The 11 Worst Companies To Work For, And They're All In New Jersey: Study

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

A new list from compiler 24/7 Wall Street 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 New Jersey.

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."

Each company received a request from Patch for response, and nearly all had not provided one as of Friday afternoon (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.

These are the 12 U.S. companies with the lowest employee ratings, with 24/7's critique of each company:

These companies employ in New Jersey:

• 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."
• 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."
• 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 Burlington, Clifton and Morrisville) "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."
• 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."

See whole list and analysis here.

Patch file photo