Apple CEO Tim Cook may be losing a bit of his luster, at least when it comes to his popularity among Apple employees. According to Glassdoor’s annual list of how well employees rate their company’s CEO, Mr. Cook’s 2017 rating saw him drop 45 spots, from eighth overall last year to 53rd.
Glassdoor, founded in 2007, allows employees to anonymously review and rate their company and its management. In addition to company-specific reviews and commentary, Glassdoor compiles annual lists in a number of categories, including “Best Cities for Jobs,” and “Best Jobs.” The “Highest Rated CEO” category is notable, as Mr. Cook has consistently ranked highly based on employee evaluations in prior years, even surpassing the rating of late CEO Steve Jobs after his first full year on the job.
But Tim Cook fans shouldn’t get too concerned. Despite the big drop in the rankings, Mr. Cook’s approval rating among employees is still quite high, at 93 percent this year, while the average approval rating for all CEOs measured by Glassdoor is just 67 percent. Out of almost 10,000 reviews of the company, the most common complaint is that Apple’s work-life balance may still be a bit demanding under Mr. Cook’s leadership.
Other related tech CEOs on the list include NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang at #6, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at #10, Google’s Sundar Pichai at #17, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella at #29. Benno Dorer, CEO of Clorox, took the top spot in the list with an employee approval rating of 99 percent.
Moving beyond Mr. Cook personally and looking at the best places to work, Apple ranked #36 in Glassdoor’s 2017 list, which is a drop from #25 last year and a high of #10 in 2012.