Dear ReWorker: How Do I Get Rid Of Bad Glassdoor Reviews?

10 thoughts on “Dear ReWorker: How Do I Get Rid Of Bad Glassdoor Reviews?”

1. My former employer of about the same size as the OP’s company has 8 reviews, and all are negative. And they are well-deserved. The culture is toxic. HR has not replied to any of the reviews. It looks horrible, and I’m sure it has affected their recruiting efforts.

2. Thanks for this article which expressed very positive reactions to negative reviews ( making them a learning experience). Unfortunately most businesses that get negative reviews usually have someone in charge who feels it is their way or the highway as far as how employees are treated in their toxic work environment. I hope the employees who wrote those reviews have already left the company because it will only get worse in retaliation. Companies like this usually blacklist their employees who leave to prevent them from getting a new job so the employee has to find job before leaving or deal with consequences of no job offers and no unemployment benefits.
   I would like to see an article about the best way for an employee or HR to deal effectively with this kind of toxicity without retribution or being forced to leave.

3. This advice is perfect. It inspired me to go to Glassdoor to see my old toxic company—shudder. The current postings show it is still toxic. Unfortunately your excellent advice would not be ignored there; it would be kicked to the ground, stomped on and any remaining sign of life would be ground away with repeated heel crushings.

   1. Here’s a sample of this nasty company from a person on Glassdoor:

      “Terrible company”
      One star
      Former Employee – Job title deleted
      o Doesn’t Recommend
      o Negative Outlook
      o CEO
      Pros
      If you like working for nothing…I worked for this company for 4 years got one pay raise the whole time I was there..
      Cons
      Management was full of liars.Customers screaming at you…Trust me it is not worth.

      Sigh…the memories.

4. No, you cannot require employees to post reviews.

   No, you may not give employees incentives to post reviews.

   What makes you imagine that employees would write positive reviews.

   The fact that the LW thought it appropriate to ask these questions suggests the negative reviews are deserved.

5. I was working for an organization where HR asked me just about every month how to change their Glassdoor reviews (which related to my area of expertise). The reviews were all bang on correct with very detailed feedback about senior management’s way of interacting with staff, and other toxic elements.

   I left after 2 years because of those elements. It really is mostly about the real experience on the ground. If you find yourself trying to game a system, you may want to see if you can take action instead and then respond about how the action is being taken, noting the dates very carefully.

6. We are a company of about 125, and we only have one review (on Kununu). It is horrible. Please don’t attack me for my question or respond in a condescending manner, but I have struggled with how to respond. I feel that responding may appear defensive. Some of the comments are legit but many are wrong. The review states that upper management is mostly men (which is incorrect), that parking is over a mile away (which is incorrect), etc. Then there is a comment about how we hire “low base employees who leave period blood and feces on the toilet seat.” I feel that comment reflects more poorly on the reviewer, and I’m not sure how to control the occasional bathroom issue (which I’ve never personally witnessed). There are some other comments about how we find reasons to fire older employees (totally incorrect but not sure how you change perception) and how the cleaning crew throws ice on the handicapped ramp, preventing a disabled employee access to the building (happened once and addressed). Some of the legitimate complaints center around some micromanagement tendencies of a couple of managers. (I’ve tried repeatedly to address this.) My point is that I feel that a response to the reviewer should be factual and not emotional, but in that way, I think it will appear defensive. Do you think the average reader wants to hear our management composition stats, our parking distance, etc? I’d welcome any thoughts or suggestions.

   1. I think if there is only one negative review good candidates will take it with a grain of salt. Personally I never read employee responses.

7. I think the first step toward improving the Glassdoor reviews would be to replace all the managers.

8. Personally, when I find a job I’m interested in, the first thing I do is Glassdoor the company. I look at the overall rating and head straight for the reviews. If 9 out of 10 reviews state that “HR will do nothing to help when you have a problem”, or “management treats people poorly”, or “I got a pay raise, then they cut my hours”, or “you will never see your family during busy times”, odds are those comments are true. The flip side, if people are treated fairly, respected, paid their worth and morale is high, Glassdoor would never exist!!

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