A negative online reputation for your business can have widespread repercussions, for your business as a whole but especially your employees. A poor public image can reduce morale and productivity, in addition to causing staff to leave and making it more difficult to recruit the top talent.
Morale and Productivity
Negative coverage of your business can have a major impact on employee morale and productivity. The news could cause some to lose faith in your organization or fear their own reputations will be affected. Customer-facing employees could face extended periods of dealing with unhappy customers, which always takes a toll on morale, particularly if you are losing customers as a result. Loss of customers, investors and partners as a result of bad publicity can leave your employees worrying about the future of your business and their job security.
Additionally, unsatisfied employees within your business could even make then issue worse. Negative coverage could embolden these employees to talk more negatively about the company at work, spreading the dissatisfaction. Unhappy or ex-employees might even take the media attention as an opportunity to publicly air their grievances with the business or leak potentially damaging information which could accelerate the online negativity.
Turnover and Recruitment
All of the above reasons could cause some of your best employees to leave your business in order to protect their own reputations and escape the unpleasant work life that negative coverage can cause, or seek compensation for the risk to their reputation.
Furthermore, you will have a difficult time finding talented replacements in the midst of a crisis. 71% of job seekers would not consider applying to an employer that is experiencing negative publicity. Highly skilled individuals will be put off by a poor business or employer reputation and may not want to risk damage to their own image. Hiring in these conditions can require larger salaries to entice new recruits. If your reputation is seen as negative overall, hiring could require salary increases over 10%.
ReputationDefender are online reputation specialists that can prevent online negativity from impacting your employees and help to build a positive image that everyone at your organization can be proud of.
For more tips and information about improving your business’s reputation online, follow us on LinkedIn or get in touch by calling +44 800 131 0700, or emailing [email protected] to find out how we can help manage your online reputation.
