The reputation of your business is everything. From the customer experience, to the quality of your beer, and employee retention and satisfaction, maintaining and protecting your brewery’s good name takes many forms. When it comes to your staff, it’s important to maintain a strong relationship even in the tough times.
In the past two years, the brewing industry has relearned the importance of treating its employees well. When things go wrong, they rarely stay within the four walls of the brewery. Instead, the details get splashed across Internet job forums and social media sites, such as Instagram, where they take on a life of their own.
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Hiring solid, reliable, and engaged employees is always one of a company’s greatest challenges and in the present market, it’s even harder. Taking some time to consider, build, and maintain your corporate reputation can be key to attracting top talent to help your brewery grow.
Let’s consider some tips for maintaining a strong brand reputation for your company.
Treat Your Employees Well
It may seem obvious but a simple, effective, and too often overlooked tool in corporate reputation management is to focus time and effort on maintaining good relationships with employees. Your work life is busy, with fires both small and large that need addressing. It’s easy to forget your business is built with the support and hard work of your employees. Remaining conscious of employee satisfaction and connecting with your staff on a regular basis to assess their sentiments is the most effective way to maintain your corporate reputation from an employer-employee perspective. Be sure to listen to and respond to any feedback you receive and circle back with employees to see how you’ve done.
The Glassdoor Effect: What Your Employees And Former Employees Say About You
In any employment environment, inevitably will come the time when employees depart, either voluntarily or through termination, and in either event, bad feelings can linger. When these get expressed online, it’s crucial to take note and address them. Websites such as Glassdoor and Indeed provide insight into employee feelings and often serve as a frontline information source for potential employees. It’s important to get in front of any future online discussion of your company and its employment environment.
As with asking customers to submit positive reviews on Google, Yelp, and Untappd, you can do the same with employees during regular performance reviews and check-ins. When an employee leaves your company, it’s important to conduct an exit interview to gain insights about their experience. During exit interviews with staffers who leave on good terms, you can also request they leave a review. Glassdoor even provides a template for soliciting feedback and reviews from employees.
The so-called Glassdoor Effect is real and it’s important to monitor related employment websites to understand what your staff, present and former, are saying about your business. Breweries should claim their pages on these employment sites, which will allow you to address any criticisms, hopefully in a cool-headed manner. When a negative review arises, the understandable first reaction is to brush off the criticism, but that can be a mistake. First, take steps to understand the feedback and make an action plan to address any issues raised. The criticism may be unwarranted and baseless but you should first try to calmly and objectively consider the employee’s post.
Set Up Google Alerts
Staying informed about how your company’s online reputation is another important tool in managing your corporate name. Many services are available to conduct a thorough digital audit of your company, including searching social media and Internet sites for any mentions, positive or negative of your brand, and providing you with updates or reports. But a simpler tool is to set up Google alerts related to all of your corporate IP and senior staff. Google will then scour the Internet for your keywords and report back individually or in digest form when your brewery, brand, or employees get mentioned.
Social Media Searches
Another easy tool is to regularly take time to search social media sites to see how your brand and related things are being discussed. You should also be sure to review comments on any of your company’s social media posts and anything you’re tagged in. It’s also important to keep an eye on what employees and customers are saying about your business on beer related websites, including ProBrewer, Beer Advocate, and others.