Myth Busting: The Reality of Online Employee Job Site Reviews
Employee reviews on sites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, and others represent a rich source of how the labor market perceives an employer. Yet, when presented with employee perception metrics derived from these reviews, we often hear assertions like:
"Employer review boards are simply places for disgruntled employees to vent."
"People don't share pertinent workplace information online."
This article will help to dispel these and other myths about the nature of employer reviews, which turn out to be highly useful when used appropriately.
Spoiler alert: employer review boards are much more than places to vent;
and yes, people do share a variety of detailed, pertinent workplace information online.
Myth #1: "Disgruntled Employees Skew the Balance."
Employee review sites are often stereotyped as places to vent about former or current employers, but the data show this is simply not the case. Most people who leave online reviews of former employers say they were not excessively negative in their review, and the vast majority are truthful (endnote 1).
Academic studies have validated the quality and breadth of online employee reviews, showcasing their rich informational value and ability to predict important outcomes, including workforce retention, firm profitability, and investment decisions (note 2). Moreover, models that extract and analyze employee narratives perform significantly better than models with simple numerical ratings when it comes to predicting critical outcomes.
This is reflected in Aniline’s data as well. Across the entire database, Aniline’s company scores follow a normal distribution, where relatively very few reviews are either extremely positive or extremely negative - instead, the sentiment contained in review data are well-balanced. The mean sentiment score is also slightly higher than 50 out of 100, indicating that there are more positive than negative reviews overall in the data. Far from simply being places to vent about former or current employers, employer review sites contain a broad range of perspectives - positive, negative, and neutral, with outliers present but in no material way skewing results one way or another.
Myth #2: "The information isn't meaningful or actionable."
There is a significant and ongoing cultural shift toward greater willingness to share traditionally private information online. Topics that were once reserved for the private realm are increasingly shared and discussed publicly. As of early 2023, nearly half of Americans post on social media at least weekly, and more than 40% say they regularly share about their work online (note 3).
Younger generations are more likely to feel comfortable disclosing information about their lives online, including workplace information. For instance, survey data shows Millennials are more likely to share their opinions of their employers on review sites, compared to Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers.
As Millenials and Gen Z increasingly comprise a greater proportion of the workforce (nearly 50% combined in 2023), the number of workers who are highly willing to disclose workplace information increases. One recent survey showed a majority of Millennials and Gen Z say they would be willing to post their salary online (note 4). Gen Z - who will outnumber baby boomers in the workforce this year - are especially eager to share their experiences online (note 5). For Gen Z in particular, sharing their lives online is highly normalized.
Though younger generations are generally more willing to share data, this cultural shift is not limited to Gen Z and Millenials. Most Baby Boomers use some form of social media daily, and 84% say social media improves their lives. Baby Boomers are also just as likely as the 18-29 age group to use LinkedIn (note 6), and are 19% more likely to share content on Facebook compared to any other generation.
As examples, we often find rich information about a company's sales process, tech stack, and quality control processes, to name a few. From internal risk management to competitive business intelligence, leveraging these insights leads to elevated performance and a competitive edge.
Myth #3: "Our surveys give us what we need."
While internal surveys can provide valuable information, they often miss critical information. This is at least in part because employees often do not trust the anonymity of internal surveys. Sharing workplace information anonymously online provides an important outlet for many employees. Interestingly, bucking the trend of younger generations, members of older generations (who are accustomed to social norms around not discussing workplace information with their colleagues) increasingly use public online platforms where private internal channels are either not available or not trusted.
A majority of American workers across generations say they wish discussing salaries at work wasn’t taboo, and believe greater transparency around workplace issues would be beneficial (note 7). In fact, more people prefer to post salary information online than to bring it up directly with their co-workers. Employee review sites provide a safe place for employees to access, share, and discuss information they may otherwise feel uncomfortable broaching. In other words, employee review sites enable employees to engage with a topic they want to engage with, without worrying about traditional taboos or potential backlash. Given this preference, employee reviews often contain information not visible within internal company surveys.
Myth #4: "Job site reviews, while interesting, are just too hard to manage."
In this era of data-driven decision-making, the depth and breadth of employer review data collected by Aniline stand as a testament to the power of crowd-sourced insights. The tremendous amount of information contained in employer reviews may seem difficult to analyze effectively. But the value of these data is exponentially enhanced when coupled with the capabilities of Generative AI. Generative AI excels in identifying patterns, trends, and nuances in large datasets that might elude traditional analysis methods: it transforms raw data into predictive insights, uncovering the deeper implications of employee sentiments.
This combination of authentic, user-generated content and cutting-edge AI analytics represents a paradigm shift in how we approach business intelligence, workplace improvement and organizational growth, offering unprecedented opportunities for businesses willing to embrace this new frontier.
Aniline’s unique approach to understanding the collective voice of employees in real time helps to elevate performance by revealing what drives success. To learn more, please visit our website at www.aniline.ai or contact us at info@aniline.ai to schedule a brief introduction to our generative AI solution.
Endnotes
1. https://www.frac.tl/work/marketing-research/employer-review-study/
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377221720305269; https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6308
3. https://www.securedatarecovery.com/blog/americans-overshare-social-media
4. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/20/majority-of-gen-z-millennials-are-willing-to-post-how-much-they-make-online.html
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2020/09/07/gen-z--the-future-work--play/?sh=25c7c08f142e; https://www.hrdive.com/news/gen-z-overtake-baby-boomers-workforce-glassdoor/699828/
6.https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2020/01/13/social-media-is-improving-their-lives-say-baby-boomers/?sh=492f8e782ee1; https://liquidlockmedia.com/12-outstanding-statistics-baby-boomers-and-social-media/
7. https://www.empower.com/the-currency/money/money-talks
