James Martin/CNET

Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn't even been in his job for a year, but already he's the working world's highest-rated chief executive, according to a new report.

Careers site Glassdoor announced today that Cook received a 97 percent approval rating from employees over the past 12 months that ended March 15, beating out Ernst & Young CEO Jim Turley and Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, who each scored a 95 percent approval rating. American Express CEO Ken Chenault and Google CEO Larry Page rounded out the top five with 94 percent approval ratings.

Surprisingly, Cook was able to beat out his predecessor and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in approval ratings. During the 12 months that ended March 15, 2011, Jobs mustered a 95 percent approval rating among employees. However, Glassdoor also said today that when Jobs stepped down as CEO last year, he had the same 97 percent approval rating Cook now has.

To be clear, Glassdoor's ratings aren't taken from a survey per se. The figures come from employees who actively come to Glassdoor's site to rate their companies and bosses. However, Glassdoor says that its report only includes CEOs who received at least 100 employee ratings over the past year and that, overall, more than 280,000 employees rated their CEO on Glassdoor over the past 12 months.

Ratings are based on a five-point scale ranging from "strongly disapprove" to "strongly approve."

Aside from Cook's high approval ratings, it's worth noting that Hewlett-Packard's new CEO, Meg Whitman, appears to be turning things around. Last year, her predecessor Leo Apotheker scored a 67 percent approval rating. In Glassdoor's latest study, Whitman landed at 80 percent

(Via All Things Digital)