I hope you are vigilantly watching everything that impacts your employer branding.
In my last job we talked a lot about culture (which can have a serious impact on employer branding). We had a great culture (we said). There was even a wall with all of the awards the company had earned because it was such a great place to work.
I remember someone came to me, as my program was getting shut down, and asked “was it you that left that review on Glassdoor?”
No… it wasn’t. I have never left a review on Glassdoor. I didn’t even know what “that review” was, but I was guessing it was not aligned with all of the “great place to work” awards hanging on the wall just one floor below us. Even though I was unceremoniously let go I had no intention of messing with their employer branding.
Recently on Twitter I’ve seen an excellent snippet from a few people:
“You don’t have a Glassdoor problem. You just have a problem.”
~ Kirsten Davidson, former head of EB at GD (and she’s right!) https://t.co/gNyu3dSqmZ https://t.co/ne1ZqOit6w
— Stacy Donovan Zapar (@StacyZapar) November 20, 2019
You Don’t Have a Glassdoor Problem, You Have A Problem https://t.co/aJqGbda11c
— Christopher Kurtz (@PeerThru) January 17, 2017
Nice column from my colleague Kirsten Davidson: “You don’t have a Glassdoor problem, you have a problem.” https://t.co/H9zY74tEoy
— Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D. (@adchamberlain) December 5, 2016
It took me a minute to figure out what this sentence was saying, and then I was like “YES! ABSOLUTELY! YES!”
You see, CEOs and managers can get upset about employees anonymously airing their dirty laundry online. And Glassdoor makes it ridiculously simple for someone to air it all. But when management thinks the problem is that the laundry is aired on Glassdoor, they are missing the point entirely.
The sentence, by the way, comes from this short and super insightful post from 2016 titled: Opinion:You don’t have a Glassdoor problem, you have a problem. When you are done reading my post, go read Kirsten Davidson’s post. This is a message we need to spread!
This is not just happening on Glassdoor. Here’s an image I grabbed from Indeed, where employees can rate different aspects of their employer (which I am keeping anonymous… they didn’t do too well):
The first thing that sticks out to me is that the highest score is only a 3.1 out of 5. That is not very good. The next thing that sticks out is that Culture isn’t even ranked. It is (sadly) grayed out. Neglected. This does not bode well on their employer branding.
At Snowfly we pride ourselves on being culture consultants. Our incentives and recognition tools help improve work-life balance, and the perception of pay and benefits, and how you feel about your job security, advancement, and career. Getting kudos from a manager (more than once a year, and even in front of the rest of the company) can certainly have an impact on how you feel about management, and the culture that is created.
Snowfly incentives, performance, gamification, and recognition all work together to move the needle on these five KPIs that employees talk about. Whether they take the time to talk about them online (Glassdoor, Indeed, etc.), or they whisper about them in the hallway with one another, or they vent to friends and family (who vow they would never want to work for a boss or company like that!), they are talking. This, for better or worse, contributes to your employer branding.
Is the problem that they are talking?
According to Kirsten Davidson, from her article, the problem is definitely not that they are talking. The fact that they are talking, really, is a gift to you.
So listen. Read, learn, and be honest and vulnerable about how you accept the information. And then work on improving things. Whether you put in an incentive system or just work on peer and manager recognitions, you can start to move the needle on these common employer branding KPIs.
Who knows… maybe with some strategic and purposeful planning and effort you’ll increase the scores, and beam with pride about the positive things employees are saying about you and your company.
Let Snowfly help with that. Reach out to talk to one of our success consultants, and we’ll share everything we can to help you change your culture and your employer branding.
