Southwest Airlines, according to a new survey by Glassdoor, a company that conducts online salary surveys.
Southwest workers called the company “amazing” and its CEO, Gary Kelly, “fantastic.” It was followed by online travel agency Hotwire, Continental Airlines and Marriott.
Any employee can anonymously review and rate their company, CEO and provide details about their salary and other compensation through the Glassdoor system. Part of the ratings process is also open to any candidate who has gone through a job interview at the company.
For CEO ratings, the scale runs from a 5 (very satisfied) to a 1.
Rounding out the bottom of the list are American Airlines, Hertz and United Airlines. I previously reported on Glassdoor’s United Airlines rating here. (The methodology for calculating the list was changed for this chart to allow travel companies with fewer votes to qualify for the list.)
As you might expect, the employee comments for these companies were scathing.
“No room to advance,” griped one Hertz employee in New Jersey. “No communication with the senior executives at all except for the quarterly webcasts. CEO is a ghost.”
“They have whittled away at some of our benefits (ie. less sick days, no more matching 401K and no more college reimbursement),” wrote one manager in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “You’ll be washing a few cars every day as a manager. You’ll be CONSTANTLY barraged with ways to “save the company money” (ie. cut employees overtime, do not order office supplies, no purchase orders, etc.)”
Some of the worst comments were reserved for United’s CEO.
“Company pride and team spirit are as low as you can get,” complained one pilot. “Reason: the company is being treated like the CEO’s personal stock portfolio and ATM, rather than a living/breathing entity.”
I was a little surprised by the companies in the middle, and toward the bottom. Starwood, Hilton and Enterprise should have performed better than they did.
As I mentioned in my initial post on CEO ratings, this could affect your next trip. When employee morale suffers, so does customer service.
My advice? Do business with a company that has a highly-rated CEO, if you can.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
After reading your blog for a long time and seeing the numbers, I can’t say I’m shocked at all. Still, when it comes to Hertz, I hate to sound sort of contrite but the person complaining works for a car rental company. I mean I guess he or she could advance to management, but that’s dependent on many factors. It’s like the employee at McDonalds screaming all I do is make hamburgers. Yes, that’s your job to do it. I mean, there’s not a lot of room to go up in some select fields. Certainly, there are some possibilities, but they are mostly reserved for lifetime people who got years of experience and making it a career. I don’t know the employee who complained, so I can’t judge. However, one should at least keep this thought in mind.
Justin
@Justin
+1
Honestly, I think this must be a joke. I work for Hertz in New Jersey and believe that the cited comments must be from ex-employees. It’s true that Hertz has had a lot of layoffs in the last few years, but our CEO has always been forthcoming about those possibilities and why they needed to happen. As for the CEO is a ghost comment, that is utterly ridiculous. Just because you don’t see him strolling the cubicles on a daily basis doesn’t make someone a ghost. Yes, he has webcasts at least quarterly (this year we’ll have 5 I think) but those are just the formal interactions. I’ve heard that he works out in the gym with the other employees and is a regular at any employee events. I saw him getting ready to play ping pong in the cafeteria once. Add to that that he welcomes employee e-mails and answers employee questions whenever they are asked, by e-mail, on the intranet, or in person. Compare this to our past CEOs who truly were ghosts, only to come out for their annual Christmas luncheon speeches.
Considering the comment about companies with low votes being ranked this year, I would like to know how many votes were cast for Hertz in this.
One last comment to address the “no room to advance” statement. That actually may have some truth to it, but the WHY is really not a negative. I look around every day and see lots of people who have worked here for 10 years or more. And these aren’t just people in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Hertz has a lot of employees in their 30’s that have already been here 10 years or more. If people keep leaving a company, sure there will be room to move up. If everybody stays though, which is more often the case at Hertz than not, you may have a tough time.
Sorry for being long winded, but I just hate to see Hertz, where I work happily, get slammed like this.
Chris; thank you for the mention of Glassdoor;very informative and interesting website; Continental is way up on top 50 employee rated companies; a few years Consumer Reports stated some positive things about it; It has been around since 1936.
I have to agree with Mike in defense of Hertz. We went through a very rough patch with the recession, as did many other companies. But there aren’t many companies coming out stronger as a result. I feel like all of the Hertz executives, especially our CEO, are more focused on morale and employee-related concerns than they’ve ever been.
Plus, I don’t think 50 responses on Glassdoor.com are representative of 25,000+ Hertz employees.
As someone who’s been with Hertz for more than 14 years and started as a Station Manager, I have to add my two cents. I’ve spent my entire career at Hertz, and hard workers are the people who get promoted. You can’t expect to stay at a company for an extended period of time and assume you will be promoted for doing your job. Hertz is a performance-based company. The harder you work, the better you are rewarded.
As far as our CEO, if it weren’t for Mark Frissora, I’m not sure where Hertz would be financially. He’s implemented programs and initiatives that have made us more competitive as an organization. Not to mention, he understands that employee morale is tied to productivity and he’s working to make improvements. Just visit our NJ HQ to see a basketball court in the parking lot, ping pong tables in the cafeteria and lots of company spirit.
This has to increase my respect for the United Airlines employees. Without exception, those employees I have encounterd, whether flight/cabin crew, ground staff or reservation agents (and I am an elite United flyer) have been at the least professional and courteous and at the most have gone out of their way to make the travel experience more pleasant (I am thinking of, for example, the United captain who obtained authority to divert a flight somewhat so that all passengers could view the Grand Canyon)
I thought Richard Anderson (not Bastian) was Delta’s CEO?
Surely GlassDoor isn’t a scientific approach to rating companies or CEOs. Chris – you are suggesting readers avoid companies with low ratings that are based on very few ratings/comments, anonymous ratings, I might add. This is a real disservice to all travel companies and bad advice to your readers. I’m surprised you fell for this.
Chris I enjoyed your GlassDoor study;Ilooked it over myself. Joyce you really cannot take any survey to seriously. Data can be skewered very often.Genarally speaking United does seem to recieve the most mumber of complaints. Keep up the good work.
barbie45, can you please make at least a rudimentary attempt to comment in readable English? There are some great spell-checkers and grammar-checkers out there. Trust me, we would all appreciate it.
By the way, data isn’t “skewered.” It’s “skewed.” Cubes of beef, chicken, and vegetables are “skewered.” That’s called a “kebob.”
Now I’m getting hungry!
Hester;As I have explained in a previous posting I have just had extensive eye surgery and am following up with treatment; Iam so sorry for any inconvenience I am causing you