What to Do With Glassdoor Reviews?

Customer reviews are an essential part of your business. Personal recommendations of products and brands are the best form of advertising you can get. But what about employee reviews?

You may not realize that how your current and past employees feel about your business can impact your hiring and sales. Without a happy workforce, customer satisfaction will be even more difficult to achieve. Even Forbes has acknowledged the link between employee happiness and performance – which, more or less, trickles down to customer satisfaction – with the statistic that businesses with highly.

Because we live in a digital age, there’s a website for everything. That includes employer reviews. Glassdoor, by far, is the most popular and most reliable source for prospective employees – and even customers – to get a sense of your company. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor offers a platform for companies to post job openings with an emphasis on transparency. Because of this, it offers a well-thought-out survey for past and current employees to submit a review.

How employees feel about your company and their work environment are the central focus of this survey. These reviews will be viewed by prospective employees and may even come across a potential customer’s search to have an impact on their decision to do business with you. 

Here’s a breakdown of what you should do with feedback – specifically of the Glassdoor variety – from employees.

Refelect

Most people struggle with receiving constructive criticism. It’s a skill that requires you to be open to possibilities and understand that feedback should not be taken personally. This is just as true about a company as a whole as it is with an individual’s performance. If your business has gotten a less-than-stellar review from an employee, don’t panic.

Before taking an action in response to feedback, it’s important to reflect honestly on what has been said. Genuine criticism can be used to your advantage, whether it’s good or bad. When someone has taken the time to share their honest opinion, you’re given the opportunity to view your business, company, and work environment from their perspective. 

Moreover, many people prefer to share feedback anonymously. You’re likely to get a better quality of feedback from employees on a platform like Glassdoor. With this in mind, take note of everything that’s being mentioned. It’s neither effective nor flattering to rush into a response. Until you’ve taken the time to mindfully reflect on the content of your reviews, you’re not ready to move on.

Respond

Glassdoor itself has published a number of findings that show employer responses to their reviews have a positive effect on the perception of their company. Two-thirds of respondents said that seeing an employer’s response improved their perception of the business. Additionally, 74% of job seekers said that they were more likely to apply to a position with a company that actively engages on behalf of their brand.

Responding to your reviews – be they positive or negative – is always in your best interest. Of course, it’s not reasonable to expect to reply to every individual review, but regularly chiming in with a response – especially to negative reviews – is a best practice you should implement.

Your responses themselves should be thoughtful and align with your company’s values. Remember, even if you’re the owner of your company, don’t take the feedback personally. Since you have taken the time to reflect on what someone has taken the time to share, formulate your response in an equally thoughtful manner.

In cases where an employee – past or present – has shared an opinion that sheds light on an ongoing issue, take the time to acknowledge this issue and express that you’re eager to make feasible improvements.

Reform

86% of job seekers look at ratings before applying for a job, according to Glassdoor. This, of course, means that it’s imperative you take time to respond to your reviews. It also means, however, that you need to take action. Placating employees and potential new hires with review responses will ultimately contribute to turnover if you don’t implement actual change.

Armed with the feedback you’ve gotten through your reviews, your next step should be to address and resolve the negatives. In cases where you’re far removed from the staff members who have been experiencing enough of a struggle to take the time to complete a review, it’s important to give those voices a seat at the decision-making table. Making unilateral changes without consulting those whom the change will affect most will only lead to compounded problems.

Be open with your team and discuss the issues that have been brought to your attention. Even if you’re already ahead of the curve and foster an overall positive environment, no one is perfect – employees will always have suggestions on how to improve. Striving to be your best as a company means that you’re striving to support all levels of your organization. Focus on fostering development and positive change so that you can respond to reviews with the ways their feedback has had an actual impact.

Employee satisfaction contributes to a number of deliverable variables. Your customer satisfaction, business productivity, hiring numbers, and even market share can be impacted by how your employees feel about their job. Data from Glassdoor shows that improving your overall employee satisfaction has a positive effect on a company’s market value. Improving satisfaction by one point has been documented to have as much as a 7.9% increase in said value.

Millennial and Gen Z job seekers – and employees – value company culture, diversity, and positive work environments in a way that may require some long-standing businesses to make large-scale changes. Change is not a bad thing, especially if the data shows how these changes contribute to a better overall product and result for your company. Job seekers and current employees alike value themselves as people and expect their employers to do the same.

Evolution and growth are fundamental to any business. In order to grow, you must first evolve. Without your employees, your business is unsustainable – no matter the industry.

To answer the question: what do you do with Glassdoor reviews? Listen to them.