What is Good Reputation Management?

In the same way that today’s consumer buys nothing without reading reviews first, high-quality candidates aren’t going to apply for a job with your company without hitting up sites like Indeed or Glassdoor to read the reviews. Have you read yours recently? Would you apply for your job all over again? 

Reputation management is just this: Your employer brand exists whether or not you make any effort to manage it. You can ignore employee reviews, dismiss them as sour grapes, point to your recent applications as proof that reviews don’t matter, but how many do you think you’d get if you made an effort to manage your company’s reputation online? 

The answer is twice as many. Companies with positive employer brands get twice as many applications as companies with negative brands (source: ReviewTrackers). 

In fact, 86% of applicants are likely to research company reviews and ratings before deciding whether or not to apply for a job. Potential applicants are also three times more likely to trust employee reviews over statements made in an actual job posting. (source: Glassdoor/Harris Poll, Sept. 2019, US).

Obviously, we would all love to have five solid stars on every review site, but shooting for 3.5 or higher on a job review website like Indeed and Glassdoor is realistic since we’re working with averages here. 

Talentcare COO, Elle Aldridge, says that “The more stars you have, the more people are going to apply, but a well-managed reputation does a few other things. It turns your internal employees into evangelists. This is helpful, especially with Gen Z or Millennials; they really want to work in a place where they know their voice is going to be heard and that they can contribute to a mission. Showing that you’re engaged, that you welcome input from your team and potentially even talking about how you’re using that input to create internal change, can be a useful tool.” 

Good reputation management is:

1. Branded engagement.
   Responding to all reviews (the good, the bad, and the ugly), questions, and comments on employee review sites. It’s helpful to note that 76% of Glassdoor users agree their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review, good or bad.
   
   
2. Monitoring mentions, comments, and conversations on the web.
   This can include sites like Reddit and TikTok so you are informed about what candidates and employees think about your organization. This is also another opportunity to engage with potential employees.

Related Article: 7 Sites to Monitor Your Employer Reputation

3. Sharing content about your company.
   This includes employee testimonials,  day-in-the-life videos, and resources about the culture and company on your social channels and career website. Be proud and show off what it’s really like to work for your company. 
   
   
4. Tracking and analytics.
   Understanding trends, where candidates are visiting and what sources are driving the most traffic to your company career site and job postings can help you isolate which sources you’re missing out on and where review response is needed. 
   
   
5. Submit your company for awards.
   Take a survey to see if you’re a Top Workplace or nominate yours. What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t get selected? That should be your push to do better, then try again. There is a correlation between top workplace awards and increased talent attraction and retention.

6. Ask for reviews. Proactively engage new and current team members to post a review. Note that we did not say “demand 5-star reviews from current employees.” Your HR and recruiting teams interact with employees every day and a lot of that interaction is positive. Ask your teams to make a habit of asking employees to hit up Glassdoor or Indeed when employees tell them how much they love their jobs. That’s an OK ask!

What does good reputation management look like?

Spavia Day Spa is a member of the 3.8 stars club and we’re proud to call them a partner. Talentcare manages Spavia’s reputation on Indeed and Glassdoor and their response game is so solid that we encourage you to take a look at how they respond to their very worst reviews.

The goal is progress, not perfection. If you could buy your way into 5.0 stars, big companies would have a lock on this. We can’t control negativity online, but we can manage it by responding and demonstrating that we genuinely care about what our current and former employees have to say about working for us. 

In our current talent marketplace, can we afford to ignore reviews? Definitely not. But since we can’t have them removed from the internet, we need a reputation management strategy. That’s a big part of what we do at Talentcare and we’re ready to help. Drop us a line or slide into our DMs.