Tell Your Boss How You Really Feel With Glassdoor’s Live-Chat ‘Bowls’ Feature

Glassdoor has long been the place to anonymously post thoughts about current and former workplaces, much to the chagrin of many employers. Well, hold on to your OKRs; it’s about to get a little more awkward (for your boss), as Glassdoor adds support for real-time chats.

Glassdoor users can now join online communities called “bowls.” These can be wide-ranging forums for industry-specific discussions such as finance or interest- and identity-focused bowls such as “Working Moms” and “Black in Tech.” But there will also be private company bowls, where people can engage with colleagues and leaders within their own organizations. 

(Credit: Glassdoor)

For those worried about HR monitoring these discussions, Glassdoor says you can choose your level of anonymity. Post or comment with your full identity, as an unidentified employee at the company, or with just a job title.

With this approach, “you can ask personal questions and speak your truth in a supportive space,” Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong says. Employees “can engage in real talk with coworkers as well as people who can help their careers, and they get ahead together.”

In a survey it conducted with The Harris Poll, Glassdoor found that 68% of US employees want a secure way to anonymously question coworkers and bosses, while 63% want an online community dedicated to career advice on dealing with workplace-specific challenges. Very few people trust those supposedly anonymous questionnaires from higher-ups, it seems.

The concept may remind you of Blind, a job app that’s been around since 2013. It made headlines(Opens in a new window) in the last year amid mass tech layoffs and chaos at companies like Twitter, and has been referred to(Opens in a new window) as “the exact opposite of LinkedIn.”

That Microsoft-owned site appears to be a target of Glassdoor bowls, too. In pitching the concept, a Glassdoor rep noted that with “influencers taking over LinkedIn feeds, professionals are looking for new ways to connect and have timely discussions about work.”

Forums for spilling secrets anonymously have a checkered past. In 2015, for example, the Secret app—which let people anonymously confess various indiscretions—shut down after its users leaned into mean-spirited commentary. It seems to be more of an issue when teens and bullying are involved (remember Yik Yak?). On a professional level, however, truly anonymous discussions can be indispensible in an era when more workers are organizing and looking for transparency on things like pay and hiring practices.