Facebook, once the "best place to work," tumbles in job satisfaction ranking
Two years ago, Glassdoor ranked Facebook as the "best place to work" in the U.S., drawing in part on reviews posted on the job site by the social media company's own employees. But continued turbulence at Facebook appears to have taken a toll — the internet giant has tumbled to No. 23 in the latest annual ranking.
The string of data privacy scandals that has damaged Facebook's reputation has also dented CEO Mark Zuckerberg's standing, according to Glassdoor. He fell from No. 10 on the firm's 2017 listing of top CEOs to No. 55 this year.
"There's a lot of negative feedback on Facebook, and sometimes that can be tough on employees," said Sarah Stoddard of Glassdoor.
The ranking of the top 100 places to work is based on a year's worth of company reviews posted by more than 1 million employees on Glassoor's platform, zeroing in on issues including job satisfaction, pay and benefits, career opportunities, culture, work-life balance and leadership quality.
In the past, Facebook employees have faced more common workplace challenges like long hours and the pressure of meeting business targets. But fallout from the Cambridge Analytica affair, which earlier this year led federal regulators to slap Facebook with a $5 billion fine over privacy violations, has become a source of frustration for some employees, according to Glassdoor.
"High profile projects can be extremely political and can really be dragged down by too many cooks in the kitchen," a Facebook software engineer said in one Glassdoor review. "In a post Cambridge Analytica world there are huge slow downs in releasing new features / products, people aren't driven by making the experience better for the users as much as they are not screwing up again."
Other Glassdoor reviews cited the negative attention on Facebook following the privacy scandals.
"It's easy to either feel discouraged or develop a bit of an 'us versus them' mentality when the media/public seem both technically ill-informed and antagonistic towards your company," one full-time employee posted.
One recent Facebook hire cited the "constant negative press associated with the company," while another worker said "it seems like the company doesn't have a great reputation."
Despite such concerns, Facebook remains an attractive place to work, offering lavish pay and perks like free food, nap rooms and onsite dental centers, as well as generous parental leave policies. Employees gave the company a 4.4 rating out of 5 on Glassdoor, compared with an average of 3.5 for all employers listed on the site.
"What sets this company apart from the rest to me — our CEO and the company are genuinely committed to doing good to the world and making the world more connected," one person posted on Glassdoor. "It's very fulfilling to get to be a small part of this mission."
Meanwhile, Facebook isn't the only tech giant to slip in rankings this year. Google fell three places to No. 11, while Apple dropped 13 spots to No. 84.
HubSpot is No. 1
Taking the top spot for the first time on Glassdoor's list of best places to work: HubSpot. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, sales-software developer ranks high for its generous benefits, flexible scheduling, professional development opportunities and strong workplace culture.
HubSpot has a "Culture Code" deck of 128 slides that highlights the company's values and priorities.
"Especially as companies grow — HubSpot has offices in eight countries — having a deck like this to distribute to all their employees helps them distribute their culture not only in the U.S. but abroad as well," Stoddard said.
Following are the 10 best companies to work for in 2020 (and their rating on a scale of 5), according to Glassdoor:
- HubSpot (4.6 rating)
- Bain & Company (4.6)
- DocuSign (4.6)
- In-N-Out Burger (4.6)
- Sammons Financial Group (4.5)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (4.5)
- Intuitive Surgical (4.5)
- Ultimate Software (4.5)
- VIPKid (4.5)
- Southwest Airlines (4.5)
— Here is a link to the rest of Glassdoor's 100 best places to work.
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