Sites like Glassdoor can affect your recruiting success

You’ve been to Glassdoor and FairyGodBoss and read reviews about your company from current and past employees. Some made you shudder and now you wonder, ‘will these bad online reviews impact our employer brand for future job candidates?’ The answer is yes.

What factors are associated with a good or bad employer brand?

Harvard Business Review and ICM Unlimited partnered to conduct research into what damages employer brands. Based on survey evidence, they found that “the top three factors that contribute most to a bad reputation as a place to work are concerns about job security, dysfunctional teams, and poor leadership.” Similarly, the top factors associated with a good employer brand were “stability, opportunities for career growth, and the ability to work with a top-notch team.”

5 reasons to protect (or improve) your employer brand

Attracting, recruiting and retaining great talent should be your motivation for improving your brand as an employer. As you’ll see, employer brand can have a real impact on talent acquisition and workforce costs.

1. Most candidates research your company online. According to Betterteam, 62% of candidates research employers on social media. Many go beyond simply checking out your company profile on LinkedIn or Facebook. They will look at the profiles of current employees that are connected on LinkedIn. They will read customer reviews on Facebook. And that’s just social media—there are also online career boards, like Indeed and company review sites like Glassdoor.
2. Great companies receive more resumes. A study by University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain used multiple surveys on Glassdoor to study the impact of a strong or weak employer brand on corporate recruiting. The researchers found that companies with strong employer brands received twice as many resumes from candidates than employers with weaker brands.
3. Strong employer brands can enjoy lower payroll costs. Two studies have revealed that top candidates will accept offers for lower pay from employers with good brands than they will from employers with bad brands. The Harvard Business Review study found that a bad reputation costs “at least 10% more” in payroll costs, or nearly $5,000 per hire on average. The University of Las Palmas/Glassdoor study concluded that job seekers required a smaller pay increase to switch to an employer with a good brand.
4. Half of candidates just won’t work for a ‘bad’ employer. Forget about offering higher pay or other perks to make up for your negative brand image. One poll found that 50% of candidates won’t work for a bad employer at any price. Chances are, quite a few of those candidates may be the top performers on your wish list—after all, they are highly in demand and can obtain other offers.
5. Job seekers rate online reviews as more important than employer awards. If your organization won the “Best Place to Work in XYZ City” award, but you also have negative online reviews at Glassdoor and other sites, we have bad news. Candidates place greater emphasis on reviews by actual employees than workplace awards, according to the University of Las Palmas/Glassdoor study.

Employers must engage with online review sites

Most job seekers do internet research to determine if they would like to work for a company. These sites are most likely to be visited by employees and job candidates:

• Glassdoor
• Indeed
• LinkedIn
• CareerBliss
• Twitter
• Facebook
• FairyGodBoss

It’s very important that employers engage with these sites to do everything they can to reinforce or build a positive employer brand. Glassdoor’s research indicates that 74% of users are more likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its brand. This includes things like keeping up a current company profile, responding to reviews, and sharing updates about the company and its culture.Don’t panic if you read a negative review on an employer review site or social media. Candidates are too smart to base their perception on a single disgruntled employee. On average, they read seven reviews before forming a final opinion of your company. And 65% of Glassdoor users say that seeing an employer respond to a review actually improves their perception of that company.Asure Software’s Human Capital Management solutions can help employers build and maintain a positive employer brand. Employers of choice need technology solutions that help them consistently offer competitive salaries and solid benefits plans, and also provide a smooth recruiting process and ongoing talent management.