Here is a snapshot look at Falco’s over the past several months based on Glassdoor’s CEO Watch List…

So what can Tim Armstrong learn from Falco’s experience at the top of AOL?  He should ask AOL employees.  Below are just a handful of suggestions AOL employees have for senior management — feedback on what is working well and things Tim Armstrong may want to address quickly.  

One should be easy enough based on Tim’s experience at Google: “Get the ad business on track and kick the sales force in the butt. Hard.” – Software Engineer (Lancaster, PA)

Employees’ advice to senior management:

“Do something. The content strategy remains questionable, even if the eyeballs are relatively cheap due to low labor costs (bloggers). Going to continue to need local developers to work on product — India is mostly not cutting it.” – Senior Programming Manager (Dulles, VA)

“Take any offer you can get for the company…” Vice President (Dulles, VA)

The benefits of working for AOL:

“It still has a huge number of talented people and itz a flexible work place. Casual dress code, support for open source technologies, competitive salaries all make it still a good place to work.” – Senior Systems Administrator

“If you have a family, AOL is a really nice place to work since they support great work/life flexibility. We recently had our vacation time increased.” – Systems Architect (Dulles, VA)

And lastly, here are the downsides employees note about AOL:

“Never have I worked at such a negative place. Upper management heavy. No positive reinforcement. Constant layoffs. Constant new policies. Constant frustration. if you do go to work there don’t be surprised if you’re laid off within a year. don’t worry, their packages are fair. for the record i have not been laid off. Yet” – Account Director (Albany, NY)

“Career advancement is limited while company future is bleak.” – Senior Technical Project Manager (Dulles, VA)

We wish Tim Armstrong the best of luck as he prepares to jump into AOL. As he said Thursday, he will be working toward “the right structure and future for AOL.”  Check back as we track what AOL employees think.

AOL employees keep us posted. What do you think about the change in leadership?

AOL Changes Guard: Employee Insights to new CEO Tim Armstrong is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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Some employees may be asking the board what took so long. Last week, new CEO Alan Fishman assumed the top job asserting that he believes WaMu has a future as an independent company. Time will tell.

CEO transition is hard for any company, but in adversity there is often opportunity. In reading reviews from Washington Mutual’s headquarters employees, Fishman could bode well by walking the halls and taking some time to focus internally and listen to the advice from his employees….and even address some of their (perceived?) inequities:

• Morale problems – Take responsibility for decisions that cause the stock price to drop, during layoffs show that you are being affected as well as the folks on the ground doing the work.
• Good times gone. Stop listening only to what your directs are telling you. Get out there among the rank and file for a change. Get out there on the teller line, on the floor, and in the back office. Make your own conclusions about what’s working and what’s not. The Senior VPs are great at telling you what you want to hear – how about finding out the real story for yourself?
• Longevity penalty? Recognize the quality of talent you have within the company, and work with HR to find ways to reward that talent instead of always looking to bring people in from the outside. Make it more equitable, reward your talent, and they will pay you back with their loyalty.

Over time, we plan to be able to report on the approval ratings of past CEOs vs. replacement CEOs. For example, we will be able to show how eBay’s John Donahoe (28% approval rating) is doing relative to former CEO Meg Whitman, or what’s been happening at VMware since popular CEO Diane Greene (one of Glassdoor’s most popular CEOs at 84%) was ousted and replaced by Paul Maritz, who now has a 41% approval rating.

For now, we’ve updated our CEO Watch List. Below are the 20 least popular CEOs who have been reviewed by more than 50 employees or more.

Any opinion on who will be the next to fall?

WaMu CEO Bites the Dust – Who’s Next? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

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