Glassdoor has a historical past of working to maintain its customers’ identities personal, however there are considerations about these identification modifications. “Glassdoor has been second to none in defending their consumer’s First Modification rights,” says Aaron Mackey, a senior workers legal professional with the digital rights group Digital Frontier Basis. He represented a Glassdoor consumer in a case initiated in 2019 when their former employer, cryptocurrency alternate Kraken, tried to unmask the authors of opinions, alleging that former staff had violated severance agreements with their posts. (The events settled and the subpoena was withdrawn in 2020).
The present phrases, Mackey says, are a giant shift. “That is regarding, if the way in which by which they’re working their enterprise now creates potential for folks to be recognized, separate from whether or not or not they’re sued.”
Glassdoor gained title recognition by advertising and marketing itself as a spot centered on defending anonymity, however corporations with smaller workforces have all the time had good odds at guessing who wrote a selected assessment. That may be even simpler if managers may also see social channels on Glassdoor the place individuals are posting with their actual names, indicating which staff have accounts on the positioning. Individuals unaccustomed to fascinated by their on-line footprint may inadvertently depart huge clues, for instance, by posting anonymously after which much less covertly on the similar time.
Glassdoor’s phrases cite the danger. “You acknowledge that Glassdoor can’t assure your anonymity,” as an organization or division’s dimension, the content material posted, and the consumer’s location might enable employers’ to deduce who left a assessment, the doc says. “You need to perceive this threat earlier than submitting Content material to the providers.”
Social Pivot
Glassdoor’s acquisition of Fishbowl in 2021 united two platforms that lured customers by internet hosting comparatively unfiltered discussions of labor, a spot to choose up the sort of gossip extra typically shared in particular person. Collectively they’d supplied a counterweight to LinkedIn, which depends on folks utilizing their full identities and infrequently leads to rose-tinted, overly congratulatory, and typically downright cringey posts about work.
Glassdoor is owned by Recruit Holdings, which additionally owns Certainly. Certainly and Glassdoor revenue from promoting open jobs. Some 55 million folks go to Glassdoor each month, in accordance with the corporate. Verifying profiles may assist forestall trolls from posting pretend details about corporations and deceptive these looking for an insider’s view—all of which erode belief with different customers.
Altering insurance policies on names and verification can erode belief, too. If Glassdoor isn’t so nameless, it could change how a few of these customers have interaction. The latest social media dialogue impressed some folks to attempt to delete their accounts.
Monitoring the evolution of Glassdoor’s phrases of service reveals how its commitments to customers modified because it started so as to add new social options. The corporate consolidated its phrases with Fishbowl between December 2022 and January 2023, months earlier than the corporate introduced the brand new dialogue channels on Glassdoor.
A number of the modifications to the phrases added details about how customers are verified, in addition to how they are often nameless throughout providers. Glassdoor’s phrases of use state that the corporate might use info obtained from third events to replace profiles, together with private knowledge offered on résumés or elsewhere on its providers. It might additionally try and confirm employment historical past.
