How to Deal with Fake Glassdoor Reviews
Glassdoor reviews impact your ability to attract talent as directly as Google reviews impact your ability to attract clients. Negative reviews — particularly from disgruntled former employees — can damage recruitment pipelines and appear prominently when candidates search your company name. This guide covers removal options and professional response strategies.
Glassdoor's position: Glassdoor is a platform for employee voices and is resistant to business-initiated removal requests. However, reviews that violate their Community Guidelines can and do get removed when reported with appropriate evidence.
When Glassdoor Will Remove a Review
Glassdoor removes reviews that violate their Community Guidelines. Removable content includes:
- Reviews containing personally identifiable information about other employees
- Reviews that are demonstrably fraudulent — e.g. posted by someone who has never worked at the company
- Reviews containing threats, hate speech, or content that is clearly defamatory
- Reviews that reveal confidential business information
- Duplicate reviews or reviews from the same person about the same company
What Evidence You Need
Unlike other platforms, Glassdoor places the burden of proof firmly on the business. Useful evidence includes HR records showing the reviewer was never an employee (or left under specific circumstances that contradict the review claims), documentation of specific false factual claims within the review, and evidence that the review was posted by a competitor or someone acting on behalf of a competitor.
"Glassdoor reviews are harder to remove than Google reviews, but not impossible. The key is identifying a genuine policy violation rather than simply disputing the sentiment."
How to Respond Professionally
For reviews that don't meet removal criteria, a professional employer response is the best tool available. Effective responses acknowledge the feedback without confirming or denying specifics, demonstrate that the company takes employee experience seriously, and contextualise the review for future candidates reading it.
Dealing with a specific Glassdoor review?
We assess whether reviews meet the removal criteria and can advise on the best approach for your specific case.
Request Free Assessment →Long-Term Glassdoor Strategy
The most effective long-term approach is building a strong base of genuine positive reviews from current and former employees who had positive experiences. This creates context for any negative reviews, reduces their relative rating impact, and gives future candidates a more complete picture of your workplace culture.