Websites like Glassdoor, Indeed and Vault allow employees to anonymously rate their employers and share the nitty-gritty details about compensation and benefits, culture and values, the performance of senior management and the details of job interviews. These sites are putting businesses under greater public scrutiny than ever before. “Everything in our society is becoming more transparent, so employers should be creating cultures where authentic reviews are not an embarrassment,” says Robin Eichert, founder of PeopleSense Consulting in Jaffrey.
The Truth about Bad Reviews
Even for excellent companies, there are occasional bad stories. The top-rated NH companies on Glassdoor, with ratings from 4.1 to 4.4 out of 5 stars, are: PromoCentric in Hampton, the University of NH in Durham, Sig Sauer in Newington, CoreMedical Group in Salem and Hypertherm in
Hanover. This is well above the average review of 3.4 stars. Glassdoor currently contains more than 6 million reviews and serves 17 million visitors per month, according to Quantcast, an advertising and audience measurement firm. No company likes to get a bad review, but rather than turn a blind eye or stick your head in the sand, it’s time to face the (sometimes surprising) facts.
Bad reviews are a certainty. A comparison survey by WorkplaceDynamics, a Pennsylvania company that conducts employee surveys, conservatively estimates that a company’s negative employees are five to eight times more likely to post a review on Glassdoor than their positive employees. These grumpy employees, if left unchecked and unanswered, can paint an inaccurate (and unpleasant) portrait of what it’s like to work at your company.
Bad reviews are a blessing. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, bad reviews can be a sign of bigger issues that need addressing in your company. “Employers should watch for trends in the reviews, and make sure the content of each review is, in fact, from one perspective and not a widely held belief among employees,” says Eichert. “What an opportunity to stop a negative trend from happening.” Companies are taking heed and taking action. Andy Florance, CEO of CoStar Group, a commercial real estate analytics firm based in Washington, D.C., spoke to the Washington Business Journal about his company’s response to negative employee reviews, saying, “We have 80 locations around the world, and … the overall majority of those complaints came from one research department under one manager. That manager is no longer here.”
Bad reviews make you more credible. A 2013 study by Revoo Insight Research revealed this surprising stat: When you don’t have any bad reviews, 95 percent of respondents suspect you’ve deleted the bad reviews, and that your good reviews may be fakes.
Responding to Your Reviews
Keeping up with reviews should be relatively easy. In the WorkplaceDynamics survey, only 1.6 percent of a company’s employees submitted an employer review, on average. So even in a company with a few thousand people, that’s less than 50 reviews.
It’s also good for your reputation. According to an October 2014 Glassdoor study, 69 percent of its members said their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review. As an employer, you may find your company is already listed on a review site. In that case, you can claim your company profile, or start a new one if none exists. If your company already has reviews, you’ll be prompted to respond to them, and you can set up alerts to be notified when new reviews are submitted. According to Glassdoor, “All reviews go through a multi-tier review process that includes both a technology-based review as well as human review. About 10 percent of reviews are rejected by our content services team.”
Keep these best practices in mind for responding to every employee review:
• Set up alerts: Prompt feedback is always appreciated more than delayed feedback. Set up alerts with review sites and Google Alerts for your company. If your review is delayed, apologize for it up front.
• Start from gratitude: Your thanks at the start suggests that your company welcomes feedback from its employees, making your business more attractive to applicants.
• Accentuate the positive: Reviewers are encouraged to add both positive and negative aspects of the company in their reviews. Comment on their positive remarks before addressing the negatives.
• Get specific about the negatives: Be transparent about any changes your company is making to address issues cited in the review. Avoid getting into a back-and-forth about issues in the public review space. Instead, invite reviewers to contact you directly to express their concerns offline.
• Be authentic: Give customized responses. Never give a canned response. Since you’ll be replying to many reviews, people will pick up on any repetitive language, negatively affecting your reputation.
No company is perfect on Glassdoor and other employer review sites, nor should anyone expect them to be. Here is an example of a Glassdoor review of Concord Hospital, another highly rated NH company, along with the hospital’s response as an example of a best practice.
“Pros: Decent benefits at reasonable cost. Relatively stable. Quality services.
Cons: Limited opportunity for advancement. Salary is not competitive at 40-60% of market.
Advice to Management: Better feedback and recognition of employees on an individual level would be appreciated. In this economy it’s also difficult for employees to understand benefit cut backs and new salary cut backs when the hospital continues to expend and give so much charitable care. Employees feel disposable.
Employer Response: Thank you for your feedback! I am excited to report back a few significant changes we have made in relation to some of your suggestions. Last year, we brought on an Employee Relations Program Manager to create a formal reward and recognition program to ensure we are providing recognition in new and creative ways that are most meaningful to our staff. In addition, nurturing passion and developing potential are critical philosophies within our organization. This past fall, we opened the Concord Hospital Career Center as part of our new Talent Management strategy. We provide employees with assistance in resume and cover letter writing. We also help employees to explore and obtain new career opportunities that challenge them and provide them with growth and skill building. We have so much opportunity here. Your feedback has helped us to realize that we needed to take a more direct approach in helping employees to realize where those opportunities are and what they need to do to get there. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Career Center, we invite you to! Again, we appreciate your feedback and look forward to continuing to make positive changes in response to our employee’s recommendations.”
Be Proactive
Companies can bolster their online reputation. Here's how:
1. Follow up. The majority of reviewers won’t go out of their way to delete or post updates to their negative reviews. It’s up to you to post a reply that touts a resolution to their issue or one that demonstrates you made your best effort to address their concerns.
2. Solicit reviews from your current and past employees. Solicit reviews from all employees, including management and HR. But don’t incentivize employees to give reviews. Not only is it unethical, but sites like Glassdoor remove incentivized reviews if and when they’re discovered.
3. Dominate page one of Google search. Employer review sites are becoming more popular. But Google shows a maximum of 10 results on the first page, and definitely prefers official company web and social sites. Use your website and other company social media pages to dominate page one search results and push other sites off of Google’s prime real estate.
Allen Voivod is president of Epiphanies Inc., a social media marketing firm in Gilford. He can be reached at hey@epiphaniesinc.com.
Current Issue - May 2024