Getting negative reviews from former employees is never fun.
Getting these kinds of hurtful comments online can feel like a punch.
But get this:
A bad response online isn’t the end of the world, regardless of whether it’s from a former employee or a current customer.
How you navigate negative reviews reveals a lot about what kind of business you are.
This article explains the importance of navigating negative reviews from past employees, learning from those reviews, and ensuring your company doesn’t take a reputational hit.
Indeed, Glassdoor and employer review websites
Negative customer reviews on Google and Yelp are one thing, but business reviews are another.
Before we dive into how to navigate negative employer reviews, it’s important to talk about what these reviews are and where they circulate.
Employer review websites provide a safe space for former or current employees to review their experience at a company. These employees can discuss wages and salaries, company culture, other staff members, the onboarding experience, and a whole host of other matters.
Glassdoor and Indeed are the most well-known employer websites. In addition to being the most well-known, Glassdoor and Indeed also tend to rank well in Google search results.
This means that if your company has low ratings on either website, the results are likely to appear early when someone searching for a job searches for your organization on Google. (The same goes for if you have good reviews.)
A higher score on any of these sites indicates a solid company reputation, while a lower score should be navigated accordingly.
Dig deeper: how to repair your Google search results and restore your online reputation
Dealing with negative reviews as a business owner
Let’s start with three absolute basic principles to adopt when navigating negative reviews.
1. Address concerns
Employees (both past and future) like to feel recognized by a company. They want to know that a company is taking concerns seriously, showing empathy for its staff and not letting the same problems persist.
So, take the problem head on. Mention that you have carefully considered the negative reviews and are doing everything in your power to strengthen the company culture.
Be thoughtful and specific. Getting to the root of the problem and devising strategies to solve it.
(If, on the other hand, you disagree with employee reviews or believe they are false or untrue, you can take steps to remove negative employer reviews. We’ll discuss this process later.)
2. Rebuild trust
Make tangible changes.
Showing current and potential employees that you are working to fix the problem will result in a renewed relationship. In turn, you’ll begin to rebuild the confidence you might have feared you were losing.
Trust is essential in the workplace. It’s not something you should ever take for granted.
3. Maintain transparency
Throughout this process, it is essential to be open and honest. Let your employees know that you are working to address negative feedback you have received in the past.
Better yet, check them out. Your employees (both past and present) know your business culture best. They can tell you what needs to be fixed.
Developing a transparent culture will help you strengthen your bond with your employees. Then you’ll be more likely to be left with positive reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.
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How does negative feedback lead to improvement and growth?
Again, negative reviews aren’t always bad. If you believe employer reviews are genuine and come from wanting to help you, they can represent an opportunity to improve company culture.
For example, maybe a review mentions a lack of communication, how competing companies offer better benefits, or how the abundance of digital meetings reduces staff mental well-being.
Solve the problem by implementing stronger communication channels, looking for alternative benefit options or reducing virtual meetings. Regardless of the complaint, you can and should use it to your advantage.
Perhaps you can even use the information from negative employer reviews to survey your current staff and ask them what changes they would like to see.
Always look at negative employer reviews as a place to learn and grow. Learning from your mistakes can help you foster a healthier and more engaging company culture.
The impact of negative employer reviews on hiring
Speaking of company culture: Negative reviews can affect your ability to hire new employees.
Job seekers tend to research the companies they interview with. They want to know if they are entering a culture that values their mental health or one that could care less.
Here’s a simple question: If you were job hunting, would you want to work for a company with a 3.7 star rating on Glassdoor or one with a 4.7 out of 5 rating?
The answer is easy. You would choose the latter company. You could even choose them if the salary from the old company is slightly higher.
For this reason, dealing with and navigating negative employer reviews is crucial. It will contribute to smoother and healthier recruitment and interview processes.
What options do employers have to remove negative, false and/or fake reviews?
Not all negative reviews come from an honest place, and not all reviews help your business grow.
While some former employees want to help, others just want to hurt their former bosses and bring the company down.
It’s unfortunate to say, but some companies end up dealing with the following:
Fake comments of competitors. “Review the bombing” from former employees. Negative, false and defamatory reviews of former employees.
If any of these are the case, knowing how to remove negative reviews is crucial.
The first step in this case is to contact either of them glass door or In fact business help center. Occasionally they can help you get to the bottom of the matter and remove the review.
But sometimes this simple procedure doesn’t work. In such cases, it may be beneficial to contact an online reputation management company.
Online reputation management companies specialize in managing a company’s or an individual’s reputation and ensuring that negative and unfair reviews are permanently removed. They take care of the ugly stuff, so you don’t have to.
Several cases where these companies can help you remove negative employer reviews. For example, reviews can be removed if:
They break the guidelines. They are considered bullying or harassment. They are libelous or defamatory. They are not relevant to your business.
Hiring a reputable online company can be much easier than doing it yourself, as a team of experts will analyze everything for you.
Browsing negative reviews from former employees
It’s never nice to receive a negative review from a former employee. But it’s not the end of the world either.
Negative reviews can serve as an opportunity to grow and learn. Address concerns, work to rebuild healthy relationships with your workers, and maintain transparency throughout the process.
If you believe online reviews are defamatory or false, you can always work with a reputable online company to remove negative business reviews.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
