Glassdoor has a significant influence as one of the top job sites in the U.S. Some 45 million job seekers access company data from their site each month, researching jobs from internships to executive positions. Needless to say, negative Glassdoor reviews about your company can affect your employment brand and the quality of your new hires.

Glassdoor reports that 72% of job seekers share their encounters online after bad experiences with employers, with 55% of job seekers admitting they avoid certain employers after finding negative reviews online.

This research also indicates that 54% of executives believe they can improve revenues by reducing negative search results, including negative reviews. While they may be talking about product or service reviews, the same is true for your employees. There is no magic wand to wave and remove bad reviews. However, HR and PR teams can proactively ensure a company’s overall employment brand reputation keeps improving.

Determine the Extent of the Damage

The first step is to determine the kind of reputation you have on Glassdoor. If your reputation is bad, don’t lose hope. The average company Glassdoor rating currently stands at 3.5/5 – and this includes companies with plans in place to manage their Glassdoor ratings.

Low ratings are typical because people are more likely to write reviews about negative experiences than positive ones. Disgruntled former employees use anonymous review sites to vent or get ‘revenge’ or ‘justice’. Contented employees are just that; they see no reason to review.

Check how many reviews you have and how you are rating. If a large percentage is negative, you must examine and improve your workplace culture. There is no shortcut to positive Glassdoor ratings: you must be a good employer.

The Complete Guide to Employee Feedback Programs

Optimize Your Profile

Create a free employer account.

Most HR professionals won't care about their profiles unless there is a problem, but this can be harmful to the business. Start by creating a free employer account, enabling you to update necessary information on the company, review analytics, and respond to reviews.

The basic version has everything you need to optimize your profile.

Ask current employees for reviews.

Asking for reviews is more than just putting out a memo or making it mandatory (NEVER do that!) Motivate employees to voluntarily leave reviews by:

• Demonstrating how it helps the company
• Assuring them of anonymity
• Allowing them to do it in their own time and way
• Asking at the appropriate time and place
• Explaining the process of leaving the review

Some companies use external agencies to side-step the conflict of interest in asking employees for reviews. Happy current employees can help to counteract the negative reviews of disgruntled (ex-) employees. Your HR/PR team or external agents can plan how to ask employees to leave positive reviews.

When you ask is just as important: it would look highly suspicious if you have a sudden influx of positive reviews followed by a lull. Ensure that positive reviews trickle in at the same rate as negative ones to ensure negative reviews stay buried. Perhaps a handful of reviews every week, depending on the size of your workforce.

Perfect timings include 60- or 90-day review meetings, at exit interviews, or after annual performance reviews. You can also ask for employees of a specific department to add reviews to support hiring efforts in that department.

Avoid bribery and dishonesty.

You should not incentivize the review process, nor should you request employees to lie about their experience in your company. Honest reviews will help you to gauge the actual employee sentiment and highlight areas that need improvement. Incentivizing reviews is not only unethical, but it can also be illegal.

How to Mitigate the Risk of Reputational Damage and Employee Litigation

Respond to all reviews.

Take time to respond to all reviews, both good and bad. Start by thanking the reviewer for taking the time to leave a comment. A Glassdoor survey showed that 62% of users had an improved perception of a company upon seeing a response from the employer.

Avoid arguing, disparaging, or acting unprofessionally in your responses. You can put together a team from HR and marketing to draft appropriate responses. If you can, outline how the reviewer can address the issue they brought up (if you think that he/she is a current employee).

Glassdoor is a trusted employee review site with a massive following – you can’t afford to ignore it if you’re serious about reputation management. Always work proactively and use negative reviews to improve your employees working conditions – this is the best way to improve perceptions and employee sentiment. After this, a continuous plan to encourage positive reviews by employees can raise your average rating over time.

How AllVoices Can Help

When someone is frustrated enough to leave a negative public review on Glassdoor, they're already causing damage to your company. Giving employees a way to safely speak up–whether through all-hands meetings, culture surveys, or feedback platforms–is a great way to manage HR proactively. A best practice is to provide a safe communication line so you can learn of issues before employees are overly frustrated and end up harming your company's public perception and your ability to recruit new talent.

At AllVoices, we provide a safe, anonymous way for your employees to report issues directly to company leaders. Please reach out to our team to learn how we can help you access real transparency into what is happening in your company.