Job reviews – what is important for companies and employees

Have you ever reviewed a hotel or a café online? These kind of review sites exist for work­places too. Employer ratings follow the same principle: As an employee, you can share your opinion about your employer with the public and give potential new employees an advance im­pres­sion of what awaits them in the company. It could be very bad for employers to get a poor review on the internet. Company review sites con­tribute to the public per­cep­tion of the company, which will usually do their best to seem positive. But what is the value of these kinds of as­sess­ments? And what are the most commonly used platforms?

Job review sites serve to give potential ap­pli­cants an im­pres­sion of a company other than the way it presents itself. In a direct employer com­par­i­son, companies are assessed on the basis of criteria such as employer behavior, the working at­mos­phere, how cohesive teams work together, and career and further training op­por­tu­ni­ties. The ex­clu­sive­ly anonymous job reviews are rated via points, stars, or school marks and can be sup­ple­ment­ed by an in­di­vid­ual comment. These job review platforms generate their income mainly through employer branding measures. Functions such as your own company profile, video and image material, and job ad­ver­tise­ments are often subject to a fee for companies.

More and more employees evaluate their current or former employer on the internet. The in­creas­ing spread of job review platforms is mainly due to the war of talents, which gives skilled personnel the privilege of being highly sought after on the market. It is clear that most people want to obtain com­pre­hen­sive in­for­ma­tion about a potential employer before deciding to apply for a new job.

How should a business handle the job reviews? A rating can be positive, neutral, or negative, and the right way of dealing with the as­sess­ments and open com­mu­ni­ca­tion is crucial. It is important that you show that you take the feedback seriously. In general, you should look at the as­sess­ments in terms of the im­prove­ment aspect, because the as­sess­ments show you specific topics that your employees are dealing with. It is also ad­van­ta­geous if you are actively involved. Here’s how to use the job review sites for yourself:

• Handling negative feedback: Interact with your target group by actively re­spond­ing to feedback. Ul­ti­mate­ly, you benefit from the employee’s as­sess­ment and can develop further as a company.
• Com­par­i­son of self-image and external image: Does your company cor­re­spond to the reviews and ex­pe­ri­ence reports of the employees? The views should be as con­sis­tent as possible to convey an authentic image of your employer brand.
• Actively com­mu­ni­cat­ing your strengths and benefits: What dis­tin­guish­es you from other employers? Be open and honest as an employer to recruit suitable employees.
• Create your own company page: Meanwhile, almost all platforms have the function of their own company site. This can include a company profile, a direct link to your website, photos and job ad­ver­tise­ments, for example.

Assessing your own employer can be both an op­por­tu­ni­ty and a risk. Above all, as an employee, you should pay close attention to your wording. Even if you write the article anony­mous­ly, there is the risk of being iden­ti­fied by giving too many details. Depending on how harshly you word your criticism, you could put yourself in the firing line.

Another issue is the lack of general context within the job reviews. These may tend to be ex­ag­ger­at­ed, es­pe­cial­ly if someone is very unhappy, or on the other hand, facing a promotion. When you write a review, you should think first of the readers: Does your con­tri­bu­tion help them to assess the employer? State­ments based on emotion quickly become im­plau­si­ble or unfair, and make it difficult for outsiders to form their own opinion.

A positive or negative opinion can always create more trans­paren­cy if it is both honest and factual. Only in this way can your as­sess­ment con­tribute to better working con­di­tions and serve as ori­en­ta­tion for future ap­pli­cants. Are you satisfied with your employer? Even then, an as­sess­ment is worth­while, because a positive employer image ensures higher quality ap­pli­ca­tions in the long term. More suitable ap­pli­cants, in turn, can improve the working at­mos­phere and ul­ti­mate­ly also the per­for­mance of the company.

As dis­sat­is­fied employees tend to be more active on review platforms, the question of the cred­i­bil­i­ty of these reviews remains. If an employee feels unfairly treated, it is easy to show your frus­tra­tion under the pro­tec­tion of anonymity. Another danger of anonymous par­tic­i­pa­tion is that employers them­selves make as­sess­ments. If a company does poorly in the company review sites, there is often the temp­ta­tion to polish up its own image there on its own. On the basis of the following quality criteria you will succeed in dis­tin­guish­ing serious job reviews from dubious ones:

• Number of ratings: The more often a company is evaluated, the more trust­wor­thy the reviews will seem. Comments are also easier to classify: Is it only one person com­plain­ing about poor air con­di­tion­ing, or is it a company-wide issue?
• How up-to-date the reviews are: If the last review was some time ago, this means that the con­di­tions could’ve changed a lot since then.
• Number of review criteria: Is it only possible to select “good” or “bad” in the course of the review, or are there other possible answers? And are only a few or a whole series of questions asked about the in­di­vid­ual criteria? The more precise and dif­fer­en­ti­at­ed the eval­u­a­tion, the more rep­re­sen­ta­tive the result.
• Search function: Can you search for a specific company and possibly filter the results by industry or region?
• In­for­ma­tion about the employer: Is in­for­ma­tion available about the company – such as industry, product range, and size? Ideally, current vacancies would be displayed too.
• Ease of use: Is the platform interface user-friendly, can you find relevant in­for­ma­tion quickly, and are they freely ac­ces­si­ble or can they only be viewed after reg­is­tra­tion is complete?

It is a good idea for employers to regularly check relevant as­sess­ment platforms to find out about ad­di­tion­al as­sess­ments. Among the best-known platforms are Kununu, Glassdoor, and Indeed – we’ve also included a smaller site, which may have more local busi­ness­es. Social networks such as XING or LinkedIn may provide insight, too. Even if these platforms do not make it possible to evaluate employers, it is possible to contact current and former employees via the search function. Ask them about topics related to working con­di­tions and ac­tiv­i­ties. In the best case, you will receive reliable and personal answers.