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Clorox tops list of 100 highest-rated CEOs

Sophia Tulp   | Paste BN

The CEO of Clorox has scrubbed away the competition in taking the lead on an annual list of the 100 highest-rated chief executives in the world — as rated by their own workers.

With few stains on his record, Benno Dorer of Clorox had a 99% approval rate in the ratings as compiled by Glassdoor, a job and recruiting site. CEO performance was based on employees who anonymously reviewed their company over the past year and gave the big boss a thumb's up.

He beat out other, better-known names on the list like Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Musk and Zuckerberg both share a 98% approval rating, but Musk came in at eight for the second year in a row, while Zuckerberg dropped from fourth last year to 10th this year.

Last year’s winner, Bob Bechek of Bain & Company, dropped from first to seventh place. Apple CEO Tim Cook also a big fall from last year’s data dropping from eighth place to 53rd, and 3 percentage points in approval 96% to 93%.

Dorer called the title “humbling” in a video interview with Glassdoor and said it reinforced the quality of the company’s overall leadership.

“My own pay is based on how engaged my people are," he said in the interview. "Ideas need to come from the lunchroom and not from the boardroom and that’s exactly the type of environment we want to create.”

Dorer wasn't the only CEO with a 99% approval rating, but he stood out because Glassdoor, based on its formula, deemed him highest in quantity, quality and consistency in the employee reviews that it received during the year. In a review, employees are asked to cite the best reasons to work for their employer and any negatives.

Reviewers are also asked to rate their relationship with the CEO’s leadership and the senior management, which goes into the approval rating.

The top rating marked Dorer’s debut on the list, which was introduced in 2013, and was the first time that a consumer-goods company has secured the top position, according to Glassdoor.

Glassdoor, however, does not provide data on why some CEOs drop in the rankings.

Here's the full list:

  1. Benno Dorer — The Clorox Company
  2. Jim Kavanaugh — World Wide Technology          
  3. Michael F. Mahoney — Boston Scientific 
  4. Craig B. Thompson — Memorial Sloan Kettering             
  5. Martin Rankin — Fast Enterprises            
  6. Jen-Hsun Huang — NVIDIA
  7. Bob Bechek — Bain & Company    
  8. Elon Musk — SpaceX         
  9. Brian Halligan — HubSpot       
  10. Mark Zuckerberg — Facebook       
  11. Steve Beauchamp — Paylocity      
  12. Dominic Barton — McKinsey 
  13. Brad Smith — Intuit           
  14. Corey Schiller & Asher Raphael — Power Home Remodeling      
  15. Marc Benioff — Salesforce
  16. Charles C. Butt — H E B           
  17. Sundar Pichai — Google    
  18. Oscar Munoz — United Airlines    
  19. Shantanu Narayen — Adobe         
  20. John Legere — Mobile      
  21. Pamela M. (Pam) Nicholson — Enterprise Holdings                    
  22. Stephen B. Burke — NBCUniversal
  23. Thomas E. Richards — CDW          
  24. Bill McDermott — SAP     
  25. Tim Pierce — Morrison Healthcare           
  26. Michael R. Bloomberg  — Bloomberg L.P.       
  27. Joseph R. Sivewright — Nestlé Purina      
  28. Chet Cadieux III — QuikTrip           
  29. Satya Nadella — Microsoft
  30. Alex Gorsky — Johnson & Johnson
  31. Rami Rahim — Juniper Networks 
  32. Anant Yardi — Yardi Systems        
  33. Richard D. Fairbank — Capital One           
  34. David Overton — Cheesecake Factory 
  35. Jeff Weiner — LinkedIn     
  36. Lynsi Snyder — In-N-Out Burger   
  37. Dan T. Cathy — Chick-fil-A 
  38. Jack Dorsey — Square        
  39. Dara Khosrowshahi — Expedia      
  40. Cathy Engelbert — Deloitte           
  41. Donald W. (Don) Slager — Republic Services       
  42. Brad Jackson — Slalom Consulting
  43. Pierre Nanterme — Accenture      
  44. G. Brint Ryan — Ryan
  45. Calvin McDonald — Sephora         
  46. Martin Mucci — Paychex   
  47. Alan D. Schnitzer — Travelers       
  48. Spencer Rascoff — Zillow 
  49. Christopher Nassetta — Hilton          
  50. Hugh Grant — Monsanto          
  51. Rich Templeton — Texas Instruments      
  52. Mark G. Parker — Nike      
  53. Tim Cook — Apple 
  54. Aron J. Ain — Kronos Incorporated
  55. Ed Bastian — Delta Air Lines                     
  56. Robert E. Sulentic — CBRE
  57. Kevin A. Lobo — Stryker     
  58. Peter Agnefjall — Ikea
  59. Tim Mayopoulos — Fannie Mae   
  60. Samuel Allen — John Deere          
  61. Ken May — Topgolf
  62. Richard A. Gonzalez — AbbVie
  63. Bharat Masrani — TD        
  64. J Mark Baiada — BAYADA Home Health Care
  65. Mary Barra — General Motors      
  66. Horacio D. Rozanski — Booz Allen Hamilton        
  67. Michael J. Dowling — Northwell Health   
  68. Bernard J. Tyson — Kaiser Permanente    
  69. David W. Nelms — Discover          
  70. Mark Weinberger — EY     
  71. Wayne T. Smith — BASF       
  72. Gordon B. Logan — Clips  
  73. Abby Johnson — Fidelity Investments
  74. Lloyd C. Blankfein — Goldman Sachs        
  75. John R. Strangfeld — Prudential   
  76. David S. Taylor — Procter & Gamble        
  77. Hubert Joly — Best Buy     
  78. Thomas A. Kennedy — Raytheon  
  79. George S. Barrett — Cardinal Health        
  80. Bob Faith — Greystar        
  81. Rick Waddell — Northern Trust    
  82. Laurence D. Fink — BlackRock       
  83. Pat Gelsinger — VMware  
  84. Robin Hayes — JetBlue      
  85. Jamie Dimon — J.P. Morgan         
  86. Jerry Stritzke — REI
  87. Devin Wenig — eBay        
  88. Craig Jelinek — Costco Wholesale            
  89. Wesley G. Bush — Northrop Grumman    
  90. John E. Schlifske — Northwestern Mutual
  91. Kelly Ortberg — Rockwell Collins  
  92. Pat Esser — Cox Communications 
  93. Tricia Griffith — Progressive Insurance    
  94. Gene Hall — Gartner         
  95. Anthony Moraco — SAIC    
  96. Gary C. Kelly — Southwest Airlines           
  97. Ronald D. Croatti — UniFirst         
  98. Blake W. Nordstrom — Nordstrom           
  99. Marillyn Hewson — Lockheed Martin       
  100. Katrina Lake — Stitch Fix

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