2. #GDChat
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5. #GDChat
Agenda
• You Brand Is In Reviews
• Bad Reviews Aren’t Bad for Business
• Get Started
• Who Should Respond?
• 5 Tips for Responding to Reviews
• Q&A
10. #GDChat
Today’s Candidate Behavior
83% of recruiters describe today’s
talent market as candidate-driven.
Candidates are wary of employer messages.
Employees are 3X more credible
than the CEO when talking about work
conditions.
75% turn to peers before making
their own decisions about a brand.
Innovation and the Earned Brand, Edelman, 2015
Trust Barometer, Edelman, 2014
Recruiter Sentiment Study, MRINetwork, 2014
12. #GDChat
Respond to Feedback: Embrace. Share. Summarize.
3 Steps to Make Your Company Stronger
Embrace1
2
3
Share What Makes You
Unique
Get Executive Support
13. #GDChat
of job seekers say that
it’s important to work for
a company that embraces
transparency1
Source: 1 Glassdoor U.S. Site Survey, October 2014
96%
14. #GDChat
Bad Reviews Are Good for Business
of Glassdoor members agree
their perception of a company
improves after seeing an employer
respond to a review.1
Source: 1 Glassdoor User Survey, 2014
Opower Response
Dec 8, 2014 – Employer Brand Manager
Thanks for the review and diving into our company culture. It’s nice to hear
you are feeling this way – and you are right about the conference rooms!
Good thing we’re heading to a much larger office space in May. Less
69%
15. #GDChat
Before You Respond
Check for any typos.
You may want to write your response in a Word document
first so you can spellcheck and edit it until you are pleased
with the final product.
Make sure your job title is correct.
Your title will appear when you respond to reviews as a
company representative, so make sure your title is correct
in the Employer Center.
16. #GDChat
Who Should Respond?
Anyone at your company
who is in a position to
speak on your behalf:
• CEO
• Human Resources
• Public Relations
• Marketing Professionals
17. #GDChat
How Often Should I Respond?
Source: 1 Glassdoor U.S. Site Survey, October 2014
90%
of job seekers find
employer perspective
useful when learning about
jobs and companies1
Respond promptly builds trust with candidates
22. #GDChat
Case Study: Zillow
Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff responds
to reviews on behalf of the company.
As a result, four candidates in a recent 30-day period said that reading
the employer response solidified their decision to accept the job offer.
23. #GDChat
Tip No. 3: Address Specific Issues
Don’t shy away from authenticity
30. #GDChat
Getting Feedback: Tips
Get recruiters to include a “Check us out on Glassdoor!”
badge with their email signatures
Ask new hires to submit reviews after their onboarding
Send company-wide emails encouraging employees
to offer feedback
Place signs and stickers around the office,
encouraging employees to “let their voice
be heard”
Communicate during team meetings that
you would like to hear from employees
A few webinar tips – you will be muted throughout the session so make sure to ask questions in the questions pane and I will be happy to answer them along the way.
Introduce yourself
Here today to talk about something passionate about
Love talking about employer branding
I spend most of my days at Glassdoor marketing the importance of your employer brand and here today to tell you how reviews factor in to your employer brand and how you can effectively manage them.
Also love to tell stories – want to give stories of companies that are really telling their company’s story well and managing their reputation
Give you one or two key takeaways to go back to your company and start doing right away
We encourage you to join the conversation online using our hashtag, GDChat.
So, here’s what we’re going to go through. I’ll give you a quick overview of how your brand relates to reviews
Then we will talk about something people don’t always realize. That bad reviews aren’t always bad for buisness and can actually turn in to a recruiting advantage.
We’ll talk about how you can get started in this responding to reviews process and then we will wrap up with 5 tips to keep in mind when you do respond.
I will take a few questions at the end!
Already let’s kick things off and open up the conversation to what exactly is an employer brand?
I love kicking things off with this quote from Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com
I absolutely agree with this.
Companies can say they are such a great place to work and shout it from the rooftops all they want but ultimately if your employees are not happy, frankly your brand will suffer.
Ask yourself…
The answers to these questions are some of the components that make up your employer brand.
Responding to reviews and embracing transparency is just one way you can create a healthy and strong brand.
Whether you like it or not, your employees have a voice and will start to share it on sites like GD.
It is likely in fact that your company is already on Glassdoor. Have you gone on to check out your rating or read reviews?
That’s the best place to start.
Intro to reviews on Glassdoor
Use reviews to find out more information about your company and its reputation
Consider this your first impression for many of your potential candidates
This slide is very influential to me. What stands out more than ever is that 75% of candidates turn to peers before making their decision about a brand.
They want to find out straight from the source what it is like to work at a company. They want the good, bad and ugly. An honest and real look into what it’s like to work at a company.
They also are somewhat weary about employer messaging without this information to back up the claims.
This is what makes reviews and employee feedback more powerful than ever.
In fact, Glassdoor is the fastest growing career site in the U.S.
So basically the moral of this story is it is time for you to join the conversation. And how you can do that is by responding to reviews.
Embrace Transparency: The days of one-way conversation are over. The more transparent you are as an organization, the healthier your culture will be.
Share What makes You Unique: Don’t be shy to post photos, videos and company updates.
Get Executive Support: Summarize activity on Glassdoor to your executive team and point out the trends, good and bad.
Like duh… right?
Who would want to work at a company that doesn’t embrace transparency and hides what it is like to work there?
So that transitions us in the question are bad reviews bad?
This is a question we should all think about.
Sometimes getting constructive criticism can sting.
Your immediate reaction may be to get defensive and even offended, but we have found that bad reviews can be good for business.
They want complete information. They notice when there are no bad reviews and can become suspicious. They will assume that you are censoring feedback.
Think about this – you are not losing job seekers by showing bad reviews – you’re steering them toward jobs and companies that won’t disappoint them.
But this gives you the platform to actually improve your reputation
69% of GD members agree their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.
Kind of common sense but we want to remind you to check for typos.Remember that once it’s live it’s live. I recommend you write your responses in a word doc before publishing to Glassdoor to make sure you catch quick typos
Check your free employer account to make sure your title is correctIt will appear alongside your responseThe Employer Center is where employers can go to control the content on their enhanced profile.
We are often asked who from your company should respond?
I would say anyone at your company who is in a position to speak on your behalf is an acceptable company representative.
This may include your CEO, PR and Marketing professionals, or other employers responsible for managing your brand.
Note: anyone within the company who responds to reviews as an employer representative will have their title appear next to that employer response.
90% of job seekers find the employer perspective useful when learning about jobs and companies
Set up alerts using your Free employer account so you’ll know when fresh reviews are posted
Pick a schedule that works for you. Whether it be weekly or monthly, set apart some time to comb through reviews and respond.
This will build trust with your candidates. When they see you constantly setting aside time to respond, it shows you care.
Alright! So let’s get in to tips to follow when responding to negative reviews.
other candidates will be reading your response, and you are responding on behalf of your company.
If you believe the person who posted was out of line -- others will often come to the same conclusion so use the opportunity to show what a gracious and understanding employer you are.
I’d also like to add… when you believe the person writing the review is false advertising, telling lies, or accusing an employer of things that you did not do …. Its prudent to take a deep breath and even sleep on it for a night or two nights if needed!
At Glassdoor, we take a neutral stance in all reviews (we do not act as the finder of fact), there could be false information posted by an angry employee. In these cases, it is best again to respond as professionally as possible while also refuting the post (with fact, not defensiveness.)
These are the hardest ones for folks to reply to, so let’s talk about some other tips that might help.
Don’t be discouraged by a really bad review. Recognize that bad reviews offer the opportunity to bond with employees and candidates.
Take constructive feedback to heart.
Do not go on the defense; recognize that even the best companies have room for growth.
In the 1-800 CONTACTS example, an employee left the company with a truly negative outlook. The Director of Software Engineering responded back, which allowed for an open and transparent conversation. And, it allowed the employee and the employer to be heard.
The Director did not come across defensive or short, but rather took the time to carefully craft a kind note back. The note demonstrated that the Director understood the employee’s frustrations, recognized growing pains and also took the opportunity to explain the positive steps the company is taking.
It is crucial that you turn negative feedback into a positive learning experience.
1-800 Contacts great example of companies that responds to reviews – both good and bad, and importantly, the company states openly that it welcomes both the positive and the negative, setting employees up to feel empowered and comfortable sharing honest feedback.
Tip #2 -- Saying thank you shows that you are listening and sets you up in a position to be gracious and professional
A case study example is to follow where CEO Spencer Rascoff of Zillow responds first by saying thank you. You will have noticed this in the Chipotle example above.
Saying Thank You shows you are recognizing and are listening
Action Plan: Engage with Employees
Show that you’re listening and appreciate the input to make your company an enjoyable place to work
The best approach is to thank your reviewers for providing feedback
If you really do feel that the review includes inaccurate information or a false view of the company, you can flag the review to be re-reviewed by our content team
Also – in case any one had any questions, our community guidelines are posted on employers.glassdoor.com under the clients tab
Case Study: Zillow’s CEO Spencer Rascoff makes time every week to respond to reviews
Responding to reviews can help you recruit
We have all heard there is a war for talent. Responding to reviews can help you stand out from the pack. Spencer Rascoff, CEO at Zillow responds to reviews every Friday. As a result, four candidates in a recent 30-day period said that reading the employer response solidified their decision to accept the job offer.
Whether or not you respond to reviews can literally be the deciding factor in whether or not a candidate comes to work at your company.
This is a powerful thought. Take a minute to think about how this could benefit your company. This is a FREE way to actively show you care, leading to more candidates.
It’s important to address issues and also show what your plan is to fix those cons mentioned.
In the Employer Center, we offer a Word Cloud to our clients that crawl all the feedback left on your site.
It inflates the size of the word based on how many times it is mentioned.
This give anyone in HR, Recruiting, Talent Acquisition, the opportunity to quickly scan employee sentiment.
Use this feedback to adress both pros and cons!
Nobody is perfect, not even GD. Negative reveiws provide an employer with opportunities to show their authenticity and that they care about their employees.
Consider this free advice to make your company better.
Shift your thinking to realize what bad reviews are really providing you” a transparent look at what it’s really like to work at your company. Embrace the bad as you would the good.
Case Study: Chipotle received a negative review and let’s break down how the company dealt with it.
They start by thanking the reviewer which we will chat aobut next. Then, Chipotle also recognized that Glassdoor reviews are anonymous, and offered an outlet for the employee to go to so Chipotle could address that particular issue the employee was having.
They show they care and take it seriously and offer to continue the conversation offline.
They show they want to improve the situation.
This is all around a great example of a professional response. They are not defensive and take the feedback.
This is Chipotle’s opportunity to show prospective talent how the organization handles problems. Here, the recruitment communications specialist, Jen, is showing how much she cares.
Set Expectations up front by being authentic
Don’t use staged responses
Rather than perfection, today’s candidates want transparency and authenticity from employers.
Employees don’t want to wind up with buyers remorse when the job doesn’t meet their expectations down the road.
Don’t be discouraged by a really bad review. Recognize that bad reviews offer the opportunity to bond with employees and candidates.
Take constructive feedback to heart.
Do not go on the defense; recognize that even the best companies have room for growth.
In the 1-800 CONTACTS example, an employee left the company with a truly negative outlook. The Director of Software Engineering responded back, which allowed for an open and transparent conversation. And, it allowed the employee and the employer to be heard.
The Director did not come across defensive or short, but rather took the time to carefully craft a kind note back. The note demonstrated that the Director understood the employee’s frustrations, recognized growing pains and also took the opportunity to explain the positive steps the company is taking.
It is crucial that you turn negative feedback into a positive learning experience.
1-800 Contacts great example of companies that responds to reviews – both good and bad, and importantly, the company states openly that it welcomes both the positive and the negative, setting employees up to feel empowered and comfortable sharing honest feedback.
We have really harped on this one but don’t respond to just negative reviews, respond to positive as well!
Make sure you are also really using these reviews to fix problems.
Case study: Lithium
Lithium does a great job in thanking the employee that wrote the review, acknowledging that they aren’t perfect (which no employer is) and addressing items addressed or brought up in the review. The CEO then states they are working to fix the problem and how they want employees to feel when working there. This reiterates the company’s values and gives a very authentic and genuine response for any person reading the reviews to see both sides and that Lithium is in fact a proactive employer that takes employee feedback seriously.
Action Plan: Highlight the positive
Job seekers use the reviews on Glassdoor to make decisions about where to apply or what job offer to accept, so use a response to emphasize what makes your company an attractive place to work
Refer to one of the reviewers positive comments about your company to both personalize your response and to reiterate the compliment to potential job candidates
Utilize reviews to identify problems
Perhaps there are areas in your company that could use some work. identify trouble spots in your company. Read read and respond to both positive and negative reviews. They look for trends to identify areas of their company that need improvement.
If you are seeing multiple reviews discussing poor culture, maybe you should consider creating an action plan to address those issues. If you see negative reviews about benefits, maybe it is time to reconsider adjusting the benefits your company offers. Reviews provide a deeper look at employee sentiment, and you can use this to your advantage.
Kelly
As always you can get started by signing up for a free employer account on GD.
Mallory
Thanks Kelly! At this time I’d like to open it up to questions. If you haven’t already, please feel free to enter your question into the questions pane. If we run out of time and don’t get to yours, we will follow up with you after the webinar.
One last reminder—You’ll receive an email from our marketing team with a recording of today’s presentation. Also, as a thank you for joining us you’ll also receive a copy of our eBook 5 Engagement Strategies from Best Places to Work Winners in that email.
Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your day!