4 Glassdoor Best Practices for Employers

Quick look: The majority of employees and job seekers research online company reviews, and there’s never been a better time to ensure your company profile is in tip-top shape. With so much potential to impress top talent, let’s dive into four Glassdoor best practices for employers, from gathering honest, organic feedback to responding to reviews in a professional, productive way.

Glassdoor has a whopping 67 million unique monthly visitors to its website and mobile applications. Most job seekers turn to online reviews to determine which interview to schedule or which job offer to accept, making your presence on these sites more important than ever. Let’s explore company review sites’ proven impact on small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as four tips to help organizations stand out on these platforms.

Company review sites are the place to be

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

• 86% of employees and job seekers research company reviews and ratings to decide where to apply for a job.
• 75% of job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.
• 86% of women and 67% of men in the United States wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation.
• 7 out of 10 people indicated they had changed their opinion about a brand after seeing the company reply to an online review.
• Companies actively investing in employer branding can reduce turnover by up to 28%.

On top of attracting and keeping talented employees, having a presence on sites like Glassdoor contributes to a business’ 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, and engaging in community outreach and corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts.

Top Glassdoor best practices for employers

Your company’s presence on review sites is critical – but how can you maximize the positive impact these sites have on your business? The following four tips will guide you through strengthening your Glassdoor employer branding by creating and maintaining your profile, engaging with reviewers, and more.

1. Complete your profile

The first step to company 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, be sure to upload a high-resolution version of your latest 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: This is where business leaders can list their website URL, size, business type and industry, revenue, headquarters location, and date founded. This section is also where organizations may enter a high-level explanation of their company and their mission statement. Some businesses also list information like competitor comparisons here.
• Locations: There is a section 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.
• Company updates: These updates are essentially your organization’s news feed where you can share announcements about your business.
• Photos and videos: A picture (or a video) 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 photos and videos from internal company events and community outreach initiatives, and professional-quality videos of why people should work at your organization, your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program, and more.
• Why Work With Us? Glassdoor profiles feature a “Why Work With Us?” section where employers can break out and explain their key differentiators in multiple tabs.
• 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.
• Social media accounts: A Glassdoor profile can act as a hub for job seekers to find and vet you on other digital platforms. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to link to your other social media accounts, like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

2. Focus on honest, organic feedback

Many users can tell if a company sent an email blast to all its employees asking them to write a positive review. Instead, consider organically gathering feedback by inviting workers to leave honest reviews following a career milestone (like following new hire orientation or a first anniversary). Business leaders may also invite those who express a compliment naturally on the job to express those same sentiments in an online review for others to view.

An ample number of truthful reviews can help job candidates learn more about your organization and hopefully encourage them to apply, progress in the interview process, or accept a job offer. These reviews can also help business leaders identify problems that need to be addressed within the organization that employees may not have felt comfortable expressing on the job.

3. Respond the right way

Reviews are a form of communication, and we all know that communication is a two-way street. Having a trained business leader promptly respond to all reviews can boost your reputation in the eyes of those reading your profile.

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

However, even the best companies will sometimes receive a negative review. That’s par for the course, but how you respond will speak volumes to the reviewer and anyone else who reads the interaction. Here are some pointers on how best to respond to a negative review:

• Say thanks: Again, start with thanking the reviewer for taking the time to share their story.
• Don’t debate: It’s critical to address the complaint while staying professional and on brand. Take this opportunity to tell your organization’s side of the story, but do not become defensive. In addition to possibly further damaging your reputation, this approach would be counterproductive as Glassdoor, for example, 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 workplace culture.
• Report it, if necessary: It’s important to note that you can report any reviews containing incorrect and damaging information. In the case of Glassdoor, said reviews will be reviewed by their content team and removed if needed.

4. Cross-promote your profile

As discussed above, your profile on company review sites and your social media accounts are closely entwined. In addition to linking to your various social accounts on your company profile, sharing your Glassdoor profile on your social accounts can be beneficial. Doing so can draw more traffic to your profile, and considering 68% of Millennials and 54% of Gen-Xers visit an employer’s social media to evaluate its brand, this can be a great way to get more of the right eyes on your company reviews.

Partner up to perfect your profile

Focusing on Glassdoor employer branding can help attract top talent to work for your organization. Staying on top of profile updates and best practices, however, can be a time suck 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 to advise on company review site dos and don’ts, along with various other HR topics. What’s more, a PEO, like ExtensisHR, takes the assistance a step further by offering a full spectrum of recruiting services – from job advertisement creation to offer letter consultation – to clients at no additional cost.

Whether you need a hand setting up your Glassdoor profile or you require further recruiting assistance, ExtensisHR is here to help. Contact our experts today to get started.