Ignoring How Employee Ratings impact Your Company Story?

Employee ratings are visible to everyone, courtesy of online hiring sites. For starters, these ratings serve as testimonials, for better or for worse, about employee experience at your company. Second, ponder the stories former employees have to tell about the inner workings of your organization. Third, consider how their stories, about your company, are of great interest. To consultants, stakeholders, stockholders and competitors.

Are you ignoring how employee ratings impact your company’s story?

One organization was shocked when I showed them the detailed analyses published on a hiring site by several former employees. First, these knowledge workers showcased how the company is growing far too quickly. From their perspectives, current business and hiring models are stretched beyond capacity. Then, these former employees discuss how the organization’s solution to the problem falls short. The company throws more internal employees and external consultants at the problem, rather than focusing on root causes of the problem.

Quickly, this employee rating morphed into a full-blown employee experience case study. The former employees conclude that their former employer is apathetic about fixing what is broken, because they remain profitable.

Do you leave your company’s story in the hands of employee ratings and business cases like this one?

Another organization was interested in hiring me to work on storytelling for customer and client retention and success. In conducting my own due diligence, I uncovered a group of employee ratings which were nothing short of storytelling nightmares. First, these reviews, by manual workers, chronicled long hours and low pay. Next, these ratings focused on negative employee experience: being treated like an easily expendable and replaceable commodity.

Consider how easily employee ratings tell a story about lack of professional diversity and cultural inclusion.

Is your organization ignoring how the Voices of Former Employees impact your company story? Their collective stories place your corporate culture and hiring practices under an internet microscope. Not only do their stories negatively impact future hiring. Also, your current and prospective clientele read these stories when conducting due diligence about whether, or not, to continue doing business with you. Just like I did.

Root causes of negative employee ratings can have really big contexts. Are you ignoring the quality of employee experience in telling your company’s story? Because your clients and competitors are paying complete attention. Is it time for you to take these next steps?

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Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset® Storytelling for STEM Professionals and Left Brain Thinkers speaking programs leverage purpose-driven value differentiation through storytelling, to create and retain successful employees and clients. Find out more about Babette’s professional story here. Babette is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of communication hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact Babette here. Image source: Adobe Stock