Worst Places to Work

In class, we have talked about the best organizations to work for. Companies that we often think of are Facebook, SAS Institute, Google, and Apple. I have heard about each of these companies and how they implement a positive work environment-this got me thinking though. I have heard about the positive corporations, but what about the negative? What organizations are on the other side of the spectrum and what makes them so dreadful to work for?

Glassdoor.com puts a list out every year that has the best and work organizations to be employed by. These are ranked by employee reviews. The following link will take you to the lowest organizations:

Glassdoor Reports Companies with the Lowest Scores

This link will take you to Glassdoor's list of best places to work of 2011:

Glassdoor's Best Places to Work of 2011

Among the top twenty worst companies rated by employees are big names like United Airlines, RadioShack, Office Depot, and Chrysler. Under the United Airlines link, employees discuss the pros and cons of working at the organization. One person says they have little chance to advance, which makes it hard to grow in their career. This connects greatly with the motivation chapter from class. If people do not have an incentive to work harder, why would they? Within United Airlines, this employee says there is little opportunity to move up in the organization--there are no performance incentives there. There is also mention of their employees desiring a higher pay. Because of this economy, it may be hard for organizations to give raises, but they could offer other kinds of incentives to keep their workers satisfied.

After reading through a few of the employee review for these large companies, it is pretty evident that changes could be made.

Take a look at the worst place to work list. What companies surprised you to fall on it? How about on the best places to work? What kinds of suggestions would you give the organizations that have these low ratings?


Written by: Jenny Liechti