Introduction
In the world of recruitment, first impressions matter. Job seekers have more resources at their fingertips than ever to research potential employers. They often turn to platforms like Glassdoor to gain insights into companies before applying for a job. But why do Glassdoor ratings matter? And how can companies use reviews to improve their Candidate Experience?
In this article, we will talk about the importance of Glassdoor ratings, how can companies improve their Candidate Experience by looking at reviews and how to avoid getting negative reviews in the first place.
Why do Glassdoor Reviews Matter?
Glassdoor is one of the best-known and most frequently used online job search and review engines with 64 million unique monthly users and 55 million reviews. The site has become a go-to source for candidates seeking insights into company culture, work environment, and overall employee satisfaction.
Job seekers often read reviews posted by other applicants as well as by past and present employees, because reviews offer them a deeper insight into key aspects of the company's Employer Brand, which reflects values, work environment, employee benefits, work-life balance, and every other aspect of the experience of working for an organization. In fact, 65% of Glassdoor users read at least 5 reviews before forming an opinion about a company.
One of the platform's objectives is to create a space for job seekers to research potential employers by reading honest feedback from those who have first-hand experience with the organization.
For employers, too, it makes for a viable platform because it offers a unique opportunity to showcase their company culture and values to prospective candidates.
How Are Glassdoor Reviews Linked to a Good Candidate Experience?
Employee reviews are crucial for hiring and recruitment as they influence candidates' perceptions of a company's culture and work environment. Positive reviews attract high-quality candidates, while transparency builds trust between candidates and employers. Additionally, companies that engage with reviews demonstrate a commitment to employee satisfaction, enhancing the overall Candidate Experience and leading to successful recruitment outcomes.
By actively managing their presence on Glassdoor, employers can engage with feedback, address concerns, and highlight positive aspects of their workplace. This not only helps in attracting top talent but also contributes to building a positive Employer Brand.
What Are The Consequences of Ignoring Glassdoor Reviews?
1. Damaged Employer Brand
Ignoring Glassdoor reviews can potentially harm a company's brand. Candidates heavily rely on online reviews to learn about a company's reputation and work environment. When negative reviews get ignored, they create a negative image of the company, making it less appealing to apply for a job opening there. In fact, 60% of job seekers say they would not apply for a job at a company with a 1-star Glassdoor rating.
2. Difficulty Attracting Top Talent
Attracting and retaining experienced talent is more important than ever, if you want to drive innovation and performance. But prospective employees are less likely to consider opportunities at companies with a history of unresolved issues and negative feedback. As a result, the pool of qualified candidates willing to engage with such companies may shrink, making it challenging to attract top talent.
3. Increased Employee Turnover Rates
When employees feel like their concerns aren't being heard by management, it can really bring down job satisfaction. This can lead to people feeling disconnected from their work and, eventually, deciding to leave the company. The cost of replacing an employee can be up to three to four times the position's salary, including the work spent finding, interviewing and training the new hire.
How to Use Glassdoor Reviews to Improve Your Candidate Experience?
When it comes to Glassdoor reviews, there's more to it than just employees and candidates having an opportunity to express and share their experiences, likes, dislikes, and opinions. Employee reviews can also be used to improve your Candidate Experience.
1. Drive Candidate Engagement by Responding to Reviews
Be it negative or positive, a review offers an organization the perfect opportunity to drive candidate engagement by choosing to respond. As per a Glassdoor US Survey, candidates read at least six reviews before applying to a position, and about 62% of job seekers think that their perception of a company improved upon seeing the employer's response to an online review.
Employers get the ideal opportunity to address particular issues raised by the reviewer by responding and displaying their commitment to honesty, integrity, and open communication. It is the right avenue for them to grow their Employer Brand and showcase their goodwill towards authentic reviews, even if the said review is negative.
2. Strengthen Your Internal Feedback System
Negative reviews can hurt an Employer's Brand, but they can also motivate organizations to improve their Candidate Experience internally, addressing the issue at its root. How, you ask? Through feedback.
There are fundamental differences between reviews and feedback. While reviews are comments left on a third-party platform like Glassdoor, Candidate Experience feedback is what the company's HR department gathers internally through feedback forms during or after a recruitment process.
Our 2023 Candidate Experience Benchmark Report revealed that candidates with extreme reactions–either positive or negative–are the ones to immediately fill out the survey, leave a review and speak about their experience. So when you make sure you listen to candidates and give them space to raise their concerns, they are less likely to go to third-party platforms like Glassdoor.
There are Candidate Experience Analytics Platforms to simplify the feedback-gathering process, and Starred is one of them. Helping Recruiters gather the necessary information and translate it into actionable insights for them to apply. In addition, having a professional feedback platform to measure Candidate Experience gives you the additional benefit of surveys being created by the organization itself, allowing potential employers to ask every question they need to in order to identify the issues and properly address them head on.
3. Use Negative Reviews as Opportunity to Reinforce Brand Perception
Our research shows that at least 34% of candidates are likely to share their negative hiring experience online. By choosing not to respond to such negative reviews, companies create a void that's hard to fill, as time goes by.
As we established before, negative responses from reviewers can distance genuine candidates from applying and if those job seekers are prospective customers too, it could be the beginning of doomsday for the brand.
Therefore, although the communication ensuing from a Glassdoor review might not be as deep and personal as the one that a recruiter can have with a candidate who has filled in a feedback form, responding to negative reviews posted on a renowned platform, like Glassdoor, can show to potential applicants that the employer in question truly cares about their people.
4. Request Reviews to Showcase Credibility
When there are enough reviews about the company on a platform like Glassdoor, it acts as a creditworthy tool, building a trust factor for the company. It shows a positive company culture and does a lot of good to build the Employer Brand. Your employees are the best and most trusted Brand Ambassadors.
But getting those reviews sometimes can prove difficult. Luckily, our dynamic Thank You pages allow you to easily ask candidates who have scored your company highly to write a review on your Glassdoor page.
How to Avoid Negative Glassdoor Ratings?
Having talked about why reviews matter and how to use them to your advantage, we should answer the burning question: How to avoid the negative ratings in the first place?
In short, the key to improve Glassdoor reviews is creating a great Candidate Experience and prioritizing employee satisfaction. It means fostering a positive work environment, providing opportunities for career growth and development, offering competitive compensation and benefits, and ensuring clear communication between management and employees.
But that's not all. Implementing regular feedback mechanisms in the Recruitment Process and addressing any issues quickly can also help prevent negative reviews. Additionally, being transparent about company culture and values during the candidate journey can ensure that new hires are aligned with the team, reducing the likelihood of dissatisfaction.
At the end of the day, it's simple: happy employees and candidates equal a positive reputation on platforms like Glassdoor, which will make it easier to attract, hire and keep quality talent.
Conclusion
Glassdoor is a well-known employer review platform, used by millions of candidates world-wide as a powerful research tool to discover and understand a company's values, culture and working environment.
Positive Candidate Experience reviews boost engagement and showcase a healthy Employer Brand. However, negative reviews offer a valuable opportunity. Responding to them publicly demonstrates care for potential talent, leading an organization to focus more attention on internal improvements through feedback.
While reviews might lack detail, feedback tools such as Starred, can come to the rescue, helping Talent Acquisition leads to collect the necessary information to identify areas for improvement and providing teams with the actionable insights they need to address them. So, embrace the feedback, and turn those negatives into positives!
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