Glassdoor Blog » Yahoo

Inside Yahoo: Employees Sound Off In Post-Bartz Era

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:05:29 +0000

It’s been almost two months since Carol Bartz was ousted as CEO of Yahoo and the company continues to be a feature story in the news, as rumors have been swirling about the search engine’s next big move. This week alone, Yahoo has made headlines as a result of its annual Product Runway conference which debuted new products like Livestand, and the company’s purchase of Interclick for $270 million.

While Yahoo has been no stranger to the limelight, Glassdoor turns to the employees to get an insider’s perspective as to what it’s been like to work at Yahoo since Bartz left and as the company looks for ways to further innovate.

Advice Yahoo employees have for senior management:

“Yahoo needs a re-boot, it’s time to let go of everyone between manager level and Tim Morse.” – Yahoo Software QA Engineer (New York, NY)

“Be bold and decisive, and create a more unified objective for the company. What is Yahoo today?’” – Yahoo employee (Sunnyvale, CA)

Employee perspective on pros and cons of working at Yahoo:

“It is great to work at Yahoo and I’m proud to be part of it. However, sometimes we just don’t know what our focus is.” – Yahoo Technical Yahoo, Front End Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“[Pros] Yahoo is a great place to get your feet wet with Internet technologies and big datasets. [Cons] Yahoo has been in decline for a long time, and I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. The company has lost a huge amount of talent over the past few years, especially after the search deal with MS.” – Yahoo Scientist (Santa Clara, CA)

“[Pros] It has been a great experience working in Yahoo. [Cons] No future direction is causing some concerns amongst employees.” – Yahoo Vice President (Sunnyvale, CA)

Reaction to Bartz’s ousting and opinion of leadership at the company:

“The board seems to have handled the firing of Bartz rather poorly. It was very abrupt and without any good reason. The executive staff is all fairly new to Yahoo, with many of them coming from Microsoft. It gives the impression that Microsoft is slowly taking over, which is not a good thing from my standpoint.” – Yahoo Software Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“[Pros] I like all the Smart people. [Cons] Senior Management is having tough time understanding all product potential.” – Yahoo Senior Manager (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Hire smart ones [senior leaders]. Find a leader who has online industry experience. Get your innovative ideas marketed before the competitor does.” – Yahoo Senior Systems Engineer (location n/a)

Viewpoint on competitive landscape and company priorities:

“INNOVATE and let the company be engineering driven, for some stupid reason, they’re branding it as a premier digital media company. This doesn’t work dude! Just look at AOL and Demand Media, they are barely alive, so don’t be silly!” – Yahoo Technical Yahoo (location n/a)

“Lack of consistent and lasting strategy translates into sometimes competing priorities within the company and much wasted work. With the right management and strategy, Yahoo could remain a force in its industry.” – Yahoo Senior Director (location n/a)

What’s your perspective on Yahoo as of late? Are you a Yahoo employee? Share a company review.

Inside Yahoo: Employees Sound Off In Post-Bartz Era is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Yahoo CEO Bartz Leaves With 33% Approval Among Employees

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:09:39 +0000

As the world continues to buzz about what’s next for Yahoo after CEO Carol Bartz got fired over the phone, turns out, Yahoo employees may not be so sad to see her go.

According to the nearly 300 Yahoo employee reviews on Glassdoor, Bartz is leaving Yahoo with a cumulative 54% approval rating,and a 46% disapproval rating. The average CEO approval rating on Glassdoor is 62%.

However, as we dug deeper into the data, we found that Bartz’s approval rating has generally been on the decline since late 2010. According to the most recent Yahoo employee reviews, Bartz garnered a 33% approval rating, thus far, during Q3 of 2011. The table below shows how Bartz’s approval rating has changed each quarter since taking the top job at Yahoo in January 2009.

In addition, it’s interesting to note that when former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang left office, he held a 43% approval rating, and a 57% disapproval rating among employees.

Yahoo employees also give the company a 3.2 (OK) rating (ratings based on a 5-point scale). This is slightly higher than the average company rating on Glassdoor, which is a 3.1.

Below is recent commentary from Yahoo employees on what it’s been like to work under Bartz as of late:

Recent Employee Commentary

“No strong leadership with vision & execution. Especially lacks execution.” – Yahoo Principal Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Be straightforward with the real problems Yahoo is facing and focus on the core business rather than spread the money over many irrelevant projects that are destined to die from the day they start.” – Yahoo Employee (location n/a)

“Very low employee morale is taking a toll on those who still want to work here. Upper management gives the same raa-raa speeches with little to back up the talk.” – Yahoo Employee (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Lack of numbers drive decision making, lack of customer focus. Top leadership denies the world changed so we are still pursuing the portal business when the world rapidly changes to mobile, apps, social networks and location based personal solutions.” – Yahoo Product Manager (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Keep fighting the good fight; keep employees motivated, and reward them for doing well! Do better at identifying top talent and nurturing, stimulating, and retaining that talent.” – Yahoo Technical Yahoo (Sunnyvale, CA)

In advice to senior management, some employees had this to say:

“Go away already!” – Yahoo Web Analytics Manager (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Please stop making senseless speeches about your vision and strategic plans. Instead, focus more on quality engineering and addressing the platform problems. Please don’t attempt to save a few bucks by outsourcing.” – Yahoo Technical (New York, NY)

Tech CEO Report Card: Schmidt Goes At All-Time High Approval Rating; eBay’s Donahoe Climbs As Yahoo’s Bartz Falls In Past Year

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:30:52 +0000

As Google CEO Eric Schmidt prepares to hand over the reins, his employee approval rating is at an all-time high – and the highest among his peer group CEOs, according to new analysis from Glassdoor.com that evaluated employee opinions of 12 large technology companies over the past two years¹. Based on surveys submitted by Google employees over the past 12 months (March 2010-March 2011), Schmidt’s approval rating is 96%, up three points from the prior 12-month period.

He’s followed closely by Apple’s Steve Jobs, who — even while on medical leave — has a 95% approval rating, down 3 points from the prior year. During the same period, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Oracle’s Larry Ellison both dropped four points to 83% and 73% approval respectively.

eBay’s John Donahoe saw the greatest improvement in his approval rating year over year. Between March 2009 and March 2010, he had just a 24% approval rating among employees, whereas between March 2010 and March 2011, he held a 46% approval rating.

Other CEOs on the rise include Intuit’s Brad Smith, who saw an 18-point improvement from 69% approval to 87% in the most recent 12-month period. And, Dell’s Michael Dell saw a 12-point improvement year-over-year, holding an average 48% approval in the past 12 months.

The largest year-over-year decline belongs to Yahoo’s Carol Bartz, indicating her honeymoon may be long over. In the year she started, Bartz maintained a 77% approval rating, which was more than twice the approval rating of her predecessor Jerry Yang, who had a 34% approval upon his departure. In the past 12 months, Bartz’s approval has dropped to 50% after months of declining approval as seen in the line chart below.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer saw the second biggest decline among the dozen CEOs evaluated. Between March 2009 and March 2010, he held an average 46% approval rating, which has dropped to 40% in the past 12 months.

Over the two years, company ratings for the dozen tech companies evaluated remained pretty stable year-over-year. The highest rated is Google at 3.8 (satisfied), followed closely by Adobe (3.6, satisfied), Apple (3.6, satisfied) and Intel (3.6, satisfied). eBay saw the greatest increase, increasing from a 2.7 to a 2.9 (ok) rating in the past 12 months. Amazon slipped during the same period from a 3.3 to a 3.1 (ok) rating.

How will Larry Page rate? We invite Google employees to tell us starting Monday. Even as a co-founder, he has some large shoes to fill. Are you a tech employee? Fill out a Glassdoor survey and tell us how your CEO is doing.

(1) For this report, Glassdoor evaluated company and CEO approval ratings between March 16, 2009 through March 15, 2010, and March 16, 2010 through March 15, 2011.

(2) Glassdoor CEO approval ratings are calculated similarly to presidential approval ratings; Employees are simply asked: “Do you approve of the way your CEO is leading the company?”

Tech CEO Report Card: Schmidt Goes At All-Time High Approval Rating; eBay’s Donahoe Climbs As Yahoo’s Bartz Falls In Past Year is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

2010 Tech Industry Report Card: Facebook Leads Tech Pack

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:47:29 +0000

Earlier we officially announced Glassdoor’s third annual Employees’ Choice Awards that highlights the Top 50 Best Places to Work in 2011. As a tech startup, we weren’t surprised to find some big – and not so big – tech companies on the list.

Of the 100,000 companies now represented on Glassdoor, Facebook topped this year’s list with a 4.6 overall company rating. Eleven other tech companies made the national list, including SAS Institute (#7; Rating: 4.0), NetApp (#15; Rating: 3.8), National Instruments (#19; Rating: 3.7), Apple (#20; Rating 3.7), Analog Devices (#21; Rating: 3.7), Synopsys (#25; Rating: 3.7), Google (#30; 3.7 Rating), QUALCOMM (#36; Rating: 3.6), Adobe (#39; Rating: 3.6), Salesforce.com (#41; Rating: 3.6) and Intel (#45; Rating: 3.6). While General Mills’ Ken Powell is the highest rated CEO on the list at 100%, Steve Jobs is the highest rated tech CEO at 97%, followed closely by Mark Zuckerberg and Eric Schmidt – both of whom maintain a 96% approval rating.

We were curious how other tech employers measured up against these leaders during the past year so we ran analysis for the same time period (December 1, 2009 thru December 1, 2010) using a minimum 25 company review requirement and came up with a scorecard for 55 tech-driven companies. The range of opinions across company work environments and CEO ratings are pretty wide.

For example, while Amazon didn’t make this year’s Best Places to Work list, it has a 3.2 rating and CEO Jeff Bezos has an 85% approval rating. Autodesk has a 2.9 rating and Carl Bass has 56% approval from his employees while Dell is slightly lower with a 2.8 rating and Michel Dell’s 51% approval rating. Tech giant Microsoft has a 3.3 rating while its chief Steve Ballmer has a 49% approval rating.

We’ve been tracking this type of data from tech companies for nearly three years and found an interesting trend among high-profile companies that have transitioned chief executives. For example, Hewlett-Packard has a 2.2 rating yet in his short tenure new CEO Leo Apotheker has 62% approval, which is significantly above Mark Hurd’s 34% approval when he left. For tech giants AOL and Yahoo! that made bold CEO moves in the first quarter of 2009, the story is similar. AOL has a 3.0 rating and Tim Armstrong comes in at 71% approval — well ahead of Randy Falco’s 13% approval when he left the building. Even Yahoo!’s Carol Bartz has a 56% approval, topping Jerry Yang’s 34% when he left the company and the company rating is 3.3. It will be interesting to watch how the company morale and approval of Carol will stand up in the wake of the latest round of layoffs.

Work at any of the above companies? We invite you to weigh in and share your opinion.

2010 Tech Industry Report Card: Facebook Leads Tech Pack is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Your Office Wants To Be In Pictures! Submit A Photo On Glassdoor, Get A Chance At $500

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:57:23 +0000

Want to know what the office in Dubai or Dublin has that you don’t? Imagine heading to a job interview and want to get your bearings before even setting foot there. Glassdoor can help with our newest feature that brings new meaning to “a picture is worth a thousand words” – Office Photos.

Let’s take Yahoo! for example. On Glassdoor, you can now see photos of common workspace areas, the Sunnyvale coffee bar, what it looks like on a Hack Day and the purple and yellow bull with a computer in its mid-section in the main reception area.

Or, check out Zillow’s downtown Seattle office and see the kitchen and rec area with not one, but two ping pong tables for those much-needed mental breaks.

We need your help – you could win $500 for your office photos

We invite you to upload photos of your workplaces….and spaces. Anything goes, really — the company cafeteria, lobby area, break room, conference rooms, cubicles or offices, gym, nursing rooms, CEO’s office, board room – you name it. We’re looking for whatever areas you think either best represent your company and its culture.

And as we get this feature going, we are giving away $500 to one lucky individual who submits some of the most interesting workplace photos. (See below for contest rules)

How to upload your office photos (and a few guidelines):

You must first be a registered user who has contributed at least one of the following anonymously – a company review, job interview review or salary report. (If you are not yet a member, it takes just a few minutes and the information you leave, helps others. To get started, create an anonymous account)
Once registered, login to Glassdoor and enter a company name into the search field
Select the photos tab
Choose the photos you want to upload (up to 10 at a time) (Please keep in mind that each photo must be no larger than 5MB and must be a: JPG, GIF, PNG or BMP file)
Add a caption (optional), up to 200 characters and note the country or city where the photos were taken (optional, but really really helpful). Please note captions must adhere to Glassdoor’s community guidelines.
Your submission will be anonymous, but you have option to enter attribution for photos, just remember anything you enter will be public on the Web! So we suggest something generic like YHOOHR, or SFengineer.
You must also certify you have the rights to share the images.

And, remember, this is a anonymous community so if you want to upload photos of you and/or your coworkers, make sure you’re courteous and have their permission to share.

When your photos have been uploaded, our content team will review each photo for appropriateness. We reserve the right to reject ones that don’t meet this threshold or do not represent work locations. (So, the Friday night happy hour at a local pub where your boss is dancing on a table is not going to fly). As with any contribution, we’ll also be relying on our community to keep it clean. Any photo can be flagged for any reason (i.e. inappropriate, not a work space of the company, etc.) and we’ll review.

Once published or you see other photos you like, you can share them via Facebook or Twitter. Plus if you think a certain photo will be beneficial to others for whatever reason, tell your fellow users by clicking the ‘helpful’ button at the bottom of each photo.

We look forward to seeing what it’s like where you work. Curious what it’s like at Glassdoor? Come look inside.

Plus tell us what you think of this new feature and any other features you’d like to see us add in the future.

Photo Contest Rules: No purchase necessary to enter or win $500. You must be a U.S. resident over the age of 18. One (1) entry per person. The contest will begin on May 25, 2010 and end on July 31, 2010. The Winner will be drawn at random from all eligible entries and notified by e-mail. All Contest participants agree to be bound by the Official Rules. Sponsored by Glassdoor. To receive a copy of the Official Rules, contact us online via http://www.glassdoor.com/about/contact_input.htm or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Glassdoor –Photo Upload Contest, 3 Harbor Drive #211, Sausalito, CA 94965. Please specify “Listed Winner(s)” or “Rules” on your request. WA and VT residents may omit return postage.

Your Office Wants To Be In Pictures! Submit A Photo On Glassdoor, Get A Chance At $500 is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Yahoo CEO Gives Herself ‘B-’; 54% Of Employees Approve Of Bartz

Glassdoor Team — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:21:34 +0000

Now that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has been in office a year, she felt it was time to do some serious professional evaluation. Well Carol, we couldn’t agree more…especially given that we did try to offer some helpful hints after former CEO Jerry Yang left office and you took the reins.

Yahoo! Reviews – Glassdoor Review

Last Friday, Carol Bartz awarded herself a B- grade for her first year leading the notorious tech giant. So naturally we turn to Yahoo! employees to see how they feel Bartz has been performing. And based on the ratings submitted since Bartz took office, employees award her a 54% approval. By comparison, when Jerry Yang left office he had 34% approval. We have scoured the past 12 months of Yahoo! company reviews to shed some light on what they think Bartz could improve upon:

“Provide a clear direction. Let the employees know what to expect in 6months, or at least prove that you know what to expect.” – Yahoo Software Engineer (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Remove yourself from senior management, jettison the board and regroup with people who are knowledgeable and passionate about this field. The employees and stock-holders have no faith. We’re all looking for better jobs and selling our already undervalued shares.” – Yahoo Senior Director, Product Management (Sunnyvale, CA)

“Listen more to your engineers, prioritizing some of their ideas. Product managers must understand that the engineers can provide and guide ideas for a technological company.” – Yahoo Software Engineer (San Paolo, Brazil)

“The most important asset to an organization is the people! Hire talented, charismatic leaders who lead by example and earn respect of others.” – Yahoo, Technical (location n/a)

“Simplify the core business.” – Yahoo Product Marketing Manager (location n/a)

“It’s time to either come up with something innovative or just sell the business.” – Yahoo Employee (London, UK)

Do you Yahoo! or are you a Yahoo! employee? If so, what do you think Bartz should do to improve the company and its offerings?

Yahoo CEO Gives Herself ‘B-’; 54% Of Employees Approve Of Bartz is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

“Frickin’ Google” – Did Yahoo’s Bartz Have a Reason to Get Mad?

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:34:22 +0000

During Tuesday’s Yahoo! press conference announcing the launch of a $100+ million brand campaign, Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo got fired up following a reporter’s question that led to flurry of frustration that rang through Silicon Valley – and beyond – comparing Google and Yahoo.

Below are some of Bartz’s highlights captured by the San Francisco Chronicle:

“I just want to transplant all you guys out of this sort of cynicism you’re in. I mean, why are you cynical about us? Be cynical about frickin’ Google. Leave us alone.”

“If you don’t like us, just leave us alone, we’ll just deal with our users, because you know what? We do great things for them and we’re excited about what we are.”

Sure there’s added pressure when you’re under the lime light, but was Bartz’s reaction a result of the constant battering or did the press deserve a reality check?

Since Bartz took over the top job at Yahoo!, she’s had the attention of friends and foes to see how she would fair. We decided to do our own digging, turning to the people who know best about Yahoo and Google – the employees. After analyzing company and CEO approval ratings at Google and Yahoo! over the last year, here’s what we found:

Bottom line, Yahoo! employee sentiment about the company has improved since Bartz took over the helm while their chief rival has seen some footing shift. Here are a few highlights from the Glassdoor analytics team:

After nearly nine months in the job, Carol Bartz quickly surpassed her predecessor Jerry Yang in terms of approval rating. Bartz’s approval rating is 55% (disapproval 10%) whereas at his departure, Yang was 34% (45% disapproval)
Although Eric Schmidt has a high cumulative CEO approval rating of 87% (2% disapproval), his trailing 30-day average has declined slightly in recent months but still well ahead of Bartz’s rating.
While Google still rates higher than Yahoo! in terms of overall company satisfaction rating (4.0 versus 3.2 at publish date/time), the trailing 30-day average converged about a month ago as Yahoo ratings rose and Google lowered; Looking at these trailing averages, both companies are now in the neutral to satisfied rating category (3.0 to 3.5).

Here are a few quotes from recent employee reviews of both Google and Yahoo to give some more insight:

Yahoo

“Yahoo! is often spoken of in the shadow of Google – even though Yahoo! is a prime Internet portal. Also, management is not always transparent, for e.g., with the recent Microsoft-yahoo deal.” – Yahoo Senior Software Engineer

“Things have been so muddled for so long that it will take 2-3 years to cut away the fat to get to where yahoo needs to be in terms of systems, operations, product development, and processes.” – Yahoo Ad Operations Manager

“Jerry and Sue were the wrong people to lead the company. That’s fixed now, and friends there seem much more optimistic.” – Yahoo Vice President

“People do not appreciate the great undertaking of maintaining one of the biggest websites on the planet and yet still keep innovating.” – Yahoo Anonymous

Google

“Google is a big company that provides a comfy job but none of the burning desire to go that extra mile because they aren’t making the effort to take you with them.” – Google Senior Engineer

“Google has a tremendous brand equity, incredibly brilliant colleagues, and it has a culture that truly fosters innovation.” – Google Senior Analyst

“The company is getting really big. Products and infrastructures are huge now. Launching new products is getting really hard. Persuading people to go for a new idea can be an endless round of futile meetings.” – Google Product Manager

“Google is a large corporation, and that is starting to show more and more due to the economy.” – Google Account Manager

Do you think Bartz’s reaction was warranted or will Yahoo always be ripe for press scrutiny? Tell us what you think.

“Frickin’ Google” – Did Yahoo’s Bartz Have a Reason to Get Mad? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

831 Things Yahoos Can Learn from Microsoft Employees

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:29:33 +0000

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released online Tuesday with details of the recent partnership agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo, it was announced that Microsoft would be hiring 400 Yahoo employees. The partnership is part of a plan to share revenue on Internet search advertising. In the Yahoo SEC filing, it also noted that Microsoft will hire 150 of Yahoo’s staff to assist with the transition.

But let’s face it: if you are making this transition from a Yahoo to a Microsoft employee, you want to know what you are getting into. And who best to show the opportunities and pitfalls at Microsoft other than existing employees? Here’s just a taste of advice from the 831 Microsoft employees who have rated the company on Glassdoor.com that can provide insight to transferring Yahoo team members:

“Your performance rating is decided how well others in your group performed (relative or stack ranking still takes place under the new performance system) even if you have delivered all your tasks satisfactorily” – Program Manager (Redmond, WA)

“The compensation is not the greatest in the world. If you have a family the health benefit will compensate for it otherwise for sure you will find it that your peer at other company is making more money that you.”- Software Development Engineer In Test (Fargo, ND)

“It has endless resources for growth (see cons), including a big library, conferences, training etc. The company can really invest in you and you can see the dividends of this investment in your work.” – Anonymous (Durham, NC)

For more tips and company reviews, check out some other of latest feedback:

Microsoft Reviews – Glassdoor Review

Oh and if you are interested in salary and want to know how Microsoft salaries differ from Yahoo, check these salary reports out:

Microsoft Salaries – Glassdoor Salary

Yahoo! Salaries – Glassdoor Salary

831 Things Yahoos Can Learn from Microsoft Employees is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Microsoft and Yahoo Announce Partnership; What Could this Mean for Employees?

Glassdoor Team — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:11:44 +0000

News today broke of a 10-year partnership agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo!, after years of discussions between the two companies attempting to work together in some capacity. As part of the deal, Microsoft will provide backend technology for Yahoo! search functionality, giving Bing, Microsoft’s newly minted search engine, additional inquiries to work with. In addition, Yahoo!’s sales force will begin selling premium advertising for both companies.

There has been some speculation about what this will mean for employees of the two companies, including potential lay-offs at Yahoo! and some job opportunities for employees to move from Yahoo! to new roles at Microsoft.

Based on reviews on both companies, Yahoo! employees may actually be happier at Microsoft, with approval ratings at the company a full .4 points higher than at Yahoo!. More than half of employees (54%) do, however, approve of the work that Carol Bartz is doing at Yahoo!, in comparison to the job that Steve Ballmer is doing at Microsoft (42%).

The partnership is critical to both companies as they attempt to take on Google, the dominant leader in the search space. Google receives a company rating of 4.0 and CEO Eric Schmidt garners an approval rating of 87%. As you can see both Yahoo! and Microsoft have a ways to go when it comes to beating Google – both in the search space and with employee satisfaction.

Glassdoor Report
	Company Rating	CEO Name	CEO Approval Rating
Microsoft	3.7	Steve Ballmer	42%
Yahoo!	3.3	Carol Bartz	54%
Google	4	Eric Schmidt	87%

Do you work at any of these technology giants? What do you think of the announcement, and if you are Yahoo! employee how would you feel about moving over to Microsoft? What impact do you think the news will have on the industry in the long term?

Microsoft and Yahoo Announce Partnership; What Could this Mean for Employees? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

February’s Review of the Month

Glassdoor Team — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:54:11 +0000

Recently when we have selected the winning Glassdoor Job Review of the Month, we look for reviews that offer other employees a well-rounded perspective about the job and/or the company. But, February’s winner offers our readers and community members something slightly different. The winner of the February Review of the Month, a Yahoo! Engineering Manager in Sunnyvale, CA, gives feedback that is not only valuable to employees but equally useful to the employer. In the job and company review, you’ll find some insights on what could make Yahoo more satisfying to work at and perhaps a more successful Internet search and navigation services company.

Given that Yahoo! has a new CEO at its helm, the tips that this one employee has to offer may come at an ideal time as the company is looking to reinvigorate its business. Carol Bartz, the CEO of Yahoo, receives a moderate 62% approval rating – this rating may improve if she takes some of the following employee feedback:

In advice to senior management, this engineering manager suggests:

“Stop reorganizing. Start prioritizing. Stop doing so much, start doing something better. Focus people on high-priority projects, and spend the time to kill off low priority projects. Start explaining what the long-term company strategy is.”

Interestingly, approximately two weeks after this review was published on Glassdoor, Carol Bartz posted a message on the Yahoo corporate blog that in effect demonstrated her commitment to, as she coined it, having the brand kick ass again. Bartz commented, “I’m singularly focused on providing you with awesome products. Period.”

However on the downside of this reviewer’s suggestions, Bartz also announced her reorganization plans. She reported that she would be “rolling out a new management structure that will make Yahoo! a lot faster on its feet.”

The reviewer’s suggestions to management appear to stem from the downsides of working at the company:

“The culture has decayed over the last 5 years, as the old guard has gotten complacent, then retired. Yahoo never recovered from losing the search war to Google, and the company morale reflects it. Constant reorganizations and people shuffling mean that there’s really no career path.

Although, Yahoo’s battles have been quite public over the past year this one employee shows that this doesn’t mean all is lost. On the positive side, the employee comments on the impressive talent pool that remains at Yahoo. In addition, the Glassdoor community member mentions that:

“There are still some pockets of creativity where interesting things are happening. The level of pride and company identification is very high: people take “wearing the purple” pretty seriously.”

Thank you to this employee for their great feedback. If there are other fellow Yahoo Yodelers out there who haven’t submitted a review on Glassdoor, tell us what you think about your job and what suggestions you have for Bartz and upper management.

February’s Review of the Month is a post from: Glassdoor Blog