They said what? About our company?
Before you fire off an angry response or put your head in your hands, keep calm and carry on … and come up with a solution that may actually work to your advantage.
Everybody’s Talkin’
Glassdoor, Indeed, and other sites feature reviews that provide an inside look at the employment experience. These reviews are aimed at helping job seekers.
The idea is to share unfiltered comments from people with firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to work at a given company.
It’s not difficult for a site to acquire reviews. Because current and former employees view these sites as vehicles for venting, they are inclined to do so. Keep in mind, however, that people are more inclined to gripe than praise; it’s human nature.
Reading Your Reviews
Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to swallow a negative review. And perhaps you shouldn’t.
Although some experts suggest ignoring one or two bad reviews, it depends on the size of your company and the total number of reviews. If, for example, you have three reviews in total and two are bad, you’ll want to address them.
But it goes beyond the numbers. What matters is whether the review has any substance.
Two questions that will help you determine this are:
Does the reviewer provide any detail to support his or her opinion? Blanket statements, such as “Work somewhere else” or “I do not recommend” probably won’t carry much weight. On the other hand, “I worked at this company for three years without a raise” or “Management does not provide direction or support” will likely get a job seeker’s attention.
Does the reviewer sound genuinely interested in sharing or is the post a complain fest? A person interested in sharing provides relevant details, with the intent to inform. A post by this type of reviewer comes across as professional and therefore carries weight. A complainer’s post, by contrast, seems to mention anything and everything that has caused workplace unhappiness. Most people can spot a complainer, and won’t give a post written by one much credence.
Reacting to Your Reviews
After you decide which reviews are relevant, you should take a good, hard look at what the people who wrote those reviews have to say. Has your company not given salary increases in three years? Is it true that management doesn’t provide direction or support?
What other comments reflect poorly on your company? Are they true?
Rather than defending your company, why not respond by making positive changes to your organization?
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Paula Santonocito, Contributing Editor for Recruiting Daily Advisor, is a business journalist specializing in employment issues. She is the author of more than 1,000 articles on a wide range of human resource and career topics, with an emphasis on recruiting and hiring. Her articles have been featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets, referenced in academic and legal publications as well as books, and translated into several languages. |
