Arnold Clark CEO Eddie Hawthorne wins Glassdoor employee award

Arnold Clark CEO and group managing director Eddie Hawthorne has won a Glassdoor Employee’s Choice award.

Glassdoor is one the world’s largest recruitment sites and this award was announced as part of its  annual report on CEOs which highlights findings based on employee feedback over the last 12 months.

The awards are given based on approval ratings provided by employees who leave voluntary reviews on the Glassdoor website.  Hawthorne was rated in 41^st place with an approval rating of 91% from employees. He was the only dealer group boss included in the top 50 listings.

When employees write a review about their company, they are asked a number of questions relating to their experience of the workplace as well as providing approval ratings on various aspects of the company. Employees are given three options when asked to provide feedback on their CEO, approve, disapprove or no opinion.

Hawthorne said: “I’m delighted to receive this award from Glassdoor. As a company, our people are our greatest asset and in return for their diverse skills, we provide a range of benefits as well as opportunities to progress, ensuring each employee can enjoy a long and fulfilling career with the company.

“I’m delighted that many of our 12,000 employees left their reviews on Glassdoor – we always keep our lines of communication open and welcome their innovative ideas and honest feedback to help us keep improving the business.’

Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO said: “Winning a Glassdoor Top CEO award is a true acknowledgement of exceptional leadership, as it reflects the opinions of the employees who work with a chief executive every day.

Glassdoor did research into what makes a great CEO. It found that pay matters. Higher CEO compensation is statistically linked to lower CEO approval ratings on average. But that effect is lessened when company culture is better.

Key Glassdoor research findings

• Company culture matters: A satisfied workforce is an essential driver of CEO approval ratings on Glassdoor.
• Three aspects of company culture matter most, the opinion of senior leadership; view of career opportunities and the quality of compensation and benefits packages
• Work-life balance is an exception. Although many workers value work-life balance, they appear willing to sacrifice it in exchange for great CEO leadership
• CEOs who are also their company’s founder predicts significantly higher CEO approval ratings than being an externally hired or internally promoted CEO
• Performance matters: CEOs of more profitable companies receive higher approval ratings on Glassdoor, even after statistically controlling for the impact of other factors such as industry and company size
• Gender and other personal characteristics matter less: Gender, age and education of CEOs have little effect on CEO approval ratings once other factors are accounted for.