Hiring • 8 min

Quick Tips for Improving Your Glassdoor Profile

By Guest Blogger•June 28, 2016

Updated December 1, 2021

Employees, whether current or former, aren’t afraid to share their experiences on Glassdoor. And while organizations certainly can’t please everybody, you can build the kind of rich, people-centric culture your employees will want to talk about. At BambooHR, we work hard to provide that kind of experience for our employees, so we’re pretty pumped about making Glassdoor’s Best Place to Work award in 2017 and 2020. We’re glad so many BambooHR employees appreciate our culture enough to give us a public shoutout.

But a positive Glassdoor rating isn’t just a nice confidence boost—it’s a powerful tool in your recruiting efforts as 48 percent of job seekers in the U.S. rely on Glassdoor to assess prospective employers. With that in mind, here are some tips for improving your Glassdoor rating and creating one of the best Glassdoor profiles your candidates will come across.

Encourage Employees and Candidates to Write Glassdoor Reviews

If you’re thinking of sending out a mass company email asking everyone to write a positive review, just step away from your computer. Job seekers looking at your profile will notice a complete absence of “cons.” They’ll also notice if half of your reviews were posted on one day, and untrustworthiness is the complete opposite message you want your Glassdoor profile to convey. Glassdoor reviews should be organic, but you can still encourage employees to post them.

Here’s how to do it the right way:

Invite reviews at milestones. For example, you can send employees an invitation to give feedback once they’ve completed onboarding or wait a bit longer and ask them on their one-year anniversary. Either way, making sure you encourage timely reviews will stagger the dates the reviews are posted, ensure accurate, up-to-date feedback, and bolster the value and credibility of your Glassdoor profile.

Invite reviews when people compliment the company. If a candidate compliments the recruiting process they’ve just experienced, thank them and ask if they’d take the time to share their feedback on your Glassdoor profile. Or when employees tell you your company is the best they’ve ever worked for, tell them their review would help the recruiting team spread the word about the excellent culture and give you an eye-catching Glassdoor rating. If people already love the company, chances are they’re willing to return the favor and help you out.

Reward employees for leaving reviews. If you’re just not getting the number of reviews you need or want, most employees are more willing to help out when there’s a reward or incentive involved. Raffle off a gift card or some company swag, or implement a company reward system like Motivosity or Kazoo. Just make it clear employees don’t get extra points for positive reviews. Otherwise, you may invite unrealistic feedback on your Glassdoor profile users will see right through.

The more reviews on your Glassdoor profile, the better a candidate can see what it’s like to work at your organization. Plus, with more feedback, you can take action to improve the employee and candidate experience at your company, which helps both future and current employees. Just remember to encourage reviews organically— otherwise, your credibility will fall flat— and remind employees that all reviews are completely anonymous.

Negative employee reviews got you down? Here’s how to respond.

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Keep Your Glassdoor Profile Current and Inviting

You can and should customize your organization’s Glassdoor profile. Make sure someone is in charge of this process so that it’s happening regularly. Adding basic profile information is free and Glassdoor’s Employer Center is easy to navigate, so it should be simple to add a personal and authentic touch to your profile. The best Glassdoor profiles include:

Accurate information: In your overview, you can add things like a website URL, headquarters location, and your current employee headcount. Make sure you update this information if it changes, so potential candidates get an accurate snapshot.

A well-written description of culture: This is where you get to tell your company’s story. Creatively describe what your organization does and why, and share your organization’s official mission and values.

Culture photos: You can talk about your culture all day, but a picture will show it in action. Snap some shots that show your office space and what it’s really like to work at your company. Include pictures of company activities or events on your Glassdoor profile to get potential candidates excited to work for you. Helping candidates understand what your culture is like before they apply will more effectively draw them to your company and make them want to apply.

Open positions: Hopefully, after exploring your Glassdoor profile and reading reviews, candidates will be imagining themselves as part of your team. Make it easy for them to apply by including well-crafted job postings on your profile and keeping them up to date. (The BambooHR® Applicant Tracking System can post directly to Glassdoor to make this process a piece of cake.)

It’s important to portray your organization in the best light possible. By paying close attention to the content on your Glassdoor profile, you’ll be able to get ahead of that first impression and make it a great one.

Act on Feedback from Your Glassdoor Reviews

Negative reviews are uncomfortable. Sometimes they’re unfair or flat out untrue. Most often, however, they provide valuable feedback you can use to improve your company. For instance, here’s some constructive feedback we’ve gotten on our Glassdoor profile:

“Bigger workplace as the company is growing so fast, workplace is feeling a little crowded.”
“Could use better work amenities like newer microwaves, breakroom equipment for preparing food, etc.”

We saw these reviews as we were preparing to move our offices, and because of these reviews and others like them, we moved to a larger space than we’d first planned. We also made an effort to improve the equipment in our breakrooms and built two breakrooms instead of one.

When you get negative feedback in reviews, analyze it to see if it’s something you can improve. It might not feel comfortable, but it’ll help your organization grow for the better. If it’s something you can’t incorporate, communicate. Start a Slack channel or have a meeting to discuss logistics, timelines, and reasoning, especially if it’s something commonly mentioned or asked for in reviews. Employees will appreciate that you paid attention to their feedback and took the time to be open.

How to Respond to Negative and Positive Glassdoor Reviews

As we said above, we often take time to sort out and analyze constructive feedback. However, taking it a step farther and actually replying to these reviews in Glassdoor provides even more value.

If you’re not sure how to respond to Glassdoor reviews, remember that responding is your chance to:

Address criticisms. Tell the other side of the story. You don’t need to debate (actually, you can’t because the reviewer can’t post a rebuttal and you only get one reply), but you can dispute (and report) false claims. Glassdoor provides some other great advice here on how to respond to Glassdoor reviews in a way that reflects well on your employer brand.

Thank the reviewer. Express your gratitude for both the compliments and the constructive feedback. It shows that your organization is humble enough to take feedback and gracious enough to say, “Thanks!” even when it’s difficult.

Show you’re proactive. Potential candidates want to see that your organization actually cares about feedback. If you don’t reply, you’re missing an opportunity to prove that. Prove it a step further by addressing critical feedback with your team’s plan to improve based on that specific concern.

Replying to reviews is a great opportunity to quash negative perceptions and enhance positive ones about your company. Don’t feel pressured to reply to every single review. But taking a little time to reply to those who took time to give you feedback will show potential candidates that your organization cares. As mentioned earlier, it shows your employees that you care, too, which is also important.

Customers also care about your employer brand. Are you sending the right message?

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Promote Your Glassdoor Profile on Social Media

Social media has a huge presence in most job seekers’ routines and is a great place to promote your Glassdoor profile. As you collect reviews, your Glassdoor rating will reflect the average score your reviewers give your company. Use a high Glassdoor rating to your advantage by sharing it across your social media channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages, and you can even include the Glassdoor badge to your website’s careers section. When you’ve put in the work to create the best Glassdoor profile you can, share your accomplishment with the world and really show candidates what a good employment opportunity your company has to offer.