Domestic violence charity Refuge has seen a sudden spike in its reputation on website Glassdoor, which asks staff to rate their workplace - but it faces claims that this is because management are posting fake reviews.
The changes follow a Civil Society News article in June, which revealed that several former Refuge employees described it as a bad place to work.
Former employees, writing on Glassdoor, spoke of a "toxic" workplace culture and highly overpaid senior staff.
The article revealed that the charity's trustees had filed a serious incident report and the Charity Commission opened a compliance case - since closed.
Positive reviews
Since Civil Society News reported concerns about Refuge, the charity has received 16 new reviews - compared to 14 in the previous five years. Of the new reviews, seven gave the charity one star, and another seven gave it five stars. The net effect has been for its overall rating to rise from 2.1 to to 3.1 out of 5.
One five star review, posted earlier this month, said “I enjoy working for a principled feminist organisation and take great pride in my work”. Another posted in July said: “I have found management to be really understanding and supportive to employees needs.”
Another said: “I am very proud to say that Sandra Horley [chief executive] is the most amazing person. I have seen her working non-stop.”
‘Don’t be fooled’
However someone claiming to be a current employee gave the charity a one star rating on 10 July, and said that management’s response to a “scathing article” was to “ask current staff to write positive reviews."
"When this didn’t happen SMT took to writing glowing ‘fake’ reviews themselves,” the poster claims.
Civil Society News contacted the charity for comment, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
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