep you posted on how Larry Ellison fares with his growing employee base (he currently garners a 62% approval from Oracle employees), and we’ll be sure to give you the inside scoop if Jonathan Schwartz pops up at the helm of a new company.

Oracle’s Sun Acquisition Complete; Sun CEO To Be Cut is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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According to Forbes, the deal also represents a bold move by Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison. And to add on to the story, TechCrunch notes that Larry Ellison has always wanted to be the Steve Jobs of the enterprise IT industry. And with this morning’s announcement, it seems as though he is making a big step toward making Oracle more of a soup-to-nuts provider of enterprise technology.

So how close is Larry Ellison to becoming the next Steve Jobs? According to their respective employees, these two tech giants vary quite widely in terms of their approval rating. Apple‘s Steve Job’s holds a 27 percentage point higher rating that Oracle’s Larry Ellison. In addition, we find that 12% of Oracle employees actually disapprove of the way Ellison manages the company compared to just 2% of Apple employees who disapprove of Jobs.

So what can Larry Ellison do to improve? Below is what Oracle employees list as cons about working at Oracle which in turn gives some big hints as to what Larry could work on and in turn hopefully push up his approval rating.

“Performance feedback is very lacking. I’ve been here 4 years and gotten 1 formal review. In addition to this, getting hired at Oracle can take some time, sometimes people have to wait a long time (up to a year) for Larry to approve their offer…. yes, that Larry.” – Senior Member of Technical Staff (Nashua, NH)

“The career planning role of HR is non-existent; they’re just administrative drones. There are lots of organization silos, even duplicative functions, who all care about reporting up the command structure rather than work together. All of this also translates into the company being weak at home-grown execution, and has a lack of vision in segments that Larry Ellison is not yet convinced about.” – Product Management Director (Redwood City, CA)

“Very process driven to the point of being absurd. No authority to do anything. Everything must be approved through multiple levels of management up to and including Larry Ellison. Even for minor contact changes. Not very nimble in the market.” – Sales Representative (Boston, MA)

“The shift in company strategy to grow through acquisitions reduced the motivation to innovate.” – Senior Development Manager (Redwood City, CA)

“Depends on what department you work in, but it’s easy to get lost. Oracle buys so many companies that they just eat you up and forget about you it seems. It’s very easy to have your skills outdated if you work there too long. My department worked on legacy stuff and it was very difficult to get another job with the skill set I had.” – Software Development Engineer (Pleasanton, CA)

Stay tuned as we watch how employees at both Oracle and Sun react to the news of this acquisition. Are you an employee at these companies? Tell us what you think.

Oracle to Buy Sun: Larry Ellison to become next Steve Jobs? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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As you’ll see below from the snapshot of company and CEO approval ratings, both companies receive a satisfied company rating in terms of job satisfaction, but where we see the greatest difference is with CEO ratings…hopefully Yahoo!’s new CEO will garner the respect of the company’s employees and in turn receive a higher CEO approval rating.

And here are more current insights from Yahoo employees compiled since Yang’s imminent departure was announced two months ago:

“Use the most valuable resource Yahoo has that no other Internet giants have – audience and behavioral data – and apply a rational, data-based business model to figure out the company’s strategic directions. Don’t rely on gut-feel or what seems to sexy.”

“Please decide what YAHOO really is !!! is it a media company or search company?”

“The troops are sick of consultants, getting fit, and waiting for a direction. We need a technologist in charge who will present a clear vision for the future of Yahoo!”

And, based on the feedback from Autodesk employees that we combed through, here are some insights from employees about what worked at Autodesk and perhaps will benefit Yahoo too:

“The flexible work environment, work-life balance (although this aspect has been fading in recent years), and support for family time are really great. Employee training and focus on developing skills is also a great reason to work at Autodesk.”

“Autodesk is a great place to work simply because of the people. Folks here are very passionate about their job and it shows in meetings and discussions throughout the day. There’s also been a lot of improvement over the past couple years with regards to insight into things that are occurring at the senior management level. This help a lot with eliminating many of the rumors we’d otherwise have and definitely gives us (individual employees) a feeling that our voices are heard and we are indeed part of this organization.”

“Great company to work for. Large, great pay. You can find plenty of opportunity in this company. You will be able to work with your work schedule. If you need to work form home or move, there may be a time when you need to request more flexibility to accommodate life changing events that you are going through. They may be able to work with you on this.”

Good luck Carol as you take over the reigns. We look forward to seeing how things at Yahoo may change…

Yahoo’s New CEO Get Tips from Past and Future Employees is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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