Inside out: The internal comms guide to handling Glassdoor reviews

Glassdoor does a whole lot more than just host job reviews. It serves as a crowdsourced cultural reflection for organizations and makes up a significant chunk of a company’s employer brand — whether those organizations like it or not. While they might face externally, Glassdoor reviews are an important resource for internal communicators. They can serve as important qualitative data on employee experience and help inform what leaders need to know about how their reports view the company.

“Anything that shares your brand is something you need to pay attention to,” said Cat Colella-Graham, internal comms coach and adjunct professor at Saint Francis University. “Glassdoor, similar to when you manage your LinkedIn corporate page, does need to be managed. Internal communications needs to really get involved in this because it is a communications tool.”

Here are some best practices internal comms pros can follow to ensure they’re handling Glassdoor reviews the right way.

Audit and huddle with leaders before you act 

Glassdoor reviews tend to do more than just provide an employee’s opinion about their job — they also document moments of major change in an organization, like acquisitions or layoffs. Amber Walcker, communications consultant and leader, told Ragan that in a past role, she took time to train leaders on the sentiment shifts that come with major changes and the messaging touches that are needed to deal with them — especially when those sentiments manifest on Glassdoor.

“When a startup is purchased, it’s really good for internal communications to be aware of the history and the dynamic of that shift because that right there can create this very us-versus-them mentality,” Walcker said. “That was something we coached a lot of our leaders on—that there is no us-versus-them, it’s we.”

Colella-Graham said that communicators should also audit their Glassdoor reviews regularly because they hold the key to employee information that might not be so readily apparent in official company channels. As she drafts guidance for her clients to respond to Glassdoor reviews both internally and externally, she recommends they get a look at the whole picture.

“People will feel compelled to share more than they would normally share when they’re behind Glassdoor, where they don’t share their name,” she said. “And that means you have to understand that and temper your approach. Employees are telling you something real here, even if it’s sharper or more emotional than what they might say face to face.”

Show leaders the way to respond

In many cases, Glassdoor reviews might call out leadership on one thing or another. Rather than overreacting, this is an opportunity for internal communicators to work with leaders on the wording and tone of their responses.

“Anytime we had Glassdoor reviews about not trusting our leadership, we’d say, ‘This is where we need to tighten the script a little bit,’” Walcker said. “I would coach them in a really authentic way, knowing what drives them, so that they weren’t just echoing talking points. Sometimes we would run through an example of how they’d respond to certain questions and we could tweak it to the person and role.”

Colella-Graham said that these kinds of reviews can also help internal communicators address weaknesses in their employee communications strategies and figure out what kinds of content can fill them.

“Maybe it tells us there’s an employee–leader gap and we need to start bridging that,” she said. “That could lead us to start bringing our leaders closer to our employees by doing something like a vision video series where they’re asked questions and answer them in a short format. Internal communicators can give managers not only Q&A but actual conversation pieces, so they can give one or two sentences depending on the topic.”

Be the voice for the employee stories in the reviews

Glassdoor reviews don’t need to be something you approach with apprehension. Internal comms pros should think of them as any other window into an authentic employee experience. The information within them can help you figure out where you need to tell your employee story in a stronger way. Colella-Graham said that Glassdoor reviews can help tell an employee story by uncovering the more detailed bits of an employee’s experience that might not make into more standard employee communications.

“Reinforce what you’re seeing and sharing on Glassdoor by pulling through that employee storytelling in your newsletters,” she told Ragan. “Give people an opportunity to spotlight themselves. Tell them, ‘Here are five questions, please answer them, give us your headshot and we’ll start doing quote cards about this on our intranet and maybe we’ll repeat them on LinkedIn. That way you’re pulling through something that’s quite transparent.”

She added that Glassdoor responses also form an important part of employer branding — internal employees and external stakeholders alike are looking at those posts, so tread with care.

“Clients are paying attention to how employees are feeling about their companies,” she told Ragan. “Managing your Glassdoor presence isn’t just about recruiting top talent — it’s part of your external reputation too. Glassdoor gives employees a voice to share company news, to be the ambassador and to be the culture champion. And I think that really goes hand in hand with how we need to think about communications today.”

Walcker said that in her experience, Glassdoor responses to reviews weren’t just messages from the comms team — they were part of the cultural contract of the workplace.

“It was never just about the reviews themselves. For us, Glassdoor was a reminder to follow through on what we promised, to reassure employees we were hearing them and to constantly close the loop,” she said. That’s how you build trust.”

Members of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council have access to additional reporting and resources on employer branding. Learn more about the benefits of Council membership today.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.