Ask HN: How do Glassdoor type websites verify employee status? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do Glassdoor type websites verify employee status?

12 pointsgoethes_kind14 comments

I have a neat idea in this space that came about due to my own needs and I would like to implement it as a project.

My question is: how do I verify employee status, especially being careful to protect identity and without demanding too much information from users? What is the usual modus operandi in this niche?

EDIT: Since you folk are the target demographic, you might also tell me what kind of verification you would prefer. In this particular application I do not need to collect any sensitive information, but I would need to verify employee status.

View on HN

> Does Glassdoor verify employees?

> At Glassdoor, we aim to verify as much of our data as possible. Considering the reality of our digital age, however, we're unable to fully confirm our users' identities, the truthfulness of their contributions, or their employment status.

> Through our Terms of Use, we do require users to certify their employee relationships to companies when posting any content. We also require email verification from a permanent, active email address, or a valid social networking account.

https://help.glassdoor.com/s/article/Does-Glassdoor-verify-e...

So, they don't. But if you do require verification, using an employee email address is probably the only realistic option.

> using an employee email address is probably the only realistic option.

That would put the employee at risk of identification so I think most would be reluctant.

Blind forces you to sign up with a work email address (matching domain name) and verifies the address. I'm not sure Glassdoor does any verification.

If you really need to verify that the user is an employee, validating an email address at the proper domain seems to be the best option, IMO. If you don't want the privacy implications of storing the address, just don't keep it around (make sure your logs don't have it either).

My p.o.v. as a user:

I do not sign up at such sites. I do not make relevant decisions based on such websites.

I would be absolutely OK with complete lack of verification.

Again, user perspective: You will never get a grasp of the exact work culture at some potential employer by reading subjective comments. As a user i simply take in hints of red flags which i would validate or negate personally by having a chat with some of the folks.

I hate sign ups too. As a project trying to be as streamlined as possible I will implement a submit-once form. I just need input from users just once and that is it.

I am not sure about no verification? Wouldn't I just get a lot of kids pretending they work at Google?

>You will never get a grasp of the exact work culture at some potential employer by reading subjective comments. As a user i simply take in hints of red flags which i would validate or negate personally by having a chat with some of the folks.

I know, but in this particular application it will be more impatial than the usual "disgruntled employees having the most motivation to comment" scenario.

What harm would braggy kiddies do?

I see the greatest potential harm in companies trying to "polish" their cracked external image. And for them, "employee-status" verification should be easy to circumvent.

edit: Even disgruntled employee has a legitimate contribution to make.

Maybe you are right. I guess I will just build it with the purpose of showing something on my github rather than as a serious product.

But in this particular application it wouldn't work if too many people mess with the data.

What about former employees? At least in the Glassdoor use case, they need to support feedback from former employees in addition to current employees.

And Blind only verifies your employee email on signup, there's no renewal of that verification - you can leave your employer and still retain your original access.

Email verification is the simplest, employer email addresses are generally considered public info, and it also helps detect/deter bots. OTOH, it goes through the employer's email system, so your boss could know that you just signed up for Glassdoor/Blind/etc.

One option is that you just don't verify.

Just filter obvious spam and hide reviews from accounts that give excessive amounts of reviews.

If you have large user base, you could do some kind of randomized peer review of reviews, so instead of asking for review to access some "free" feature you ask user to check if they think this review is helpful/good quality.

First determine whether that should be done at all before investigating how others may do it.

The only thing I’ve seen on this is an email address “at the company”, but that isn’t really verifying anything and certainly creates potential for “outing” the employee’s interest in whatever you’re doing.

Not sure about Glassdoor, but I know Blind requires you to verify that you work for a company by receiving a verification code through your employer email account:

https://www.teamblind.com/faqs

I would say don't... marking potentially negative (even if not sensitive) information as from verified employee will make you an immediate target of subpoenas from legislation happy employers.

Had to screenshot my adp pdf’s, sh&t’s out of hand now I tell ya…

User provided paystub or Equifax Work Number.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com