Why Online Employer Reviews are important for your company (10 Min)

Employer reviews matter a lot and most companies know that they need to take that feedback seriously. However, when it comes to the employee satisfaction reviews, many companies ignore this vital information which jeopardizes their corporate brand. After all, your people are your brand ambassadors be it the candidates coming for the interviews or the employees who work with you. That’s why the reviews matter for creating a good image of your company.

According to a study, about 57% of the candidates avoid the companies which have negative online reviews and we understand that’s quite logical. It makes sense that when we have to take a big decision like which job offer to accept, we want to look at the inputs from people who have the real experience with the respective employer. Glassdoor say that there’s more than 30% increase in retention rate among the candidates who use their website. So, when it comes to finding the best employer, the more information you have, the better decision you can make.

What all you can do to in order to get positive employer reviews which are an accurate reflection of your company:

1. Be honest and transparent :  Don’t make false promises to the candidates about a work experience which you won’t be able to deliver. If you make false promises to get a top candidate for a role, then pictures get painted in such a way that don’t accurately reflect the truth. Thereafter, if the candidate accepts the position and experiences something totally different from the expectations that you have set, then it will create a very bad impression. We all know how lasting and far reaching these negative impressions are—especially when these impressions are reported in anonymous online reviews.

2. Pay attention to the online reviews: You need to teach your people how to be digital brand ambassadors—sharing your company communications with their friends and followers not only on traditional social media channels but on the job-search sites too like Glassdoor. When you see some specific issues coming up again and again, then you should work to address those concerns. You have to understand why there is that perception that something is broken. The feedback which people share is actually a gift, providing you an opportunity to make the strategic changes which will have a great impact on hiring, performance and finally on the experience your customers have while interacting with the frontline employees of your company.

3. Communicate honestly and frequently: You should share the results of the employee surveys. Acknowledge the challenges which needs to be resolved. Admit your mistakes and let your people know what you’re doing to make their experience better. Communication at regular intervals take the mystery out of what’s happening and shows the people that building a positive culture is more important.

 4. Focus on developing good leadership: People don't leave the companies, they leave their managers. So, your managers need to have the biggest impact on retention, engagement and ensuring that your company receives nice and positive reviews. Investing in your leaders who understand your company culture and the brand and know the importance of having a team of true brand ambassadors which will pay rich dividends in attracting and retaining top talents.

5. Create alternate promotion paths: You have to allow your brilliant individual performers to continue to learn, prosper and grow through other kinds of promotions, if leadership is not right for them. You need to create paths for growth which are not tied to moving into the leadership only. Just promoting people into the leadership positions may not be the perfect way to reward their brilliant performance. 

6. Should make the feedback safe: The dissatisfied employees would be less likely to post negative reviews outside, if they know that they have a safe channel for sharing their feedback within the company itself. You need to make regular and an honest feedback a core part of your company’s culture. Listen to the feedbacks about the managers with an open mind and take appropriate actions on the managers who are receive bad reviews so they can improve on their respective areas of improvement. You need to help them become great leaders.

7. Broaden their spectrum: Your employees rarely get a holistic view of the larger company, as their impression is tied to only to a very small part of the company where they work. You have to build some programs to get them involved somewhere else beyond their roles, job functions and their respective departments. There, even if the everyday experience is not ideal, they’ll have a better feel of the entire company and will also be more likely to find a place for themselves elsewhere in the organization where they fit best.

CONCLUSION: Employer reviews work like a window for the candidates willing to apply for a job position in your company. The reviews provide them with an insider’s perspective and become a credible source of the firsthand experience of a candidate or an employee. It helps in building a deep impact on the minds of the potential candidates. So, you should understand the importance of the employer reviews on your company’s brand. In addition to this, you should follow the above strategies in order to build an amazing employer brand. Focus on delivering an amazing candidate experience and put all your efforts on the employee happiness to ensure great employee satisfaction and retention.