Who’s the Lowest of them All? Glassdoor Reports Companies with Lowest Overall Ratings

Posted by • December 29th, 2008 • 655 Comments

With a New Year right around the corner, it may be time for some companies to take a look at what’s working and what’s not. We all know and recognize that things are tough right now, and for employers this is an opportunity to take a look inside so that you retain your talent and get the most out of your employees while keeping them happy. As we thumb through the data collected throughout this past year, there are companies who shine (stay tuned for top companies) and there are those who – well, let’s just say their ratings aren’t a bright spot.

For your perusal, we have identified some of the lowest rated companies on Glassdoor.com¹. DHL Express ranks as the least favored company on Glassdoor (of those with at least 25 employee reviews). DHL Express is headquartered in Plantation, Fla. and receives a 1.7 company rating (on a 5-point scale). United Airlines headquartered in Chicago, Ill.  takes the number two spot, followed closely by automotive supplier Reynolds & Reynolds headquartered in Kettering, Ohio. Both Reynolds & Reynolds and United Airlines receive a 2.0 company rating².

What’s also interesting to note is which CEOs from the 50 lowest rated companies recently made our CEO Watch List that was highlighted in our “Naughty and Nice CEOs of 2008″ post.

Glassdoor: Lowest Rated Companies Based on Employee Satisfaction
RankCompanyOverall
Rating		CEOCEO Approval Rating
1DHL Express (USA)1.7N/AN/A³
2United Airlines2.0Glenn F. Tilton12%
3Reynolds and Reynolds2.0Bob Brockman8%
4Farmers Group2.0Paul N. Hopkins6%
5Gibson Guitar2.1Henry E. Juszkiewicz17%
6RadioShack2.1Julian C. Day11%
7Rain Bird2.1Anthony LaFetra9%
8CSAA Inter-Insurance Bureau2.2James R. Pouliot12%
9Office Depot2.2Steve Odland4%
10Compuware2.4Pete Karmanos Jr.16%
11Affiliated Computer Services2.4Lynn R. Blodgett10%
12Harrah’s Entertainment2.4Gary W. Loveman30%
13Convergys2.4Dave Dougherty20%
14Qimonda2.5Kin Wah Loh19%
15NCR2.5Bill Nuti27%
16Tata Consultancy2.5Subramanian Ramadorai37%
17Countrywide Financial2.5Angelo R. Mozilo3%
18Chrysler2.5Bob Nardelli17%
19Fidelity National Information Services2.5Lee A. Kennedy15%
20Acxiom2.5John MeyerNot Rated
21LexisNexis2.5Andy Prozes13%
22Unisys2.5Ed ColemanNot Rated
23Dominion Enterprises2.5Conrad M. Hall25%
24Borders2.6George L. Jones16%
25Rite Aid2.6Mary F. Sammons28%
26Coca-Cola Enterprises2.6John Franklin Brock19%
27EDS2.6Ron Rittenmeyer11%
28Nationwide2.6Jerry Jurgensen31%
29AT&T Mobility2.6Ralph de la Vega36%
30Red Cross2.6Gail McGovernNot Rated
31OfficeMax2.6Sam K. Duncan23%
32Marvell Technology2.6Sehat Sutardja27%
33Level 3 Communications2.6Jim Crowe21%
34Motorola 2.6Greg Brown10%
35CA 2.6John A. C. Swainson57%
36Gannett2.6Craig A. Dubow19%
37Blockbuster2.7James KeyesNot Rated
38Alcatel-Lucent2.7Ben Verwaayen37%
39Robert Half2.7Max Messmer Jr.24%
40Freddie Mac2.7David MoffettNot Rated
41Macy’s2.7Terry J. Lundgren33%
42Corporate Executive Board2.7Thomas L. Monahan III30%
43IAC2.7Barry Diller21%
44Cadence Design2.7John ShovenNot Rated
45Real2.7Rob Glaser27%
46Circuit City2.7James MarcumNot Rated
47eBay2.7John J. Donahoe20%
48Washington Mutual2.7Alan Fishman0%
49AT&T2.7Randall L. Stephenson27%
50UnitedHealth Group2.7Steve Hemsley26%

In addition to news headlines about DHL and its failure to respond to financial and community commitments which will result in the loss of 8,000 jobs, current DHL Express employees point to the plethora of reasons why this company rates so low in terms of employee satisfaction:

A DHL Express Field Service Supervisor in Chicago, Ill. advises:

“Get Out Now” and adds “PROS: There are none! A highly disorganized company. I should have known better from the beginning.“

And, a Courier for DHL Express in Seattle, Wash. gives a laundry list explanation as to why the company takes top spot as the lowest rated company on Glassdoor:

“DHL Express is currently “downsizing” as it struggles to right a sinking ship in a recessionary economy. Upper management has continually mismanaged the company to the point that it is losing $5 million dollars a day (that’s over a billion dollars a year), even though their upfront costs were probably half that of its competitors, FedEx and UPS, and it had a diverse network and client base. It has continuously ignored whatever problems are actually occurring at the station level, has bungled numerous initiatives to cut costs and improve workplace efficiencies, has gone through a string of incompetent CEO’s, Presidents, and VP’s (who in turn were promoted into the upper reaches of the parent company, DPWN after failing to actually reach their “break even” target) and as a result there is a high degree of dissatisfaction by the dwindling customers we still have and low morale among the workers on the frontlines who run DHL’s service model (delivering packages). DHL USA is simply going out of business, and supposedly “retooling” to service international products exclusively even as international trade is slowing down and jet fuel costs are skyrocketing through the roof.”

So if you’re reading this blog as an employer, we hope you’ll take some of the feedback your employees are sharing about the good, the bad as well as advice they have to offer you about how to improve the company.

But if you’re an employee (of any company out there), use the opportunity to learn from your colleagues about what opportunities are available at your company… and other companies you bay be interested in.  Afterall, information is power in today’s market.

And no matter what side of the conference table you sit on, keep an eye out for tips from our guest contributor Rusty Rueff, a career and workplace expert, and take advantage of the advice he has to offer whether it’s on how to handle layoffs (as an employer or employee) or insights into handling an interview.

¹ Ratings are based on a 20-question survey that evaluate 8 key workplace factorsincluding: Senior Leadership, Communication, Employee Morale, Career Opportunities, Work/Life Balance, Compensation and Benefits, Recognition and Feedback, and Fairness and Respect

² For reporting simplicity, a company’s rating on the Glassdoor website and this list is limited to one decimal space although the actual calculations extend infinitely to determine final rank order

3 A ‘Not Rated” approval rating is due to the fact there are fewer than 25 responses for the current CEO. This may be caused by a recent CEO turnover or the fact fewer employees answered whether they “approve,” “disapprove” or have “no opinion” of the job the CEO is doing than those who completed the employer survey.

The Glassdoor Team is a small yet seasoned group of individuals looking to provide greater transparency into one of the most important aspects of our lives – our jobs. Contributions to the blog are designed to present a unique perspective on current events, offer commentary on the inside workings on specific jobs at a multitude of companies, and provide details on the latest happenings from within Glassdoor.

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Reviews
  • Frank Squire

    I’ve been a DHL employee for 18 years. This is a corporation who views its employee base as a liability, and rewards departments and divisions with bonuses for remaining under/at bugetary levels. Thus, there is NO TEAMWORK amongst the employee groups. They are all in competition against each other so the managers/supervisor’s attain their substantial BONUS. DPWN (german owners) have literally managed to destroy every facet of this company from the top down in the 5 years since attaining ownership! We bow our heads in shame.
    BTW, DHL takes the LOGIC out of LOGISTICS. What a pathetic parent company! An American tragedy for sure!

  • Mike Stewart

    i had 12 yrs with the company,laid off in July 2008. Where to start?The 1st day of the merger with Airborne 5 + yrs ago.From day 1 they (Management) had NO clue on how to run a courier company. They totally ignored customer service in return for made up numbers to show the corp. big wigs.They ignored the building of a company from the ground up, think an upside down pyramid. That was DHL’s way off being a success! They didnt have enough trucks,scanners or personnel. They tried to combine 2 hubs into one on a three day weekend. Resulting in delivery failures for months!EX. We were getting Japan pkgs from the US quicker than a pkg travelling only 20 miles!! No fooling! So, thats it in a nut shell, They meaning management messed it up really bad!

  • http://www.real.com David

    As a long time employee of RealNetworks I can say that the poll results for RealNetworks are an accurate representation of reality.

    I think the evidence points to poor management on the part of Rob Glaser. The CEO runs RealNetworks as his pet project and personal fiefdom. Shareholder value is the last thing on his mind.

    If Rob Glaser didn’t own and control so much of the RealNetworks Board of Directors votes he’d have been fired.

  • Lloyd Johnson

    I have worked for DHL now for over 20 years. I have never seen such a bunch of boobs. The right dosn’t even know there is a left. In short, they deserve to not only loose buisness, but should be thrown out of this country and able to do any buisness.

  • fatboyjohnny

    Check out jobvent.com regarding PEPID LLC, although they took down quite a few good posts. Typical PEPID here trying to hide the ugly truth. But you know what, you want a fight, we'll give you one! You're going to take down 5 posts, we'll put back 20. Right back at ya! In your face baby! Truth will always come out and needs to be told. Unsuspecting people have a right to know what kind of sick place Pepid is!
    So! The company is run by a couple of imbeciles. The big guy (literally), morbidly obese president is a bully and a liar. Abusive to his sales and marketing staff. Rarely in the office (lives in Arizona) does not care much about the company. Uses Pepid's money for his personal needs like traveling first class with his family all over the world. Claims to have an MBA degree and have a book published. Extensive research has not turned any information on neither his degree nor his book. He is a liar after all.
    His second in command, a VP of IT (and now a VP of every other department since they have eliminated the rest of executive management layer in the company) is a person who miraculously ended up where he is now. A person without proper education and no prior experience running IT department! In addition to that he is an alcoholic and a drug addict. Keeps a small fridge under his table always stacked with beer. Its not uncommon to see him drinking right in his office. And did I mention that he (a 50 year old man) is openly dating a 22 year old girl who came to Chicago from Iowa corn farm in search of happiness? Boy she sure is found it!
    These two individuals run a company that creates a medical product used by doctors at the patient's bed side! And let me tell you, this is not a quality product that they put out.
    Turn over is high and always has been (I've been wondering for years what kind of Unemployment Security tax rate they pay). People used to joke that they won't come over to meet a new employee till that employee survived more that 3 months without being fired.
    If you are a potential new employee, this is your lucky day that you found this site. Get the hell outta there! Save yourself. If you are a doctor by any chance using Pepid's product, throw it into the garbage and go back to Epocrates, or you might end up getting sued for killing a patient because you have used Pepid's dosing calc to calculate a drug dosage for a patient. This place is your worst nightmare.

    (To Pepid's management: this text is now saved as a document, and I won't even have to type it again. Copy and Paste, it will be back 5 minutes after you take it down. So perhaps you shouldn't bother. Go drink another beer instead.)

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