Five Ways to Use Glassdoor as an Employee Engagement Tool

This blog originally appeared on Edelman.com.

Of the many social media sites that companies can use to engage employees, Glassdoor is often overlooked. It’s viewed as a place where potential employees go to check out salary ranges and company reviews by current employees. But Glassdoor also provides opportunities to engage your current workforce and reinforce your employer brand in ways that no other site can. Consider that over six million reviews have been posted to Glassdoor to date; do you know what’s being said about your company, much less how you can influence it? Here’s what’s possible:

1. Spend the money to have your company’s site unlocked, which allows you to add richer content about your company, including photos, job postings and videos. It allows you to put your best foot forward in a way that displays your company’s identity and personality. And when current employees go to the site, they’ll hopefully see a look and feel they recognize, and be proud of how the company portrays itself.
2. Encourage interviewees and employees to post reviews. Companies should encourage, promote and facilitate engagement on Glassdoor. Make it a standard part of your processes that interviewees are prompted to post a review of the interview experience. When current employees are promoted or celebrate milestone service anniversaries, prompt them to write a review about their experience and current state of mind (which is likely to be more positive than usual).
3. Put engagement mechanisms in place to ensure dirty laundry is aired internally, not on external sites like Glassdoor. If you have sufficient outlets for employees to discuss issues of concerns (town halls, manager forums, internal discussion boards), there’s less of a chance that employees will go externally with their grievances. It’s better for the company and its employees if major issues are raised early and addressed thoughtfully before they become crises and spill into the public domain.
4. Comment. Responding to reviews is simply a matter of good social media etiquette and shows a level of engagement that may differentiate your company from competitors. You don’t need to respond to every comment, nor do you need to go into any detail. For negative comments, it’s sufficient to respond with something along the lines of, “We very much appreciate you sharing your views and take these kinds of comments seriously. We’re committed to being the best employer out there, and your feedback helps us reach that commitment.”
5. Report regularly to management. Glassdoor has very good analytical capability to show trends against your competitive set. Make sure you report regularly to senior management to show how your company’s employer brand is being delivered in the talent marketplace, and track ROI in terms of cost-to-hire and time-to-fill positions.

Glassdoor is like any other social media platform in that it’s capable of a lot but requires a clear strategy and sustained engagement to get the most out of it. Companies seeking to recruit the best talent can’t afford to ignore sites like Glassdoor because it’s quite likely that your competitors aren’t. Christopher Hannegan is executive vice president and U.S. practice chair of Employee Engagement.