What happens when an employee leaves? Beyond the exit interview, it's safe to assume that several people will post online reviews that are either wildly flattering—or excruciatingly unflattering. Are you paying attention? Ignorance is not bliss.
You can't control what's said, but it's smart to pay attention to social media and look for trends. Are you finding lemons or lemonade? Look for clues that help address internal weak spots, and shore up your brand from the inside out.
Here are a few ways that employee reviews can damage or build your future brand:
1. expanding your footprint
If you're a company that sells franchises, a consistent stream of bad employee reviews can turn away potential owner/operators who are guaranteed to be doing their due diligence. If they're investing significant personal funds into a new business venture, they might be scared off if too many negatives keep turning up—but what if they see the opposite? How exciting!
You can't buy that kind of advertising.
2. influencing potential partners
If you're seeking strategic parnterships to help build distribution channels, create promotional tie-ins or enter new markets, a lot of negative employee social sharing may sabotage the relationships you're trying to build. If they're going to link their good name with yours, your brand should be sparkling!
3. workforce, workforce, worforce
Many of our clients say one of their biggest business challenges is workforce: finding, attracting and retaining skilled, smart people. Today's workforce is attuned to what's being said in the 'sphere. If you're not paying attention too, you could be missing out on some opportunities.
Take some time to search, read and listen. There are lots of sites to explore like CareerBliss.com and glassdoor.com. And of course, you can just do a google search. You can't please everyone. But monitoring and watching for trends can give you some new perspective on whether your brand is strong all the way through.
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