How Does Indeed's Rating Actually Work?

Indeed also caps contribution at the individual level: each person can post one review per company. Reviews aren’t edited or altered by Indeed — the company states it doesn’t change submitted content — and a review is only removed if it violates Indeed’s published Company Reviews guidelines, including cases where Indeed has evidence the reviewer was compensated or pressured to post it. Reviews are anonymous to the employer, though Indeed states it may disclose identifying information in response to a subpoena, search warrant, law enforcement request, or court order.

Indeed also displays two metrics distinct from the star rating: a Diversity Score (0–100) showing how evenly positive ratings are spread across different positions and departments, and — once a company has collected at least 10 responses per category — a Work Wellbeing Score built with the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, covering happiness, purpose, satisfaction, and stress. Both give a fuller picture than the single overall number, which is one more reason a back-calculated "simple average" would misrepresent how an Indeed profile actually reads.

• Five category ratings per review — Work-life balance, Compensation and benefits, Job security and advancement, Management, and Company culture — feed into the overall star rating, but Indeed does not publish the exact formula or weighting behind the single number it displays.
• A one-review-per-person cap — each employee or former employee can submit one review per company, which limits how much volume any single voice can add.
• Guideline compliance — reviews Indeed removes for violating its Company Reviews guidelines (harassment, discriminatory language, confidential or personally identifying information, off-topic content, or evidence the reviewer was compensated or pressured) don’t count toward the rating.
• A separate Diversity Score (0–100) — shows how evenly positive ratings are spread across positions and departments, distinct from the overall star number.
• A separate Work Wellbeing Score — built with Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre, only displayed once a company has at least 10 responses per category, and measuring happiness, purpose, satisfaction, and stress rather than the same inputs as the star rating.