Question 1

What is Verified Culture?

Accepted Answer

An independent certification platform built on anonymous, work-email-verified employee surveys. Instead of only celebrating top employers, we publish both possible verdicts — Good Place to Work and Worst Workplace to Work — using one public formula applied consistently to every organization. Both verdicts are backed by a signed, QR-verifiable certificate and a published methodology, so anyone can check how a score was reached.

Question 2

Who runs the site?

Accepted Answer

An independent team of researchers, engineers, and former HR practitioners who built the scoring model and fraud controls. We never accept payment from employers to influence placement, scores, or removals — the only paid product is a licence to display a certificate you have already earned.

Question 3

Why does the world need this?

Accepted Answer

Many 'best workplace' badges are effectively paid marketing, and open review sites can be gamed, moderated, or drowned out by a handful of loud outliers. Verified Culture combines work-email verification, fraud screening, and a fixed 15-category formula so a score reflects the actual employee base, not whoever shows up first or pays the most.

Question 4

Is this only for large companies?

Accepted Answer

No. Any organization with 5 or more employees can be surveyed and certified. A 12-person agency and a 120,000-person enterprise are scored with the exact same 15-category formula and 75% threshold — size has no bearing on the methodology.

Question 5

Do you also review products?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our sister vertical rates consumer and B2B products across 10 categories using the same anonymous, threshold-based certification model described here. See /product-info for details.

Question 6

Is my review really anonymous?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Submitting doesn't require an account, we don't store your name against your answers, we don't sell data, and we never share individual submissions with employers. Your work email is used once to confirm you belong to the organization and is never displayed or linked to your responses.

Question 7

Why do you ask for a work email then?

Accepted Answer

A one-time domain match, such as name@acme.com for Acme, proves you actually work or worked there and is the main defense against fake or outside submissions. The email is hashed for deduplication purposes only and is never published, sold, or shared with the employer.

Question 8

Can my employer identify me from my ratings?

Accepted Answer

No. Employers only ever see aggregate scores and category averages, never individual ratings. Free-text comments are optional, are screened for identifying details before publishing, and can be redacted further on request.

Question 9

What if I use a personal email?

Accepted Answer

The submission is rejected before it is stored. Domain verification is strict by design, since it is the strongest single control we have against fake or manipulated reviews.

Question 10

Do you log my IP address?

Accepted Answer

We store a one-way hashed fingerprint of your submission solely to detect duplicates and coordinated activity. The raw IP address itself is never persisted.

Question 11

Can I delete my submission later?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Email appeals@verifiedculture.com with the organization's certificate number and an approximate submission date. Verified deletion requests are actioned within 7 days.

Question 12

How is the overall score calculated?

Accepted Answer

It is the mean of all 15 category ratings, each on a 1 to 5 scale, converted into a 0 to 100% figure. The full formula is published on /methodology, and any change to it is versioned and announced rather than applied silently.

Question 13

What are the 15 categories?

Accepted Answer

Leadership, culture, compensation, workload, growth, recognition, management, psychological safety, DEI, communication, workplace safety, harassment protection, work-life balance, remote flexibility, and benefits. Each is rated independently, so a strong score in one area cannot mask a weak one elsewhere.

Question 14

Where's the badge threshold?

Accepted Answer

A score of 75% or higher earns Good Place to Work; anything below earns Worst Workplace to Work. There is no neutral middle bucket, and both verdicts are certified and independently verifiable.

Question 15

How often do scores update?

Accepted Answer

The overall score recalculates with every approved submission. Badges reissue automatically the moment a verdict crosses the 75% line in either direction.

Question 16

How many responses are needed?

Accepted Answer

A minimum of 5 verified responses within a 90-day survey window, though larger organizations are expected to reach a meaningful share of their headcount for the result to be representative.

Question 17

Do older reviews decay?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Reviews older than 24 months are weighted at 50%, and those older than 36 months drop out of the calculation entirely, so a badge always reflects recent employee experience rather than history.

Question 18

Does one bad manager sink the whole company?

Accepted Answer

Not on its own. A single outlier response is diluted once enough employees have submitted, which is exactly why we enforce a minimum sample size before any verdict is issued.

Question 19

What does a Good Place to Work badge include?

Accepted Answer

A public organization profile, a signed and QR-verifiable certificate, an embeddable badge for your careers page and social channels, press-ready assets, and a 12-month validity window from the date of issue.

Question 20

How long is a certificate valid?

Accepted Answer

Good Place to Work certificates are valid for 12 months from issuance and can be renewed with a fresh survey window. Worst Workplace to Work designations remain visible indefinitely until a new, verified re-survey changes the verdict.

Question 21

How do I claim a Good badge?

Accepted Answer

From your organization's public profile, select Claim Certificate, complete the contact form, and our team will follow up to complete verification within 2 business days.

Question 22

Is there a fee to claim or publish the certificate?

Accepted Answer

Claiming the certificate and appearing in our public directory is free. A licensing fee applies only if you want to publish, display, or promote the certificate on your own website, press releases, social channels, or other online or offline materials. Full pricing and usage rights are shared during the claim process.

Question 23

What if we're rated Worst?

Accepted Answer

You can request a re-survey once your organization has made real changes to the issues raised in the diagnostic. We coordinate a fresh, verified survey window, and the new score replaces the old one automatically once it closes.

Question 24

Can we appeal a Worst verdict?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Send evidence of manipulation, coordinated bad-faith submissions, or a material factual error to appeals@verifiedculture.com. Appeals we can verify trigger a re-audit of the affected data within 14 days.

Question 25

We're not listed. How do we get added?

Accepted Answer

Any employee can add your organization the first time they take the survey at /survey. New organizations are reviewed by our admin team before appearing publicly, usually within 24 hours.

Question 26

Can we respond publicly to a bad review?

Accepted Answer

Claimed profiles can post one pinned employer response per certificate cycle, giving you a clear, visible place to address concerns without turning the profile into a comment war.

Question 27

Can we remove reviews we disagree with?

Accepted Answer

No. Reviews are removed only when they violate our content policy, for example identifying details, hate speech, defamation, or verified fraud. Simply disagreeing with the rating is not grounds for removal.

Question 28

Do you sell company data to recruiters?

Accepted Answer

No. We may publish aggregate, industry-level reports, but individual employer data and scores are never sold to recruiters or third parties.

Question 29

How do we prove the score to a board or investor?

Accepted Answer

Share your certificate URL or QR code. The /verify page returns a signed, timestamped record of the score and methodology that anyone, including a board or investor, can independently confirm.

Question 30

How long does the survey take?

Accepted Answer

About 3 minutes: 15 quick ratings across the standard categories, a few yes/no questions, and an optional free-text comment box.

Question 31

Can I review a past employer?

Accepted Answer

Yes, as long as you worked there within the last 24 months. Verify with a work email address that was active during your tenure, or if that is no longer possible, submit supporting evidence to appeals@verifiedculture.com.

Question 32

What if I'm still employed and worried about retaliation?

Accepted Answer

Domain verification never exposes your identity, and ratings publish only as aggregates, never individually. If you want to be extra cautious, skip the free-text comment box; your numeric ratings alone are enough to count toward the score.

Question 33

Can I edit my submission after I send it?

Accepted Answer

Not directly, since that would undermine the integrity of the data. Contact support and we will reset your submission window so you can submit again.

Question 34

Do you notify my employer that a review came in?

Accepted Answer

Never. Employers only see that the aggregate score has changed, not when, how many, or which individual reviews contributed to it.

Question 35

How do I verify a certificate?

Accepted Answer

Enter the certificate number at /verify, or scan the QR code printed on the badge. You will see the issuing date, sample size, score, and current status of the certificate.

Question 36

How do you prevent employers from stuffing surveys?

Accepted Answer

A combination of work-email domain verification, hashed IP fingerprinting, submission-rate limits per organization, and automated outlier detection that flags coordinated or unusually inflated activity for manual admin review.

Question 37

How do you prevent ex-employees from tanking a company?

Accepted Answer

A 24-month eligibility window, the same rate limits used against survey stuffing, and the fact that scores are a mean across many respondents all work together to dilute any coordinated attempt to skew a score.

Question 38

Do you use AI in scoring?

Accepted Answer

Never for the score itself, which is a fixed, public, deterministic calculation. AI is used only to summarize free-text comments, flag potentially toxic outliers for human review, and detect suspicious clusters of submissions.

Question 39

Is any of this legally binding?

Accepted Answer

Certificates function as journalistic ratings rather than legal instruments. We nonetheless retain source records behind every certificate and cooperate fully with legitimate disputes and appeals.

Frequently asked, honestly answered.

The Basics

Anonymity & Trust

Scoring & Verdicts

Certification & Claims

For Employers

For Employees

Verification & Anti-Fraud

Still have questions?