Watch out for employee rating sites

Of all the articles I've written over the years, the one on Internet rating sites received the highest number--and most passionate--of responses (see "Don't let bad Internet reviews bite"). This piece drove home the message that anyone can go on a rating site and write a review of your hospital without substantiating his or her claims. Since that article, I've heard from veterinarians and practice managers relaying horror stories of unhappy clients and, even wrose, disgruntled employees writing poisonous reviews.

Unfortunately, such sites aren't the only dangers lurking on the Internet. There's a new Internet phenomenon, illustrated by such Web sites as JobVent.com, GlassDoor.com, and FthisJob.org (no, I'm not kidding), where employees can assess your practice as a place of employment. It's amazing. Just for fun, go and see what people are writing about their current and past employers. One person wrote, "This job is just hell. I never have a real day off. It seems as if on my days off other studios are calling me asking me questions. ... This place has no respect for employees or customers; they only care about how much money you bring into the studio. Then if you don't make goal one day, they threaten to get rid of you."

Another person posted this about his or her place of employment: "This is the most micromanaged and life-energy-sucking company I have ever worked for. Middle management is incompetent. Upper management is a bunch of frat boys playing a business game with real people's lives. ... Don't apply for this company. Run away!"

On the plus side, many people write positive comments about their employers. One person wrote, "I can honestly say I have never worked at a company that has cared more about their employees. I appreciate all the effort they put into creating a comfortable, dare I say fun work environment. They have high expectations from their employees, but I would never want to work for a company who had low expectations for me."

If you find a negative comment about your practice on one of these sites, investigate and see if you can determine who wrote the review and why. If the situation has been favorably resolved, try persuading the person who wrote the review to remove the posting. As with client reviews, you might also use this medium to your advantage and ask your satisfied employees to write reviews on these sites; 10 or 20 positive reviews can outweigh one negative one. If there is any basis of fact in the negative reviews, take steps to correct the problems and then have employees write new positive comments on the sites.