Glassdoor Review Patterns

Andrew Wilkinson and Sam Parr discuss how Glassdoor reviews, despite their limitations, can provide valuable signals about a company's culture and management.

• Glassdoor Reviews Have Hidden Value:

  • Often dismissed but can provide meaningful signals about company culture
  • Not necessarily facts, but indicators worth considering

• Psychology of Review Behavior:

  • People typically only go on Glassdoor when they strongly dislike their employer
  • Represents voices of the "people who hate you most"

• Positive Signal Interpretation:

  • If the most dissatisfied employees still give decent reviews, it's particularly meaningful
  • Good ratings become more significant given the negative bias of the platform

• Review Quality Assessment:

  • Not about taking reviews as absolute truth
  • Value comes from understanding the context of who leaves reviews
  • Even "okay" reviews from disgruntled employees can be seen as a positive signal

This perspective suggests that while Glassdoor shouldn't be the only metric, it can be a useful tool in evaluating company culture, especially when considering the natural negative bias of review platforms.