How to Remove Bad Reviews from Glassdoor?
Glassdoor is one of the most popular and trusted job websites due to its transparency policy: anonymous reviews by past and current employees allow for a comprehensive and honest image of companies. As a result, workers and competitors alike turn to comments on Glassdoor to see what they can make of an organization – and its rating on the platform truly matters. Good profile on Glassdoor increases a business’ credibility among potential employees and its opponents. Conversely, bad online presence repels people away and puts a company in a negative light. Therefore, battling negative feedback is crucial for ensuring that one’s enterprise does not simply keep afloat but flourishes – and here’s a detailed guide on how.
Does Glassdoor Remove Negative Reviews?
Glassdoor’s Review Guidelines
It’s only fair to assume that the best way to neutralize bad reviews is by simply eliminating them, but how easy is it? The short answer: not that easy. The long answer: Glassdoor proclaims that they are neutral and embraces both positive and negative content. That means that a review will never be removed because it’s negative, but only upon violating the platform’s community guidelines. Content featuring abuse, safety or privacy concerns, misinformation, trolling or spam is deemed inappropriate, can be flagged as such and requested for removal. But if an anonymous comment doesn’t fall under any of these categories and is still considered troublesome from an employer’s point of view, is it possible to take it down?
When Can You Remove Negative Reviews from Glassdoor?
It needs to be reiterated: feedback doesn’t get removed based on its perceived tarnishing of a company’s reputation. If a review reflects the worker’s honest experience at the place, it’s allowed to stay up and help others make informed career decisions. However, if an employer believes that a review is dishonest or misinforming, it is eligible for flagging and potential erasure from Glassdoor, as are all reviews that violate its policies.
In addition to the guidelines applicable generally and expanded on above, the website has rules of agreement for its members and review-specific guidelines. The former, apart from prohibiting the submission of dishonest and misleading content, demands that the platform’s users don’t defame, libel or defraud, don’t impersonate, don’t discriminate, don’t post someone else’s content, don’t promote illegal activity, and don’t violate these terms. The latter states that a review should be original, honest and based on a personal opinion and specifies that a balanced perspective is recommended, extreme language is forbidden, and a review a year for an employer practice is implemented. The breaching of any of these regulations exposes a review for deletion, but an employer has to be ready to take extra steps and provide all the necessary information to prove their point.
Moreover, an employer must consider certain factors and follow certain rules when reporting content and requesting its removal as well. First of all, Glassdoor can’t be paid to delete reviews and they won’t disclose who reviews were written by. It doesn’t side up with either employers or employees in a conflict. Glassdoor also usually doesn’t recognize evidence presented by a person with a self-interest in content removal, which is unfortunate for an employer wishing to eliminate negative business feedback. Consequently, one is left to hope that their reasoning is valid enough and count on a review being removed after flagging it in accordance with the platform’s instructions.
How to Remove Negative Reviews on Glassdoor
Reporting and Flagging Inappropriate Reviews
If you’re an employer, the review flagging process is as follows:
- Go to Glassdoor.com and log in to your account using the “Sign in” button in the top right corner of the starting page.
- When your company’s profile appears, go to the “Reviews” section located in the page header and choose the one you would like to flag.
- In the bottom right corner, below the contents of the review, there is the flag icon and the word “Report” next to it. When you mouse over the icon, the flag turns red; click on it and a “Report this review” box will appear. You need to choose a reason for flagging among the ones suggested by Glassdoor and click “Next”.
- After that, a text box for additional information pops up: you need to comment on why you consider this particular review applicable for removal. Note that your explanation will be visible only to the platform’s team dealing with the issue.
- Click “Submit” and then “Got it” after the “Thank you for your report” notification is shown.
This notification informs that the Glassdoor representatives will contact you within three business days regarding the flagged review and, upon informing you there, the platform won’t follow with an e-mail. If you believe the flagged review needs additional checking, go to the Glassdoor Help Center Home and click on the “Contact Us” page. Fill in the application form and pick “Flag Inappropriate Reviews” as the letter subject. In the “Message” box at the end of the form, duplicate the flagged review link and elaborate on how it violates the community guidelines. After you send the request, the website states that Glassdoor will get in touch with you within two business days
In the reply, the platform’s team will thank you for the message and update you on the status of the request. They will either inform that the content has been additionally checked closely and will remain on the website or that it follows the established regulations but requires extra moderation. Afterwards comes the paragraph notifying that the process can take up to two weeks and, while under examination, the review will be temporarily removed. If you don’t receive a response in fourteen days, chances are the review has been deleted – go and check, because Glassdoor doesn’t send the confirmation to the person who flagged it.
Glassdoor doesn’t expect you to answer their emails, but if you wish to respond, do so politely and professionally. Thank the company for taking the time to look into your request and inspecting the matter thoroughly. Arguing with Glassdoor over the decision if you are unhappy with the results is fruitless. In their Terms of Use, the platform lays out that they reserve the right to interpret their policies and remove a review or let it stay up as they deem appropriate. Final decisions are at the company’s sole discretion and are not up to objection.
Alternatives to Removal
So, a bad review remains on Glassdoor because it doesn’t seem to infringe the platform’s regulations. How does a worried employer mitigate its effects on a business reputation online? They respond to it directly – but do so properly, carefully crafting an answer. If it’s you, don’t take negative feedback personally and don’t get defensive or aggressive. Be courteous and kind, thank an employee for their review, sincerely apologize, and recognize the problems mentioned by them. If it’s an ex-employee’s experience, assure them that the situation has been improved and look into the company’s processes to ascertain that it’s true. If it’s a current worker’s complaint, give an explanation or provide a solution and promise that you’ll use their feedback as an opportunity to grow and learn from your mistakes.
You may stop there or you may go to direct messaging with an employee to attempt to resolve the issue further if necessary. Upon making things better and ensuring that they have no more grievances left, you can ask the person to update the review. They might refuse and you should respect that decision, but encouraging them under the guise of it helping the reputation and, therefore, prosperity of your mutual workplace is worth the try. Either way, around two thirds of Glassdoor users report that they think higher of an organization if they see that an employer responds to reviews.
Hiring Reputation Management Services
If addressing every negative review directly seems too time-consuming and resources-wasteful, a great alternative is outsourcing the work to reputation management organizations. These are agencies composed of teams of experts that utilize their well-constructed strategies to help businesses and individuals proactively manage their online reputation. Agencies’ services include, but are not limited to, negative content removal and suppression, company crisis management, search engines monitoring, and brand building.
These organizations not only take on the task of countering the fallout of bad reviews – they analyze and eliminate the causes of negative feedback. After attentively inspecting Google search results, content regarding a business and chatter about it on social media, reputation management companies develop a clear picture, which helps them choose or tailor a strategy to enhance business profile online. Talented professionals use their expertise to guarantee that one’s online reputation is reflective of what the company stands for and succeeds in retaining existing employees and attracting new ones.
Preventing Future Negative Glassdoor Reviews
There isn’t a better way to stop negative employee reviews from occurring than focusing on the quality of your governance. Be a great employer – practice respect and fairness towards your subordinates, communicate openly and transparently, and actively listen to what is said back to you. Recognize the hard work people do, provide them with opportunities for further development, and don’t forget about the work-life balance – very few wish for their lives to revolve around their jobs.
When it comes to culture, it’s an employer’s responsibility to create an atmosphere in which everyone feels safe and comfortable and to demonstrate passion for the common cause, inspiring employees to follow in their footsteps. For good leaders, subordinates are important pieces of the puzzle who need to work alongside the management to facilitate the company’s thriving. When workers are proud of the place they work at and eagerly want it to succeed, credit usually goes to the employer.
Finally, give feedback – and ask for feedback in return. In particular, those who only start their journey with an organization could benefit greatly from well-established communication with the management, but it’s really useful for all. Tell workers when they’re doing amazing and let them know when and how they could be better. In return, ask people what they’re happy about and what, in their opinion, could be fixed or improved. Point out that it’s important to hear their honest perspective and use it as an opportunity to enhance the work conditions and team culture – and in general make the company an amazing place where one wants to stay.
Conclusion
In conclusion, negative employee feedback on Glassdoor, as on other exceptionally popular Internet pages, is capable of damaging your business reputation online. Potential workers always google your company and read reviews if they consider it and competitors take a look at your strengths and weaknesses by examining employee comments. Counteracting negativity on the website, thus, is essential for a great business image and if you don’t want to spend hours on end doing it yourself, we at Reputation America are ready to take the matters into our own hands.
Reputation America Removal Services
Our team of experts is there to fix your reputational mistakes by examining what your brand looks like as a whole and developing a comprehensive strategy that deals with the causes of negativity online. And we erase all the bad stuff – the reviews and slander – with the guarantee that it won’t come back. It’s much faster and easier than tackling the matter yourself and there are no risks in it for you. Contact us today if you’re ready to try!
FAQ
How important are Glassdoor reviews?
Being one of the most popular websites for employers, employees and recruiters, Glassdoor attracts the attention of millions of users every day. Reviews are one of the first things anyone checks when looking up a company and their importance can’t be overrated: bad business profile online is likely to drive workers and collaborators away and ruin an organization’s reputation.
Can you remove negative reviews from Glassdoor on your own?
You can, but it’s not that easy. Negative reviews can be flagged for removal and successfully deleted from Glassdoor only if they violate the platform’s community guidelines. If Glassdoor finds no breaching of the regulations, the review will remain and you can’t challenge this decision.
What alternatives are there to review removal?
The next best thing after the removal of negativity online for an employer is direct communication with an unsatisfied employee. Professionally crafted response showing the recognition of problems and the willingness to address them will most likely help settle the matter and assuage the worker’s anger or frustration. They might even agree to update the review and inform other users about your commitment to resolve the arising issues.
Is hiring reputation management services worth it?
It is if you don’t have the time and energy to address every single negative review yourself. Moreover, professionals at these services, like us at Reputation America, will help an employer see the bigger picture and implement robust solutions. We promise to find root causes of negativity online, not simply smoothen its consequences.
How can you prevent future negative Glassdoor reviews from appearing?
Prioritize focusing on the company’s growth, always listening to your employees, and building positive team culture – then good reviews will always outnumber bad ones. In addition to that, encourage your workers to provide feedback and pay attention to it when making up strategies of further organizational development. Then, even if a person is upset with something, they at least will know that their opinion is valued and the management does their best to deal with problems.
Sources
https://help.glassdoor.com/s/article/Community-Guidelines?language=en_US
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