Hey there thanks for sharing. I wrote the original Reddit post - quick TLDR of what I found:
- A prominent Y-Combinator backed startup, in addition to other companies, is buying fake Glassdoor reviews.
- Companies pay between $10-$35 to get a fake review written by freelancers.
- Companies pay between $100-$1000 to get a negative review taken down. Most of these payments are tied to Contingency Agreements (only pay if review is taken down).
- One of the top companies in Glassdoor’s Best Places To Work 2023 rankings seems to have artificially inflated its reviews right before the October deadline last year.
Alot of junior/fresh college grads look at these rankings. Also those in tech, but in more biz/operations/marketing/HR roles seem to take them more seriously. HR teams work for months on getting their companies on these list, often just bribing the companies with sponsorships and more advanced features. BuiltIn is just a survey of employees.
Not that what's said on the Glassdoor has anything to do with anything. I've seen enough cases of glaring (epic) discrepancies between what's said on Glassdoor about a certain company, and what I know first or (highly reliable) second hand, to make a firm realization of this fact.
That said, the negative reviews (when they are allowed to slip through) can be quite useful. Caveat emptor, etc.
Being a top ranked Glassdoor company certainly helps in attracting talent. Their scores are a signal that help me determine which company to join/apply. Especially reading reviews of people in my/similar position.
Question that I want other HN readers to answer with what they think:
Do you think the concept of paying for interactions on the internet would have been different if the internet never became privatized? Do you think it would have happened anyway but at a similar pace?
- A prominent Y-Combinator backed startup, in addition to other companies, is buying fake Glassdoor reviews.
- Companies pay between $10-$35 to get a fake review written by freelancers.
- Companies pay between $100-$1000 to get a negative review taken down. Most of these payments are tied to Contingency Agreements (only pay if review is taken down).
- One of the top companies in Glassdoor’s Best Places To Work 2023 rankings seems to have artificially inflated its reviews right before the October deadline last year.
Full article is here: https://www.careerfair.io/company-reviews