More than 61% of job seekers look at a company’s profile on Glassdoor before deciding to apply to a job. These reviews can heavily influence the candidate’s decision to pursue the job opportunity or move on to the next one. If you receive negative Glassdoor reviews, take these steps to manage your online reputation and keep the right talent interested in the opportunities you’ve presented.
In order to address and overcome your negative employer reviews, you’ll need to start by creating a company profile. This will enable you to be notified when you receive reviews in the future and will allow you to address the reviews that have been posted.
It is important to understand that you cannot remove negative Glassdoor reviews (not even by paying the review site). Instead, you can overcome your negative employer reviews by addressing them directly. In fact, 62% of job seekers say their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review. Thank the poster for the feedback and mention the actions you are taking to address and improve the reported issues. Do not use the same response for each and every negative review because your comments may be perceived as inauthentic. Instead, customize your response to each and every review, positive or negative. Reply to all reviews, even old ones, to show your commitment to improving the overall working environment.
Prevent further negative reviews by addressing the issues that led to the negative review in the first place. Listen intently to the reviews and observe patterns about your company’s culture. If you can identify patterns from negative review to negative review, a candidate will be able to identify the same. Prevent further negative feedback by being open and receptive to the feedback you’ve been given, and you’ll find your company morale improves as you work to fix the issues at hand.
Happy employees are the best advocates for your company. You can improve and overcome your negative Glassdoor reviews by inviting them to leave a review on your company’s pages. Glassdoor has even provided numerous templates you can use to encourage your employees to share their thoughts. Just remember to be authentic in your approach – you’ll receive significantly more positive feedback if your request is not mandatory and heavily regulated. Employees like to feel heard, and their reviews will clearly show it. Furthermore, job seekers are quick to catch on to companies that force their employees to leave positive reviews. Too many reviews in a short period of time and templated, mysteriously similar reviews will raise a red flag in a job seeker’s mind.
If you receive feedback from a candidate that they’ve seen your online reviews and have hesitations, take the opportunity to explain the situation and define the actions you’re taking to improve the situation. Stay away from making excuses – job seekers don’t want to hear what was wrong with your disgruntle employee; instead, they want to hear what you’re doing to create positive change. Discuss the steps you’ve taken to improve the problems and the results you’re seeing so far. By doing so, you’ll create a feeling of trust with the candidate, and you’ll improve your company image.