Although the rate of growth for e-commerce has slowed since its colossal rise in 2020, it’s undeniable that it’s significantly impacted the way people shop. Instead of choosing between the brands a store may carry, digital shopping provides more options than most people know what to do with. That’s where reviews come in handy.

Pretty much everybody who uses computers is exposed to people trying to make money dishonestly. It can feel risky making even small purchases digitally because you can’t guarantee that you’ll get a high-quality product. To help buyers make informed decisions, digital vendors like Amazon encourage users to make reviews after their purchases.

This review system is how we decide what we want to buy, who we want to support, and what we should avoid. The more expensive the item, the more research needs to be done. Expensive purchases may come after weeks of deliberation.

It is no surprise with this in mind that digital reviews on websites like GlassDoor inform millions of employees seeking work with a good company. According to a Fractl survey, only 7.1% of job seekers would not let negative employment reviews affect their decision to work. 

Using this data, we can conclude that 92.9% of prospective employees will base their decision on such reviews. For medical organizations with a poor reputation, whether based on fact or fiction, hiring will be a struggle. This is doubly true with the current medical staff shortage.

If your healthcare organization is suffering from poor online reviews, it’s not too late! By following these tips, you can improve your reputation over time. 

How to handle poor and/or inaccurate reviews

If your Glassdoor score is low, you have probably lost potential employees already. The best staff will want the best jobs. By neglecting your rating, you are losing your chance to onboard the best talent around. Do you want to be stuck hiring an incompetent worker out of sheer necessity?

Warren Buffett is quoted as saying, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” Glassdoor reviews are never removed for old age, but reviews made within the last 5 years carry much more weight. This is good news because it means you have the power to offset whatever caused the poor reviews. 

Your first step in building a better future is looking at the past. Scroll through reviews on Glassdoor, and try not to take any of them personally. And while some reviews may be dishonest, a vast majority are sincere. It’s important to keep an open mind and not disregard complaints on the off chance that they’re false.

This is especially true for complaints about management if you are in that position. It’s easy to get defensive and try to justify ulterior reasons for disparaging comments. The mature response, however, is to accept the information and use it to develop your own skills. 

Ignoring or justifying your own faults blocks progress and damages the reputation of the entire organization. Eggs may come in packages of 12, but a single crack will cause most people to put the entire carton back on the shelf. 

Our top tips for improving employee reviews

Reviews on Glassdoor can be posted by anybody, as there’s no verification process. As such, you can’t always avoid negative reviews left by rejected applicants, competitors, and disgruntled former staff members. The best you can do is ensure legitimate reviewers have the highest opinion possible for your medical organization. 

Here, we will go over some of the more common causes for legitimate negative employer reviews so you can create a plan to overcome them. 

Low wages are a very common complaint, especially in locations with higher costs of living. According to page 8 of this Glassdoor study, employees will accept positions with poorly-rated organizations when higher wages make it worthwhile. They’ll also accept lower rates of pay when working conditions are better.

Poor management techniques can frustrate employees who respond well to positive feedback. It can be disheartening for hard work to go unnoticed and unappreciated. Simply thanking employees for completing difficult tasks, complimenting their work, and providing constructive feedback all contribute to making employees feel more engaged.

Lack of respect, even if unintentional, can lead to disgruntlement. It’s easy to view managers as “above” their subordinates, but we’re all people. Managers who allow this power dynamic to fester are more prone to power trips, causing a miserable working environment. Understand the stress your staff faces and try to be accommodating to make it as bearable as possible. 

Inconsistent hours can make employees feel that neither their time nor health are being prioritized. Burnout is an extremely prevalent risk for medical staff turnaround. Try to limit employee hours to reasonable amounts, avoid contact outside their working hours, and respect PTO requests. Remember that any accommodations made for the benefit of employees will positively impact their overall opinions of their job, improving your overall reputation.

Is it worth working for better future reviews?

We believe that it is always worth working toward a better reputation, and the rewards of doing so exceed simply better employee reviews. The average cost of replacing staff members is about 30% of their annual salary, and this number can increase with higher salaries. In a field like healthcare where salaries have been increasing dramatically since 2020, these costs are even higher. 

Costs shouldn’t be the only reason for you to keep existing employees for as long as possible. Experience is arguably the most valuable asset existing staff can bring to the table, especially in the medical field. HIPAA violation costs can reach up to $1.5 million per violation category per year. Well-trained staff will be far more likely to avoid the many potential pitfalls than a brand-new employee.

While you should always aim for perfection, don’t worry too much about every single review being perfect. Some reviewers aim to be vindictive, and the only way to combat this is to outweigh their negative responses with new positive ones. 

Try to find ways to motivate your staff to leave reviews on Glassdoor before they even consider quitting. This will provide you with a higher average rating sooner, inform you of current complaints you can address, and ensure more reviews are available to offset the poor ones. 

If you do request that your employees submit Glassdoor reviews, be sure to do so with tact. Reviews are anonymous, but employees may worry that they cannot be honest if they’re directly asked to submit a review.

Reducing stress makes for happier employees

If you want to improve your Glassdoor reviews, the best thing you can do is reduce the day-to-day stress of your staff. While healthcare is by default a stressful industry to work in, there are ways to make it easier. 

ChartRequest is a medical records exchange software company designed to make the process as quick and easy as possible. While a traditional release of protected health information can take upwards of 2 hours including phone calls fielded for status updates, ChartRequest empowers your staff to process incoming requests in a fraction of the time. 

Additionally, users can check for status updates online in real-time and reach out via our provider chat function. This significantly reduces the number of calls your practice will receive regarding medical records requests. 

With ChartRequest, we keep track of your incoming requests so you can be sure to meet the 30-day deadline set by HIPAA. This, plus our automatically-generated audit log helps protect your medical practice from steep penalties.

Furthermore, our full-service subscription option allows you to completely outsource the release of incoming medical records requests to our experts. For more information about outsourcing the release of information versus hiring new medical staff, check out our blog here.