The internet is packed with review sites. On platforms like Yelp!, Facebook, TripAdvisor and Google, consumers can easily share their experiences – the good and the bad and everything in between. Maintaining your reputation through consumer reviews is an essential part of PR. But, so are employee reviews. If not monitored, they might hurt your business in ways you wouldn’t expect. We outlined the potential impact of bad employee reviews and what you can do about them. 

Negative reviews can hurt your recruitment

Great employee reviews can have a lasting impact on your recruitment efforts, but bad reviews are equally as impactful. Job seekers take to employee-review based websites like Glassdoor and Indeed to learn more about your company, its culture and how they might fit in. When a company’s page is flooded with negative reviews, especially when the same issue is cited, your job postings might look less appealing. The employee experience begins at recruitment, so make the most of your company’s image, culture and reputation by monitoring and responding appropriately to less-than-stellar reviews.

Create a healthy feedback loop

Getting honest, productive feedback from your employees is essential to creating and maintaining a healthy work culture. When employees feel heard and have the opportunity to share ideas, they’re less likely to take to the internet to vent their frustrations with your company. By creating a healthy feedback loop, upper-level management can learn about certain issues they might not have known about, improve training models, connect with their staff and increase collaboration. 

Don’t go on the defense

Most review sites offer companies the ability to respond to any review left on their page. But not all responses are created equal. A defensive and argumentative response can make the situation worse and can reflect badly on your company. Don’t let your emotions write the response. Thank the reviewer for their time at your company, apologize for the situation they mention and provide them with the opportunity to take the discussion offline. A positive response to a negative review shows potential employees that you care about their feedback and want to make the situation right. 

After you talk the talk, it’s time to walk the walk

Monitoring your review pages helps your business leaders identify positive and negative trends across your organization. Take notice here. Your employees can be your best brand ambassadors (or your worse), so it’s important to know what they’re loving and hating. Once you create that honest feedback loop, create a system to monitor reviews and have open conversations, it’s time to follow through and take action. You might be surprised how far small organizational changes can take your company’s culture, mitigating bad reviews in the process.

No one likes a bad review, including the reviewer. But they could hurt you if they go unnoticed. Employee reviews are a great window into your company and should be monitored consistently and taken seriously. Listen to feedback and take care of your employees; they’ll take care of business.