The Correlation of Internal and External Perception of an Organization: How to Manage Feedback and Keep Employees Engaged

The perception of an organization shapes the climate and effectiveness of the work environment. Mortiz Kothe, CEO at kununu discusses how managing the internal culture can help boost engagement and productivity at work

Information is king these days, and perception is the reality. This is especially true online, where personal feedback about the food we’ve eaten (Yelp!), the movies we’ve watched (Rotten Tomatoes), and the products we’ve purchased (Amazon or any other e-commerce site) is accessible for all to see and learn from.

The same goes for employee feedback about their employer on online company review platforms.

Keeping a finger on the pulse on how current and former employees really feel is becoming critical to business success. The idea of using employee feedback to your company’s benefit is exactly the reason why kununuOpens a new window , an insights platform for employer reviews and ratings, and EnergageOpens a new window , an employee engagement platform, partnered together to better understand online company review platforms and how they compare to the internal reality at companies.

The studyOpens a new window reveals that external employer review sites accurately share what the internal culture of a company is like. However, these external reviews have a consistent negative bias of more than half a star. The takeaway is that companies should not dismiss the opinions that are being shared by current and former employees and need to listen to the comments, as well as have the plan in place to actively manage internal culture and prioritize the changes that are needed. With this information, it’s clear that employer reviews sites need to make an effort to eliminate the gap in bias by providing accurate, transparent information.

With this in mind, we all can agree that a good reputation will allow you to attract top talent, and a strong internal culture of engaged employees will allow you to retain and grow the talent you have. So here are our five recommendations in order to keep your employees engaged and manage your company reputation both internally and externally:

1. Educate Leaders: **Incorporate your online brand into your leadership team meetings**. When discussing your online reputation, consider how the perception of the company aligns with the reality of the company, keeping in mind that our research shows that the gap is generally narrow between perception and reality. Each leader should take ownership of the content of employee and former employee reviews and consider how their leadership may have contributed in both positive and negative ways. Most importantly, leaders should focus on identifying solutions and taking steps toward real, cultural improvement – not just improvement of the reviews.

2. Keep your finger on the pulse: Many third-party vendors offer software and applications that can assist you in keeping a finger on the pulse of your organization. By measuring the pulse – or the ebbs and flows – of your company’s culture, you can begin to identify changes and activities that either improve or damage the culture. These “pulse” measurements help you understand how your daily decisions impact the way your employees feel about what they do and who they do it for.

3. Own external and internal scores: It’s easy to dismiss reviews, but remember that they are important for recruiting. **Just as we look at reviews before we buy products, watch movies, or book our hotel rooms, job seekers also regularly look to company reviews to make career decisions**. Don’t assume that your internal and external scores are out of your ability to influence. Take ownership of them.

4. Communication benefits: The benefits you offer to employees communicate your desire to provide them with work-life balance and support their emotional, physical, and financial well-being. Many employees have no idea what you invest in their benefits package each year and some don’t even know all of the benefits available to them. Consider offering employees a salary, benefits, and bonus (however you structure your offers) followed by the total value of the package with fringe benefits. This shows employees that they’re getting an additional 20-40% of their salary invested in their comfort, happiness, and wellness each year, which contributes to culture and feeds your online reputation.

5. Bring employees into the conversation: Your current employees know your culture best. Ask them if they believe your online reputation is accurate, and if the answer is yes, get their feedback and insight on the experiences they’ve had that would drive that opinion so you can identify your shortcomings and move upward and onward. If their answer is no, asking them to post online reviews can help you shift your online reputation to better reflect reality. Keep in mind that current employees might not be comfortable exhibiting transparency. Check the reviews daily after requesting that they review the company, too, to see if any valuable insight arises that wasn’t brought to the table during the initial discussion.

Just as online feedback platforms have changed the way we all choose restaurants to dine at, what movies to watch and what products to purchase, the way people research and find jobs has evolved as well. Job seekers want and expect(!) to know more about the company they may be working at and much earlier in the job search process than they did ten years ago. And unless you can get current employees into the dialogue, your online reputation will not fully reflect the current reality as experienced by today’s employees.