How does Dell score 69% as recommendable to a friend and MD score 75% on Glassdoor!
Every graduate should be told not to step inside the front door and look for something else.
14 replies (most recent on top)
They treat employees like disposable labor, then buy fake Glassdoor ratings to cover the stench. Lol
It’s not transparency, it’s a transaction. Welcome to the world of paid Glassdoor validation.
That pretty much nails it. I’ve been in Sales at Dell for a long time, and I can co-sign nearly everything your friend experienced. It’s wild how different the experience is depending on the org, IT and engineering folks get flexibility, stability, and often solid leadership. Sales? It’s a rotating door of managers, shifting quotas, and pressure-cooker targets that change mid-quarter.
I’ve seen top performers get whacked in layoffs while mediocre reps stay it’s rarely about performance. And the pay? Below market unless you’re an exec or were lucky enough to get in during a different era. Raises barely keep up with inflation, and promotions are a slow grind unless you’re plugged into the right network.
Totally agree: pre-COVID Dell had some redeeming qualities flexibility, culture, benefits. But now? It’s like a shell of what it used to be. RTO without the perks, layoffs on repeat, and a constant air of “who’s next?”
I’m still here (for now), but I wouldn’t recommend it either not unless you’re in a role or org that somehow dodges the chaos. And even then, the axe swings wide.
I assure you even in good times they weren't that good. I've never worked for a company that had an active disdain for its employees.
the cost cutting and penny pinching is unprecedented. Leadership is filled with unimpressive people.
Here's my thing with Dell... My best friend worked for them and he was in Sales - Account manager. He mostly liked his job but regularly bitched about it for so many reasons, and valid ones at that, for 6.5 years before he and dozens of others were let go in the Sales Org back in 2022.
I also work for Dell and am in IT. I have zero issues with my job, my manager, or any manager that I work with. Our VP's, Execs, are all awesome. The flexibility we have is night and day compared to what he had.
Point is that, I think it heavily depends on what org you are in and how much of a di-k your manager/Directors/VP's are because his experience was nothing like mine. He had a new manager every year for the most part, and he had metrics to abide by. Ironically, he was always a top seller but he always clashed with management - his personality flaw.
That being said, even though I genuinely love everything about my job; I'd never recommend Dell as a place to work for anybody regardless of what field it is, org it's in or position it is.
Layoffs are part of every company, especially tech companies but, Dell never freakin stops. It's literally constant. They have a big layoff in February/March, and another one in September. In between, it's a few dozen here, a few there, and maybe another 100 over there.
Pre-Covid Dell was actually OK. 3 days/week in office, 2 at home. There was an onsite gym, onsite medical center with doctors, and the cafeteria was pretty solid. Now? it's 5 days/week in office. No gym. No medical center and the cafeteria is dogshit.
All that aside though, they severely underpay by a LONG SHOT, the constant layoffs YEAR ROUND, the lack of promotions, the comically tiny raises, the constant uncertainty of everything, etc...
Yeah, in good conciseness I wouldn't ever recommend Dell as a good place to work. Unless you enjoy being underpaid with little room to get promoted and a constant fear of being laid off..
Yeah, I'd never reccomend Dell as a place to work for anybody.
@a3 I've heard that managers are given a very hard time even if their own scores are good, but their group's "Dell" score is bad. As a result, I know some people give good scores just to prevent their bosses from having to deal with the cr-p.
@aj, that mgr was just fishing out of the blue.
Many companies, especially large ones with robust HR or PR teams, actively manage their Glassdoor presence. Here’s how it typically works:
- Flag-and-Scrub Tactics
Companies regularly monitor Glassdoor and flag negative reviews under the guise of “violating community guidelines.” These flags can be for vague reasons—like “lack of detail,” “hearsay,” or “inappropriate content”—but the real reason is usually just bad optics. If a review lacks a job title or isn’t linked to a verified email, it’s often removed without much pushback. Positive reviews? Somehow those are rarely scrutinized the same way.
- Review Bo----g with Interns or HR
Companies sometimes respond to a dip in their Glassdoor rating by flooding the site with positive reviews from interns, new hires, or even HR team members. These glowing posts often appear in clusters and use suspiciously similar language (“great work-life balance!”, “supportive culture!”, “innovative leadership!”)—right after a wave of bad reviews.
- Glassdoor’s Business Model
Let’s not forget: Glassdoor is not a public service—it’s a business. And its biggest customers are employers who pay for enhanced profiles, analytics, branding tools, and job ads. In 2018, Glassdoor was acquired by the Japanese HR giant Recruit Holdings (which also owns Indeed). When your clients are paying you thousands per month to look good online, there’s little incentive to rock the boat.
There have even been internal employee reports (from Glassdoor itself) suggesting pressure to “maintain strong client relationships,” which includes keeping employer profiles polished.
- The Magical Ratings Bounce
What you described—ratings dipping into the low 3s and suddenly bouncing back—is classic. It often coincides with internal HR campaigns:
• Email blasts encouraging current employees to “share your experience on Glassdoor!”
• HR workshops walking new hires through how to write “impactful reviews.”
• Performance reviews or exit interviews incentivizing good feedback.
Sometimes, vendors are even hired to do reputation management across platforms like Glassdoor, Reddit, Blind, and LinkedIn. Everything is false optics.
@aj you need to man up in all aspects of your life.
Man, probably +20 years ago, I had a pain in the butt manager who nobody liked. Small team, he had 4 direct reports. Small enough that he wasn't supposed to get his individual Tell Dell numbers, but somehow he got word that he numbers were terrible. He interrogated the whole team and then 1:1, grilling us for "was it you". Funny, I definitely gave him the best scores of anyone on the team, but still not very good. Anyway, after that, I just went through the motions to keep from having to deal with the interrogations.
HR flags negative reviews to Glassdoor for removal, and Glassdoor happily obliges.
They regularly scrub Glassdoor of bad reviews if they don't have a complete review, but they keep good reviews without full reviews.
The score will drop to mid-3s then magically bounce some weeks later.
@a3 … I wish more people had paid attention to that on the Tell Dell thread, as it seemed few people understood the TD numbers at all.
This one isn’t talking about TD though.
Dell is awesome thats why
Just to bump this response from another poster but.
manager nps, "would you recommend working for your manager " is in the 70s
Company nps, "would you recommend working for Dell" is in the 30s
Not the same metric.