10 of the Worst Companies To Work For, And They're All In Connecticut: Study

Ever wondered if you have the worst job in the world? But then, you think, maybe it could be worse.

A recent list from compiler 24/7 Wall St. shows that you may be right after all.

24/7 Wall St. analyzed thousands of employee reviews from jobs and career website Glassdoor, which has compiled data on more than 400,000 companies around the world, in 2015 to put together the "worst company to work for" list.

And all of them have stores or do business in Connecticut.

The worst company ratings ranged from 2.3 to 2.7 out of 5, significantly lower than the 3.2 average company rating on Glassdoor.

More specifically, Glassdoor used this methodology:

"To identify the 12 worst companies to work for, 24/7 Wall St. independently examined employee reviews on Glassdoor — this is not a Glassdoor.com commissioned report. To be considered, a company needed to have a minimum of 1,000 reviews, be currently operating and based in the United States. Employee counts are from the most recent financial documents for each company. For subsidiaries, head counts for the parent company were used."

Of course, the thing to keep in mind with reports from Glassdoor is that - as mentioned above - they rely heavily on employee reviews and ratings of those companies. By only using companies that had a minimum of 1,000 reviews helps, but as with a lot of internet polling, not all comments completely reflect the most accurate opinions.

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Each company received a request from Patch for response, and nearly all had not provided one as of Friday afternoon, Oct. 14 (see below for AECOM's response).

Sara Herrmann, a spokeswoman for CSC, said she wasn't even aware of the list and could not yet comment on the story.

Patch also reached out to CVS Health and Forever 21 for comment on Monday, Oct. 17, but did not immediately receive a response.

See also: The 9 Best Dessert Pies in Connecticut for 2016

Here are 10 U.S. companies, which all employ in Connecticut, with among the lowest employee ratings (with 24/7's critique of each company):

• CVS Health "Of the roughly 4,700 reviews posted about the company on Glassdoor, drugstore CVS Health received an average rating of 2.7 out of 5, making it one of the worst employee-reviewed companies in the United States."
• Computer Sciences Corporation "Global information technology company Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), based in Virginia, employed around 70,000 people worldwide as of April this year. Revenues have fallen each year since the company’s fiscal 2011."
• Dollar General "Discount retailer Dollar General received an average rating of 2.7 out of 5 on Glassdoor. Just 41 percent of the current and former employees who submitted reviews said they would recommend working at the company to their friends."
• DISH Network "Network service providers do not have the best of reputations for their service, and at least one — DISH Network — does not appear to be treating its employees much better than it treats its customers. Of the roughly 2,200 reviews by former and current employees posted on Glassdoor, DISH Network scored an average of 2.6 out of 5, making it one of the worst reviewed large companies in the United States."

• AECOM (has offices in Groton and Rocky Hill) "AECOM provides project management, consulting, and architectural and engineering design services to both of government and corporate clients. Growing from a company of about 20,000 employees in 2005 to its current size of nearly 100,000, many employees complained that the company has become a bloated bureaucracy. The company, many reviewers criticized, is now run by accountants, and not managers that understand their employees." NOTE: Brendan Ranson-Walsh, vice president of AECOM's Global External Communications, said his company's rating was no longer 2.6, as indicted 24/7 Wall Street story. Indeed, the 2016 rating is now 3.4 on Glassdoor’s website for 2016.
• Sears "Sears received an average rating of just 2.5 stars out of 5 from more than 5,000 employees surveyed on Glassdoor. Dissatisfaction with senior management was a common complaint among employees, with 1 star out of 5 being the most common rating."
• Xerox "Having worked her way up in the company for decades, Ursula Burns was named CEO of Xerox in 2009. However, under Burns’ leadership, the company’s earnings have declined from more than $1.3 billion in 2011 to $992 million in 2014, a 25 percent drop. These figures support recurring employee complaints about leadership — only 32 percent of surveyed employees approved of Burns." (In early 2016, Burns announced she would step down as CEO when Xerox splits into two companies in 2017, according to Reuters).
• Forever 21 "Of the roughly 2,000 employees who reviewed budget clothing retailer Forever 21, only 28% said they would recommend working at the company to a friend. The average score for employee experience was just 2.5 out of 5. Some employees said they enjoyed the fun workplace environment and also appreciated the employee discount they received."
• Kmart "It is not a good sign when two subsidiaries of a company make the list of the worst companies to work for. Like Sears, Kmart is also owned and managed by Sears Holding Corporation since the companies merged in 2004. Kmart scored just as badly as Sears, with roughly 1,900 reviewers awarding it a score of just 2.5."
• Express Scripts "While pharmacy chain CVS Health received poor employees ratings, it still fared better than Express Scripts, which was the only large company to receive an average rating of 2.3 on Glassdoor. Just 28 percent of the current and former Express Scripts employees surveyed said they would recommend working at the pharmacy benefit management company to a friend."

Rounding out the 12 worst companies to work for (these two companies do not employ in Connecticut):

• Ross Stores "As of May 2, 2015, Ross Stores had 1,242 locations in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. According to the company’s website, Ross Stores makes it an “everyday priority” to treat its associates with respect. However, on Glassdoor, many employees told a very different story. Several workers complained about their extremely low salaries — Ross Stores often pays their employees the lowest amount allowed under the law. One former employee reported being “overworked and underpaid,” at times feeling like “an indentured servant.” This despite the fact that the company’s annual profits have gone from $786.8 million in fiscal 2012 to $924.7 million in fiscal 2012."
• Dillard's "Dillard’s is currently the second worst company and the worst department store in the country to work for. Founded by William Dillard in 1938, the company now operates close to 300 locations across 29 states. The department store chain is still managed by the Dillard family with William Dillard II as CEO, Alex Dillard as president, and William Dillard III as vice president. According to a profile published in Arkansas Business, William Dillard III 'believes a manager’s role is to bring out' each employee’s uniqueness 'to full positive impact.' His employees, however, may disagree he’s had any success in implementing this attitude at Dillard’s. Many more employees surveyed by Glassdoor gave Dillard’s 1 star out of 5 than any other rating. One star reviewers most commonly criticized management. As one former employee said, 'The people at the top of the ladder do not seem to really care what is going on in the pits of the company.' Furthermore, many employees complained about unrealistic sales goals and inadequate benefits. Meanwhile, corporate profits increased from $479 million in fiscal 2013 to nearly $511 million in 2014."

See whole list and analysis here.

Patch Editor Alfred Branch contributed to this report.

Image via Shutterstock

— By Tom Davis (Patch Staff)