The power base of employees has shifted over recent years with the arrival of sites such as glassdoor and seek company reviews. Employees and ex-employees are now using these sites to deliver frank and open assessments and feedback about their employers. The concern for businesses is that feedback is anonymous and businesses are not able to have the feedback reviewed or removed.
I was recently engaged by a business in Sydney to assist the executive turn their workplace culture around and reduce the turnover rate. The average staff turnover rate for businesses in Australia is around 15 per cent while the rate for staff within 12 months is much higher around 23 per cent. This company was experiencing a turnover rate of 30 plus per cent.
The other issue affecting the business was its ability to attract quality employees. The first thing I did was undertake a “brand” scan online to get a feel for the type of feedback employees were posting about the company on employee review sites.
The business was not even aware that there was significant negative feedback on glassdoor about the business and management. Too many businesses, particularly SMEs, are not aware of these feedback sites and they need to be. Damage is being caused to their brand without their awareness and it is affecting their ability to attract good quality candidates for roles within the company.
Not only do SMEs need to lift their game in the management, support, reward, training and development and retention of staff, they need to develop and implement strategies to ensure their staff are communicating positive messages about the business in a genuine way and reducing the potential for their staff or ex staff to post negative feedback on online sites.
Too many businesses are focused on customer review sites only and need to add employee review sites into the mix.
Darleen Barton, Managing Director, DIPAC & Associates and author of “The Power of Peak Performance”
