Rating Your Coworkers: The End Of Civilization?

“GetUnvarnished.com,” the LinkedIn that allows one to anonymously rate coworkers, is going big under a new identity. But Honestly.com has the same “honest” m.o. Which the founders say people won’t abuse.

Just as sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor allow people to leave honest — or uninformed — opinions of restaurants and businesses, now coworkers can do the same about you. Of course, the site’s founders say it’s all quite high-minded. Says Peter Kazanjy to ABC,

“The power of Honestly.com is less about the fact that you can leave somebody a one-star review? but instead in its ability to leave someone a 4-star review,” he said. “[That’s] the kind of information that is important information about people and the information that is hard to access right now.” Kazanjy said his site is intended to be an online resource for those managing and researching professional reputations. It’s not about what you might have done at a college party years ago, he said, but rather about a person’s management style, productivity, integrity and relationships. “Professional reputation resides in the brains of all your colleagues and co-workers, and it’s very hard to access that,” he told ABCNews.com previously. “This is the place for productive conversation about this topic.”

What’s more, they say they have “safeguards” in place that monitor “unprofessional” behavior — like only leaving negative reviews. If this seems less than watertight, you’re not wrong: all reviews are anonymous and you can’t delete anything written about yourself. Of course, as with anything, you can get your friends to pad your scores, but presumably it’s possible to tell who’s in your network.

“At the end of the day, we think that people are good,” says Kazanjy. Famous last words— and, more to the point, kind of moot. After all, doesn’t it seem like someone’s more likely to take to the ‘net with an indignant anonymous denunciation than to leave a good review of someone’s unimpeachable work-ethic and good citizenship?

Of course, the real beginning of the end will dawn when someone rolls out a romantic equivalent. Because that’s an area where we need productive, objective conversation.

Honestly.com Wants You To Rate Your Co-Workers [ABC]
Co-Worker, Boss Rating Site Now Called ‘Honestly.com’ [MSNBC]