Glassdoor: Half Full or Half Empty?

During the last couple of years, a website called “Glassdoor” has steadily garnered more credibility as a Yelp-like resource for job seekers, as well as a recruiting arm for employers. The former is what really drives attention to the site because you can easily search for information about average salaries, benefits, and CEO approval ratings at almost any company you can imagine.  The information is supplied by current and former employees and can be quite illuminating when formulating an opinion about a particular company.

For example, Walmart has been reviewed more than 8,700 times on Glassdoor, with 44 percent of reviewers recommending the retail giant as an employer, 47 percent approving of the CEO, and 31 percent having a positive business outlook about the company. Walmart’s overall rating: 2.8 stars out of five.

And then there is Facebook, which has an overall rating of 4.5 stars, with 89 percent of reviewers recommending the company as an employer, and a staggering CEO approval rating of 96 percent. Not sure about you, but if I had to pick one of these employers simply based on Glassdoor reviews, I’d go with Walmart. Not.

The point is, Glassdoor has become a powerful force in shaping a company’s online reputation, and it is not only job seekers who are leveraging the information – try customers, potential business partners, and, yes, investors. Think about the implications of a publicly traded company growing like gangbusters and then a former or even existing employee posts some sort of harrowing tale about the sausage being made.  So now what?

You call PondelWilkinson. OK, maybe that sounds too self-serving.  Yes, we can help put together a communications strategy on how best to deal with errant Glassdoor reviews, but more importantly, companies cannot ignore Glassdoor.  For good or for worse, it is shaping reputations faster than a viral video of a laughing snowy owl.  And it is not going away.  As of last month, Glassdoor had more than 6.5 million company reviews.

Quick tips for dealing with Glassdoor:

• For starters, take a look at what people are saying about your company. Some of the information may be constructive and some of it, complete rubbish. Glassdoor apparently reviews all content before it is posted, but if something looks completely off, you should contact the site immediately.
• Consider engaging in the conversation. Companies are able to respond to what is being said about them, but be forewarned, this could be a slippery slope once a precedent is set that you will actually engage with folks.
• If you feel positive about your company and you know others do, too, post away and drive your company’s ratings up.

Interestingly, Glassdoor does profile itself on the site. The company has an overall rating of 4.7 stars, and CEO Robert Hohman’s approval rating is 98 percent.

Guess Mark Zuckerberg has some competition.

— Evan Pondel, epondel@pondel.com