Employers in spotlight as DEI initiatives rated

By allowing employees to post reviews about what it’s like to work as a marginalized person at a particular employer, Glassdoor is giving jobseekers a more detailed glimpse inside a company’s culture.

For example, the job ratings site found that the average rating by Black workers is 3.3 versus the overall ratings of 3.5.

So, what will this mean for employers looking to attract and retain employees?

“Glassdoor is basically saying, ‘Hey if this wasn’t already on your priority list, then put it on there,’” says Vicki Carayannakis, who works in marketing at Ari Agency Executive Search and Digital Recruitment in Toronto.

Sage welcomes additional data

The move is welcome news for software services company Sage, as one of the winners of Glassdoor’s 2021 Best Places to Work in Canada.

“I feel excited about that because it dovetails nicely with our own deepened focus on our diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] strategy, and we have a really strong data-driven approach to pushing our DEI agenda forward,” says Amy Cosgrove, vice president of people for North America at Sage in Atlanta.

Having Glassdoor “focused on the same data-driven area is going to help us continue with our own data-driven approach and really explore more about what we can do with the feedback that we get from Glassdoor in addition to our own initiatives,” she says.

For Sage, exposing these specific types of data points can only bring out positive changes within organizations, says Cosgrove.

“[Glassdoor] did say that they’re making these changes so that they can help organizations shine a light on inequities in their workplaces, pay inequities and other diversity disparities. I think they’re honestly trying to help organizations with their DEI approaches.”

The move obviously stems from everything that started last year in the United States, with recognition of the challenges for women as well as other minorities and diverse groups, says Rowena LaFlèche, vice-president and managing partner for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba at David Aplin Group, an employment agency in Edmonton.

“We really want that diversity and inclusion and to bring it to the forefront and make it a topic that people are discussing on a regular basis, as opposed to something that people don’t want to talk about,” she says.

“Across our whole industry, diversity and inclusion obviously is a very hot topic right now.”

Do ratings tell the whole story?

But Glassdoor’s rating system doesn’t really tell the whole story, as averaged scores don’t provide enough information, says Tara Robertson, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant at Tara Robertson Consulting in Vancouver.

“If Apple’s score is 4.6 out of five — I’m not sure actually what it is — that doesn’t tell me a whole lot about what Black women at Apple are experiencing or women at Apple… or the few Indigenous folks who work there,” she says.

“As a DEI professional, I’m never interested in what the average person thinks. I’m curious about what specific communities are experiencing or who doesn’t feel included or who doesn’t feel like they’re having an equitable experience.”

Rating sites such as Glassdoor also tend to focus on negative experiences, which can skew the ratings, according to another recruiter.

“Glassdoor has been about employee sentiment, and you’d get a whole bunch of different responses from disgruntled employees to those that just had a bad experience,” says Ari Aronson, founder and CEO of Ari Agency.

“A lot of times, you’re reading these reviews and there’s a healthy amount of looking through to see what speaks to you around what might be truthful or maybe what might not. If someone was laid off or let go, and, of course, they had a bad experience, but if you knew more of the context, that review wouldn’t really be as relevant.”

Employers’ imperfections exposed for all to see

So far, Glassdoor is the biggest site to provide such data, but there are others that are dipping their toes into it, says Cosgrove.

“Comparably is a similar employer review site that has also begun requesting demographic information from companies and reviewers and I think Comparably is a little ahead of Glassdoor in this area — they’ve already started providing their customers with demographic analytics.”

Other sites such as Chezie and Dipper are targeted at tech employees, says Robertson, and employers should be ready to keep that light shining inside their own companies if they want to attract younger workers.

“There’s a lot of studies showing that gen Z values are really important in the workplace but also the values of the company consistently come up as something that’s a factor that they’re considering, especially tech companies [that] are putting a lot more thought into diversity, equity and inclusion and what that looks like, your employer brand,” she says.

Once some of the data comes out into the open, it’s up to individual organizations to react accordingly, according to Lisa Frydenlund, HR knowledge advisor at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in Sacramento.

“It just depends on what their culture is. If an employer truly believes in what they’re trying to promote, it’s going to be another way to benefit them from a recruitment and talent-acquisition standpoint.”

For those companies that don’t walk the walk, it will be detrimental to have their efforts — or lack thereof — exposed, she says.

“[The] flip side for those organizations [that] are not meeting those objectives, if they’re saying that they’re diverse but their employees and equity employees are saying the opposite, it’s going to hurt them. It’ll run the gamut for a while.”

How employers can improve DEI ratings

Some employers are constantly monitoring ratings sites such as Glassdor and reacting accordingly, says Frydenlund.

“I worked for an organization beforehand and one of the things that we did was we had a group of people who were constantly reviewing the feedback that comes out to ensure if there were any steps that needed to be taken,” she says.

“But I would imagine it is going to call employers to task and I am very curious to see how they will be responding and how it’s going to trickle down and out.”

To enhance ratings, its not simply a matter of employers placating employees but promoting DEI values every day, says LaFlèche.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of improving the ratings — there’s always going to be happy employees and disgruntled employees — but [for] every company just to stay true to their values and diversity/inclusion is part of that and people will value that,” she says.

“I don’t think anyone believes everything they read online, but, at the same time, if you can shed some light, if there is an issue or something that needs to be addressed, as long as the organization addresses it when it’s brought to light and finds a great resolution that maintains the company values and culture, that’s what organization should do.”

One of the tools that has been employed by employers to gauge the level of DEI impact has been demographic questionnaires. Some employers put out surveys to gather feedback and, while some are really good, in asking about diversity and inclusion, it’s a missed opportunity more often than not, says Carayannakis.

“Even though companies are constantly trying to improve, this is one area that has been left in the shadows because, if you’re not asking for the feedback and creating the opportunities to give that feedback, then you’re not going to get it and, therefore, you’re not going to action it.”