''I hate my boss.''
4 words that have the potential to cost your company more money than you'd expect.
We talk a lot about protecting your brand, monitoring your competitors, and replying to negative customer reviews here at Brand24.
But did you know that a negative brand reputation online can cost you up to 10% extra a year per new hire? This is why Employer Branding is such a trendy phrase nowadays.
With over 90% of job seekers claiming that the market is now employee-driven, ensuring you understand what your current and previous employees say about you can make all the difference.
We already know that over 97% of people read reviews for local businesses, so it would be a fair assumption to make that potential new employees would do the same before accepting a job.
In fact, it's estimated that 55% of job seekers who read a negative review about a business decided against applying to that company and that social media is used by 59% of candidates to research the companies in which they are interested.
A quick search via Brand24 shows me that the keywords Hate + Boss get over 3k results over the past 30 days, showing us that people are no longer afraid to talk openly about their bad experiences at work.
Would you apply for a job on this campaign?
Or consider working with a company with this reputation?
Case Study - ''Working here is great!''
One example I found particularly interesting was Amazon.com's approach to counteracting negative reviews of their warehouses.
Instead of attempting to rectify mistakes they'd made and answer themselves on a public forum, such as Twitter. They set about creating seemingly 'fake' or at least 'staged' employee reviews on Twitter via their 'AmazonFCAmbassadors' scheme:
These accounts operated as though they were workers in the heavily criticized 'Amazon Fulfilment Centres,' posting 'great times' and 'fun memories' from their day 'in the office.'
For example:
The idea behind the 'ambassador' scheme is to show people that:
Yes, it's hard work to work in an Amazon center
But we (amazon.com) do look after our employees, and recognize that this could be difficult (e.g., regular breaks, etc.)
However, this approach quickly backfired, with both New Outlets like the BBC and Twitter users pointing out that the ambassadors had a 'robot-like' or 'HR safe' approach to posting.
Where this went wrong?
The idea itself isn't bad, it's the execution that was wrong.
They left the door open to users mocking or even pretending to be Ambassadors, further damaging the brand's reputation online.
It also showed both future, current, and past employees that Amazon.com cared more about their own reputation than about the concerns their employees had.
How Can I Protect My Business?
The science is similar to protecting your brand from negative reviews.
Firstly, be aware of what people are saying about you and where they are speaking about you (remember, only 3% of online mentions of businesses are actually @tagged)
By searching your business's name in your new Brand24 project.
You'll be able to identify both tagged and untagged mentions from your past and current employees.
Keeping this search active will allow you to identify trends over time and potential fixes that your business can address head-on to avoid any future disgruntled employees.
Secondly, engage with your employees. Whether it's on the public forum or in private messages.
Like your customers, most people posting complaints online expect a reply, in-fact 6 out of 10 people you reply to are likely to give you a positive reaction just on the basis you have addressed and found their issue.
If not for your employees but for your future potential customers. It's said that 56% of US consumers are less likely to purchase from a company they perceive as unethical.
Can you afford not to understand what your employees are saying online?
We hope this article has been useful to you! If you have any further questions or need help, please don't hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us via email at help@brand24.com or send us a message using the chat box on the bottom-right side of your dashboard.