Glassdoor's best places to work internationally: Are they best for shareholders?

In 2015, Glassdoor published its first international Best Places to Work list in the United Kingdom. Since then, Glassdoor has begun publishing 10 different Best Places to Work lists in 9 different countries. Glassdoor's Best Places to Work lists are unique in that rankings are solely based upon employee reviews and are not influenced by self-nominations or a cost paid by a company. With 64 million unique visitors each month, these Glassdoor lists have the potential to impact investors. In this paper, we explore whether firms appearing on lists for Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom result in short-term announcement effects or long-term abnormal returns on a raw- and risk-adjusted basis. We find that the Canadian sample earns statistically significant abnormal returns in the announcement window 5 days after the announcement date. In the long run, we find that the Canadian sample also outperforms its matched sample and local index on a risk-based basis.