America’s most hated CEO has been named and it’s a leader who laid off more than 200 workers while earning 3000 times the average salary – as he didn’t receive a single vote of approval.
According to Blind, a tech career community that provides an anonymous platform for employees to discuss issues, 13,171 American workers gave their opinions on their companies’ CEOs.
David Goeckeler of San Jose’s Western Digital didn’t receive a single vote of approval from his workers, as the results showed that the Bay Area firm’s employees are fed up with their top executives.
According to the company’s 2022 financial year summarymade Goeckler an astounding 3,332 times what Western Digital’s average employee made — with the CEO earning $32 million in 2022.
The manufacturing company says it ‘has long been at the forefront of game-changing innovations’, having created the first hard drive and currently working on 3D NAND advancements.
David Goeclker, the CEO of Western Digital, received no votes of approval in an anonymous survey of Silicon Valley technology employees. The company laid off more than 200 people in June 2023
In May 2020, Goeckeler joined Western Digital as its newest CEO after Steve Milligan retired. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and general manager of Cisco, a $34 billion networking and security company.
In May 2020, Goeckeler joined Western Digital as its newest CEO after Steve Milligan retired. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and general manager of Cisco, a $34 billion networking and security business.
His CEO salary was significantly higher than the company’s median worker wage of $9,644. Many of the firm’s 62,500 employees work overseas.
In an April 2022 interview with McKinsey & CompanyGoeckeler advocated creating a work environment that people want to join.
“I’ve made a career out of going into new organizations, and this question always comes up: How are you going to attract talent and keep all the great people that are here?” The answer is to create an environment they want to be a part of,’ he told the outlet.
‘I have a core belief that people want to be part of something bigger than themselves.
‘Now we have the pandemic, which poses a challenge. We have to keep the business going, but the business is not going to work unless the people are looked after. So with everyone working remotely, how do we create the feeling that our employees are part of something? If you can create that, you will gain tremendous loyalty.’
The company’s stock also took a dive from $77.17 in June 2022 to $46.40 at the end of last week. Overall, the company has seen a nearly 15 percent drop in its stock over the past five years.
MailOnline.com has reached out to Western Digital for comment on Goeckeler’s ranking.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has achieved an approval rating of 83 percent, having been in the position since 2011 after serving as chief operating officer under co-founder Steve Jobs.
Mark Zuckerberg got a 45 percent approval rating after Meta fired more than 50,000 in 2023 alone, the survey reported
Erik Nordstrom (center) also received a 0 percent approval rating in the survey. He is pictured with Jamie Nordstrom (left) and Blake Nordstrom (right)
Goeckeler wasn’t the only CEO to score a 0 percent approval rating, with Erik Nordstrom, of the department store that bears his family’s name, also hitting the low.
However, Nordstrom’s disapproval rating was at 92 percent, compared to 94 percent for Goeckeler.
Other companies saw much better rankings for their CEOs with leaders from NVIDIA, Walmart, Palo Alto Networks, Apple, Databricks, Autodesk and ServiceNow all receiving over 80 percent for their approval ratings.
Here are some of the most notable CEOs across the country and their approval ratings:
1. Tim Cook- Apple- 83 percent
2. Dara Khosrowshahi- Uber- 68 percent
3. Tony Xu- DoorDash- 67 percent
4. Brian Chesky- Airbnb- 64 percent
5. Mark Zuckerberg-Meta- 45 percent
6. Sundar Pichai- Google- 26 percent
7. Andy Jassy- Amazon- 10 percent
8. Eric Yuan- Zoom- 7 percent
9. Linda Yaccarino- X- 4 percent
10. Evan Spiegel- Snap- 3 percent
Google and parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai received a 26 percent approval rating after starting the year with 12,000 layoffs, according to USA Today.
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, formally known as Twitter, got an approval rating of 4 percent as the tech company made significant downsizing on top of its name change at the end of July by its creator Elon Musk.
Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap, the parent company of the popular social media app Snapchat, got a low 3 percent approval rating. He became one of the youngest billionaires in the world when he was only 25.
Mark Zuckerberg received a 45 percent approval rating after Meta laid off more than 50,000 workers in 2023, the survey reported.
Google and parent company Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai received a 26 percent rating after starting the year with 12,000 layoffs
Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive officer of X, formally known as Twitter, received a 4 percent approval rating as the tech company downsized and changed its name
“The tech executives at the top of the approval rankings often had a financial commonality: a stock price that boomed in 2023,” SFGATE reported.
At the top with a near-perfect rating, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang received a 96 percent approval rating from his NVIDIA employees.
Huang’s chip manufacturing firm saw three times more interest in its AI technology than at the start of the year.
Not far behind Huang is Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has an 83 percent approval rating as he has been in the position since 2011 after serving as chief operating officer under co-founder Steve Jobs.
In Blind’s first 2023 CEO Approval Index, average approval ratings for CEOs stood at 32 percent.