Corporate StoryTellers - The Rise of the Employee Author or How To Gain Real Insights about Companies.

A fascinating email turned up in my In-Box the other day asking me to explore JobVent.

On first inspection, I thought this was some form of joke and I wondered how a site of this nature could exist without being threatened with legal action. However on further inspection, this site is a wonderful expression of Web 2.0 democracy and the power of corporate story telling. The fascination lies in the ordinariness of an employee's stories about work practices and how those work practices influenced them and their every day lives.

Employees convey their impressions authentically. There is no spin here. No positioning, no editing, what you read is the unspoken being revealed.

Contributors voluntarily offer opinions about the companies they have worked for, their employer and fellow workers and are asked to rate their organization via a simple poll based on pay, respect, benefits, job security, work/life balance, career potential/growth, location, co-worker competence and work environment.

Here is a comment by a former employee of Perform Air International

.." This company could be good except that the company is run by two crazy people who own it. They like to scare people to get things done and fire people all the time for whatever reason they feel like it week to week. They pay half decent and keep you just above the water line so you don't walk out on them when they start throwing temper tantrums. They fix aviation parts, even the airplane bathrooms. The place stinks like, urine and blue poo all day from the guys spraying the waste tanks clean. No safety measures are taking in to account for anything. On the bright side, they have half decent benefits, but the company is small so the insurance seems a bit high. None of the mangers have even been to college. The owners hire nothing but family and people they know for those positions. They run around scared of the owners every day and stress everyone out. If you are a smoker and a person with a drinking problem, you might want to apply. They seem to really like drunks who they can own...."

It garnered many responses from former and existing employees such as

.".. I was hired by Perform Air 12 years ago with minimal work experience; the owner believed in me, and has given me the opportunity of a life time. I’m appalled by the fact that any individual (past or present) could write such negative things about this company. The owner has provided every employee with a safe / secure working environment, health benefits, 401k, profit sharing, competitive wages, sick / vacation time, training and an open door policy. It’s inconceivable that anyone could attack a person that has always been honest, compassionate, and giving to others. It takes a very special person that has the passion, endurance, and drive to create and maintain a very successful company. Because of the “crazy” owner and our dedicated team players, we are #1 in the aviation industry. In closing, if there are any individuals that no longer want to be part of this successful Perform Air team, please feel free to leave..."

Perform Air International now suddenly becomes a company I am interested in and I know much more about because of what the people who make up the company are writing about it.

Have a look at the employee comments and then the organization's web site - a fascinating exercise in sub-textual and visual analysis and comparison. L arge corporations that rate highly are Verizon Wireless, those who rate poorly include Wal-Mart and North West Airlines.

Here is the extraordinary power of the internet, participative worker democracy and information technology at its collective best.

Visit this site. It is better than any soapie because it's real!!

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