The CEOs of Sears Holdings and Dillard’s are among the worst rated, according to a just released review conducted by 24/7 Wall St. In identifying CEOs with the worst reputations, 24/7 Wall St. considered companies with a minimum of 500 employee reviews and identified the nine CEOs with the lowest favorable reviews – 40% or lower. Factors like workers’ low pay, company policies toward employees, work culture and CEOs extravagant compensation no doubt played a major role in how CEOs are rated.
From 24/7 Wall St.:
Sears Holdings (Sears/Kmart) CEO, Edward S. Lampert, scored a rating of 20%, with a company rating of 2.5.
Lampert created Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) after coordinating the merger of retail giants Kmart and Sears, Roebuck & Co. nearly a decade ago. Since then, Lampert has served as chairman of the holding company, and recently took up the role of CEO as well. Lampert controls nearly half of all shares through his fund ESL Investments. Sears has continued to flounder under Lampert, who has repeatedly spun off its various assets and stores into independent entities, including Land’s End and Sears Automotive. Same-store sales, revenue and earnings have all continued to disappoint. A Businessweek profile of the company last year criticized Lampert for pitting divisions against one another. This, according to the article, has discouraged divisions from collaborating. According to one reviewer on Glassdoor, “communication from top levels is weak,” a common complaint for the CEOs with the worst reputations.
Dillard’s CEO, Bill Dillard II, picked up a rating of 24% and the company was given a rating of 2.4.
Like many of the companies run by unpopular CEOs, Dillard’s Inc. retail employees are paid poorly. According Glassdoor, a sales associate can expect to make $10.72 per hour. In contrast, the three family members of the clothing retailer who control the company, William Dillard II, the CEO, the company’s president, Alex Dillard, and its executive vice president, Mike Dillard, have paid themselves a total of $54 million over three years between 2010 and 2012. Bill Dillard II also did not win over employees when the company settled a class action disability discrimination lawsuit brought by former employees for $2 million in 2012. The company allegedly forced employees to reveal confidential medical information in order to be allowed sick days. Employees are under pressure to meet a sales quota that many of them have labeled as unrealistic. One current sales associate stated on Glassdoor, “Sales quotas are not entirely reasonable. Hard work doesn’t always pay off, especially if no one is in the store.”
Other CEOs that made the cut among the nine with the worst reputations are, Ursula M. Burns of Xerox, Mike Jeffries of Abercrombie & Fitch and J. Paul Raires of Gameshop.
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