Cisco Tops Comments On New Anonymous CEO Website

June 11, 2008 10:52 a.m. EST

Sausalito, CA (AHN) - A website launched Tuesday night permits anonymous rating of company officers and salary rate discussions, topics often considered taboo in formal office settings, but often done secretly.

Among the target surfers of Glassdoor.com are workers contemplating on changing employers or aggrieved employees who need a global network to broadcast their grievances.

The salary information would be handy for employees on the verge of a pay negotiation. Richard Barton, co-founder of the website, said the public nature of the Website makes companies vulnerable to recruitment problems if a bad review was written and it remains unacted.

After several months of pre-operations, Glassdoor has about 3,000 reviews on 250 American firms. The bulk of the available data were from Silicon Valley companies. To ensure the website does not degenerate into a complaint fest, all postings are reviewed prior to publication, while multiple reviews from a single email address would be flagged.

Non-members could only access information on three IT firms - Google, Cisco Systems and Microsoft Corporation.

Cisco CEO John Chambers, the first entry on the Ratings and Review section, got a 93 percent approval rating. A reviewer who was a senior hardware engineer at Cisco's San Jose office, wrote, "The best thing about working for Cisco might just be that if you are a competent and productive engineer, you have quite a bit of flexibility in defining your role and your contribution level.

The same company topped the Salaries section, with a Cisco Systems Software Technical lead earning $144,000 per annum, while a Cisco Systems Senior Product Manager would make $123,000 a year.