What is Company Review Management

Review management services is on track to become a growing focus for HR departments who are looking for the best job applicants on the market. In short, you can define company review management as the public strategy and execution of responding to employee reviews online to build your employee brand and reputation. 

There’s a lot more to it than that, but we’ll cover that below. Sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.com are gaining more traction as a home for current and former employees to share their insights online. In the years to come, managing reviews on these sites will become vital in attracting and recruiting the best employee candidates in the market. 

Despite the importance of these employee reviews, it is incredibly difficult for many to find the time to monitor, respond, and document the feedback employees are giving. Today we’ll examine why company review management is important, and potential solutions for companies.

The Rise of Company Reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed

As the world becomes more social, communication and feedback tools of every shape and form have entered the market. Job applications are no different. The company review sections on Glassdoor and Indeed are a natural evolution of our digitally social world. Current and former employees want to leave feedback, often with the hope of improving where they work or encouraging others to apply to a great workplace. This feedback is invaluable for companies as it provides a roadmap for employee sentiment, what to improve, and what to keep doing.

These reviews also help build your brand in the eyes of candidates, and even prospects and current employees. In today’s day and age, 75 percent of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job.

Most companies understand the importance of building a high review score on these tools. For many, the integration stops at what can be done from the confines of an office and internal communication tools. 

Only 57 percent of employers say they have an employer brand strategy. A surprisingly small amount of employers have claimed their public profiles on Glassdoor – only 36,000 – and even fewer are responding to reviews online. Not enough companies are giving online employee review management the time and attention it deserves. This will change, however, and anyone who takes the leap now will be on the cutting edge.

Treating Company Reviews as Online Reputation Management

One of the biggest misconceptions about employee reviews is that they’re a one-way conversation. This isn’t true; responding to your past or present employees engaging on these sites gives you a voice in the conversation. Company review management is the practice of building a strategy, responding, and acting on these reviews and your responses. 

Your company reviews play a large role in your company’s online reputation. Where Google and Facebook reviews primarily impact your business prospects, Glassdoor and Indeed mainly impact your employee prospects. 

Why risk losing a quality recruit by ignoring an opportunity to respond to employee feedback? We know it can feel awkward and sometimes difficult to respond to employee feedback, but when done properly, you acknowledge concerns and celebrate wins. Great responses help build your reputation, and can even be a transparent way to build goodwill with your current employees. 

Responding to employee reviews is more of an art than a science. We all have different perspectives on our jobs that may change the way we review our current or past employers. The right response can take many forms, from addressing feedback and the steps taken to setting the record straight on misleading or objectively wrong feedback. Your answers put your voice into the conversation while encouraging employees to continue leaving feedback you can use to improve. 

The Challenges of Company Review Management

As is typical when digital tools reshape industries, there are a plethora of challenges in online company review management. The role HR that is going to play in brand building is evolving. These challenges are:

• Time — HR is strapped for time; they have professional development, basic training, compliance, conflict resolution, recruiting, hiring, firing, and more on their plates. 
• Budget — Recruiting expenses are growing, finding the right candidates is difficult, and that means that it might be challenging to make space for company review management. However, the potential cost of a negative review could make that budget less effective when not addressed. 
• Expanding Skillsets — HR usually manages the company review responses, the Indeed listings, and the Glassdoor page. These tools don’t fall under average HR skill sets and are more akin to social media management and online reputation management. Either HR needs to build a marketing skill set, the two departments need to collaborate, or HR needs a third-party solution.

Each of these challenges makes building a strong employer brand strategy and responding to online reviews difficult. 

Company Review Management Services

Managing online employee reviews is an emerging need, and it truly is difficult to go it alone. Our team of social media and online reputation experts are passionate about helping companies find the best candidates, which is why we’ve launched our company review management service. 

We’ll work with your HR and marketing teams to build a strategy, craft, and post responses any time of day. We will escalate specific reviews as needed, and boost an understanding of your company benefits, culture, incentives, and much more. 

Using our services, you gain access to ICUC.Central dashboards, where we aggregate and analyze data from Glassdoor into one place. With this data, you can take proactive actions to build your employer brand strategy and manage your online reputation. You’ll gain access to insights on: 

• Employee and Candidate Trends
• Rating Trends
• Candidate Demographics
• Brand Awareness
• Sentiment
• Industry Ratings

If you would like to learn more about how we can work together to build your reputation with potential employees, schedule some time with our reputation experts.