Nigerian Startup Founders Wouldn’t Like a Nigerian Glassdoor, We Should Have One Anyway.

Nigerian Startup Founders Wouldn’t Like a Nigerian Glassdoor, We Should Have One Anyway.

Because what is good for the Goose…

My last post was inspired by a tweet that highlighted a mismatch of expectations between tech founders and interns. That same tweet resulted in the early beginnings of a Nigerian Glassdoor -anonymous company and founder review by employees.

Looking through the responses towards the Glassdoor idea, founders were somewhat critical of the idea . Who would have thought?!!

As someone on the founder end of things (I’ve employed a few people and have a LOT of founder friends) it doesn’t favour “us”, but I quite support it.

Here’s why

But first an anecdote. #TrueStory

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My guy had been looking for someone to staff a critical department in his company. He told me he had finally found the perfect candidate. He had interviewed the fella and was happy with what he saw.

“Finally!” I thought.

The next time we met up, the told me he was still looking for someone to fill that role.

Me: How far the person you say you see?

My guy: Mhen! E no work out.

Me: Wetin happen? You said the person was the perfect fit.

My Guy: I checked out a reference from his previous boss. Not too encouraging

Me: What did they say? You can never be too sure. Maybe…

My Guy: They said has ethical issues.

I scatter laugh! This burnt cable had no recovery.

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Before most employees get a job, their past employers review them. In fact, the prospective employee is required to put in a list of places they have worked (cv!) so the future employer can probe as much as he wants. With the right? crafted sentence, that guaranteed job can disappear.

Forget what is written in the reference sheet, the real reference happens over a quick phone call. Very anonymous to the subject.

So if by default, employers, who already command the power dynamic have access to an employees review history, why can’t and shouldn’t the reverse be available?

“But why can’t employees privately ask previous and present employees for a review”

Well, the fact is only a person looking to lose their job would badmouth their employer to someone looking to curry favour with that employer. Secondly, where would you see past employers to ask? Would the employer give the prospective employee a list of their past employees so they can ask?

Let’s get back to why it is a good idea.

A reason I like the idea of a Glassdoor is that it gives one feedback on stuff that are important to employees which Founder/employers may not realize. For instance, walahi! I am ashamed of myself to say this, but I have never paid any attention to the importance of on-boarding. Most founder types are used to getting on with it with as little information as possible. But it is wrong to expect others to be that way.

Ironically, the interest in knowing what’s going on in other companies is not limited to potential employees. Other founders can find the voyeuristic appeal useful to enable them benchmark themselves with companies they look towards, be it competitively or admirably. Founders don’t really divulge information and and current employees are not ones to quickly say “I earn X amount here along with Y benefits”.

Transparency is a disinfectant of some sort and it can enable positive competition. If it is public knowledge x company pays y amount and treats their employees well, you as a founder know you better step up or else you many not be able to compete for the best people. With everyone looking to copy the best, the average of how employers treat employees will go up. That’s a good thing.

But there are issues with an anonymous rating system. First of all, how can one verify the information given by a person who claims to be a former employee of a company? You can no longer use email verification. Secondly, people can drop potentially libelous reviews. “x founder/ceo dey nak their employees o”

My thinking is this, first of all, some information even if not previously public can easily be corroborated. “How much does Interswitch pay their entry level developers?” for those type of comments, the “crowd will sort it out”. Then there is the negative non libelous review. “Y founder is very wicked and shouts at employees all the time”. Just like with Amazon reviews,most people will look at the good, the bad and make up their minds. There is no popular product on Amazon, no matter how excellent that doesn’t have a LOT of 1 STAR reviews

As for the potentially libelous commentary, although anyone can drop similar stuff using anonymous twitter accounts, or in various comment sections, I’d say such platform would have to handle such with care.

From experience though, those incident are such outliers that one should not optimize for that. As long as the founder of such a site build with the right intent — in this case honest reviews of work places, it will turn out excellent and valuable to everyone.

So carry go Olabinjo, go build your Glassdoor.

PS: Soon, it will be the turn of Investors to be publicly reviewed. Y’all should stop giving Vulture Capitalist terms!