4 Glassdoor Best Practices for Employers

Quick look: Most employees and job seekers rely on online company reviews when researching potential employers or gaining insight into the experiences of current and former colleagues, so it’s important to ensure your business’s profile is in tip-top shape. With so much potential to impress top talent, these four Glassdoor best practices for employers can help build a strong employer brand.

Each month, 63 million unique users visit the employer review website Glassdoor. Many job seekers turn to online ratings to determine which interview to schedule or which job offer to accept, making businesses’ presence on these platforms critical.

First impressions are priceless. With so much hinging on your organization’s online reputation, developing a strategy for maintaining your company profile, responding to reviews, and encouraging employees to share feedback is essential. Let’s explore the proven impact these sites have on the success of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and four tips to optimize your Glassdoor strategy.

Company review sites are the place to be

A significant portion of job seekers and current employees use job review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed, which have a big impact on recruiting and retaining top talent. Glassdoor research has found that:

• Their users read at least six reviews before forming an opinion on an employer
• 70% are more likely to apply to positions if the business is active on the site
• Job seekers who experienced a company’s brand on Glassdoor five or more times were five times more likely to apply than those who saw it once

On top of attracting and keeping talented employees, having a presence on platforms like Glassdoor contributes to a business’s employer branding efforts. Other initiatives to build your employer brand include:

• Focusing on employee engagement
• Staying active on social media
• Maintaining an up-to-date website
• Applying for company awards
• Engaging in community outreach and corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts

Top Glassdoor best practices for employers

Simply creating an account on company review sites isn’t enough, you need a thoughtful strategy to maximize the positive impact they have on your business. These four tips will guide you through strengthening your Glassdoor brand by completing and maintaining your profile, engaging with reviewers, and more.

1. Complete your profile

The first step to employer review site success is ensuring your organization’s profile contains all the right information and is regularly updated. Most review site profiles feature similar information, but Glassdoor’s profiles, for example, include the following:

• Logo and banner image: First and foremost, upload a high-resolution version of your official logo. It’s important to note any future company rebrands and update the profile’s logo accordingly. You may also choose to upload a custom branded banner image to display at the top of your profile.
• Company overview: Here, employers can list their website URL, size, business type and industry, revenue, headquarters location, and date founded. Your company’s summary, mission statement, and competitor comparisons may be included here, too.
• Locations: There is where employers can prominently list their locations. If your business has many offices, you may also feature your top locations and then link to all the others.
• Affiliate companies: If you have affiliated businesses with existing Glassdoor profiles, you may link to them here.
• Photos: A picture is worth a thousand words. If there’s any place where you should share media displaying your company culture, your Glassdoor profile is it. Consider uploading images from internal events, community outreach initiatives, in-office amenities, industry trade shows, etc.
• Company updates: These updates are essentially your organization’s news feed, where you can post announcements about your business.
• Benefits: A great place to summarize your entire benefits package, from health insurance and family leave to perks like volunteer time off (VTO) and in-office snacks.
• Awards and accolades: Many company review sites allow employers to add a section to their profile highlighting their awards and accolades. Doing so is a great way to establish a positive and professional reputation with job seekers.
• Pledges and certifications: Here, you can highlight key components of your workplace culture, like learning and development programs, CSR initiatives, diversity commitments, etc.
• Why Work With Us? Glassdoor profiles feature a “Why Work With Us?” section where employers can break out and explain their key differentiators and employee value props in multiple tabs.

2. Encourage honest, organic feedback

Most users can tell if a company emailed its employees asking them to write a positive review. In fact, directly asking employees to leave reviews, especially in a way that implies they should be positive, is generally discouraged. Instead, consider gathering organic feedback by inviting workers to leave honest reviews following a career milestone (i.e., after new hire orientation or a first anniversary). Managers may also ask those who demonstrate job satisfaction to share those sentiments in an online review for others to see.

Truthful reviews can help job candidates learn more about your organization and encourage them to apply, progress in the interview process, or accept a job offer. And since reviews are anonymous, this feedback can also help employers identify problems that staff may not have felt comfortable expressing at work.

3. Respond the right way

Having a trained business leader promptly and appropriately respond to all reviews can boost your reputation to those reading your profile.

Replying to positive reviews is a relatively straightforward process. The responder should thank the reviewer for taking the time to share their experience and express gratitude for any constructive feedback they leave.

However, there’s more to keep in mind when answering critical reviews. Here are some tips on responding to lower rankings:

• Stay grounded: Before replying, take a moment and remember that even the best companies sometimes receive criticism. How you respond will speak volumes to the reviewer and anyone else reading the interaction.
• Say thanks: Start by thanking the reviewer for taking the time to share their story.
• Don’t debate: Addressing the complaint while staying professional and on brand is crucial. Take this opportunity to tell your organization’s side of the story, but don’t become defensive. In addition to possible reputational damage, this approach would be counterproductive as Glassdoor only allows for one reply, and the reviewer cannot post a rebuttal. As much as it may sting, negative reviews can sometimes provide the opportunity to address employee pain points and improve your organizational culture.
• Report it, if necessary: You may report any reviews containing incorrect or damaging information. For instance, on Glassdoor, flagged reviews are reviewed by a content team and removed, if needed.

4. Cross-promote your profile

Businesses should strategically promote their Glassdoor profiles in places where job seekers, employees, and potential candidates actively engage. Here are some of the best places to share your Glassdoor profile:

• Social media accounts: Many job seekers scope out potential employers’ social media profiles, making it a great place to feature your Glassdoor profile and get more of the right eyes on your company’s reviews.
• Corporate website: Consider adding a link to your Glassdoor profile on your organization’s “about us” or careers pages.
• Job postings and recruitment materials: A Glassdoor link can be included in job descriptions and added to recruiters’ email signatures.

PEOs: here to help you become a top choice for talent

Honing your employer brand can entice top candidates to work for your organization. Staying on top of profile updates and best practices, however, can be time-consuming for busy SMB leaders.

Employers can relieve some of the burden by partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO). A PEO can offer dedicated human resources managers who can advise on company review site dos and don’ts and other HR topics.

What’s more, a PEO like ExtensisHR takes that guidance a step further by offering a full portfolio of recruiting services—from job advertisement creation to offer letter consultation—to customers at no additional cost.

Whether you need a hand setting up your Glassdoor profile or require further talent acquisition support, ExtensisHR is here to help. Explore our recruiting services or contact our experts today to learn more.