Let’s explore how bad reviews on Glassdoor may affect your company’s ability to hire the best and brightest employees. The good news is that bad reviews aren’t the end of the world. You can always turn things around by taking a proactive approach.
What Is Glassdoor?
Glassdoor is an online job board and recruiting site. Glassdoor is different from other job sites because you can find a lot of information about your potential employers.
Where do they get this information? From the employees who work there. You can find reviews from different employees, but you can also get information about what it’s really like to worth at specific companies and how much money you might earn.
What’s the Deal with Glassdoor Reviews?
Most employees want to work for an organization that cares about them. They want to get paid well, but they also want to be appreciated. Nowadays, employees really do their research when they’re searching for jobs. They may take a job they don’t care for in the short term, but they’re not likely to turn it into a career.
As a company, you’re looking for highly talented people, but you’re competing with other companies for the top talent. Ideal employees can choose where to work. Obviously, they’d rather work for a company that has great reviews than one that’s not liked by any of their employees.
Who Can See Glassdoor Reviews?
It doesn’t take much to see the reviews on Glassdoor. If you’re willing to leave a review about a previous employer, then it doesn’t cost anything to get an account. Even if you don’t sign up, you can see some of the reviews without charge, and you can definitely see the overall review rating of an employer.
How Negative Reviews Affect Your Recruiting Efforts
It’s easy to make your company sound good in a recruiting brochure, and as long as the pay is decent, prospective employees won’t dig too deeply.
However, employees who want to advance in their career or who relocate in order to find a new job want to verify that they have made the right decision. If they don’t know anyone who works at your company, then they’re going to find websites like Glassdoor that offer additional insights.
One negative review probably won’t affect your recruiting efforts much if you have predominantly good reviews. But if most of your reviews are negative, then you might have a problem. Would you work for a company that every employee hates?
What You Can Do about Negative Reviews
The good thing is that there is a lot you can do about negative reviews.
Read Reviews with an Open Mind
First of all, you should take the time to read them with an open mind. Is there something in the critique that rings true? Reviews don’t always offer constructive criticism, but there’s usually a grain of truth in the things people have to say about your organization.
Identify Opportunities for Change
If you receive a bad review because an employee didn’t get along with their supervisor, then that might not be anything to worry about. But if many of your reviews say the same thing, then it’s time to take a look at the potential culprit. Reviews are an opportunity for you to change the way things are done. Maybe your employees are right, maybe that supervisor is not doing a good job.
Respond to Every Review
It’s a good idea to take some time to respond to every review on Glassdoor. Here is the catch: you only get one chance. In your response, you should avoid bashing or dismissing the reviewer’s opinion. If you have addressed the issue or plan to do so in the future, you can let them know. Don’t forget to thank them for their time to write a review. Here are some examples of CEO responses to bad reviews.
Be Prepared to Address these Concerns in Future Interviews
It’s quite possible for a potential employee to talk about the things that were said in the reviews during an interview. Therefore, it’s a good idea to think about what you want to say. It’s not a good idea to talk bad about the employee or try to shift the blame onto them. As long as you’re upfront about the issue, your potential employee will likely still want to work for you.
Become Proactive about Future Reviews
The best thing you can do is to be proactive about reviews before employees write them. Prevention is always better than damage control. As a company, it’s a good idea to keep a good relationship with the employees that you already have.
Measure Employee Satisfaction
Think about measuring employee satisfaction at least sporadically. It’s not enough to ask them whether they like their job or not—you have to dig a little deeper. Encourage your employees to identify what they really like and what could be better. For best results, you should keep these types of surveys anonymous.
Conduct Exit Interviews
When employees leave the company, it should be customary to conduct exit interviews. Employees who are on their way out the door tend to be candid about their opinions. This is a good opportunity for your HR department to record in detail why the employee is leaving.
Review and Use the Information
It’s not enough to ask employees how they’re doing if you don’t use the information they give you. It may be time-consuming, but really listening to what your employees have to say will help your company become a better place to work.
Help HR Keep Track with Document Management
Keeping track of employee satisfaction is a tough job for HR. It usually can’t be done using only a simple file manager, because there are too many things to track.
In order to positively influence your workspace culture, your organization needs take a hard look at how things are done. It’s one thing to encourage workspace efficiency with document management, but employees often need other incentives to perform optimally.