Crowdsourced website flags up sexism in the workplace

'Tripadvisor' for the workplace lets employees anonymously review any companies' treatment of female staff.

Female jobseekers can now review the treatment of women in their potential workplace via an online platform called InHerSight. The website collates anonymous reviews from former and current employees — both male and female — so that women can find out more about the company’s policies, office culture and other potential issues before applying for or accepting a job there.

A recent survey by Cosmopolitan magazine found that one in three women are sexually harassed at work and InHerSight enables those women to communicate misconduct and other problematic corporate policies. Importantly, they can do so without fear of recrimination or consequence, since the scorecards are entirely anonymous. Users can complete surveys about their experience at any given company — either adding to an existing score or creating a new profile — by scoring them on 14 categories including their stance on maternity leave, flexible work hours and female representation in top positions. They can also leave a written review of the company. The crowdsourced data is then used to create comprehensive scorecards for other users to view.

Founder Ursula Mead envisions the site as a TripAdvisor for women in the workplace and hopes that by holding companies accountable for their support for women, it will encourage them to review and improve their treatment. What other experiences could be reviewed in this way, using crowdsourced data to improve experiences?