[reureu]

> Then the company will hire a firm to write them positive reviews

One company (Series D, 300+ employees) that I worked at did this, sort of. It was less a hired firm, and more the CEO posting.

> and the BS positive ones like 'it's a challenging place to work, the people posting negative reviews are used to workplaces where they need less initiative blah blah blah.

Absolutely. There are a few key phrases that are huge red flags for me. Consistent "themes" showing up on Glassdoor along the lines of "people who can't stand the heat need to get out of the kitchen" or "people are used to the old ways and need to grow up" or "this is a fast paced work environment and not everybody can handle it" are red flags that the company is trying to influence their Glassdoor rankings. It's like the opposite of sandbagging... if they make enough of the same comments, then Glassdoor will pick up a theme that provides an "excuse" for the company's legitimate bad reviews.

[badcodehere]

There are bs reviews HR has added for our company, but there are also 3-4 star entries for current employees whose identifies I can guess based on their phrasing (I'm calling bs on any 5 star I see). There are also a few ridiculously negative ones left by people right after they were fired.

[tixocloud]

Seems like the CEO has too much time on his hands. Which makes me wonder - isn't it easier to do the right thing and treat your employees right than it is to constantly come up with fabled stories to counter the negative reviews.

[viraptor]

From the CEO level? Which would require replacing or reforming a number of managers enabling the current situation and possibly delaying any current progress? I don't think there's any overlap between people who run on funding and who would attempt this for greater good.