Show #104: Transparency in the Workplace

Special Guest: Joe Wiggins, Head of Communications, Glassdoor

Employees used to be in the dark in the workplace. The employer would hold all the cards from the moment someone walked through the door for an interview to the moment they walked out the door on their way to another job or to retirement. Information about salary, the interview process, the benefits package, the culture and how a company had treated it staff in the past was restricted, or at the very least difficult to find. This has meant that making decisions about where to work has been, until a few years ago, based on very limited, incomplete and certainly one-sided information.

When it comes to an ‘employer brand’, job seekers get far more information online than what they read on a company’s career site. So a company’s employer brand is not just about what an employer puts out but it is also about the voice of the people that interact with the company, be it employees, customers, investors, shareholders and others.

This transparency will continue to rapidly change the workplace. Those companies that cannot, or refuse to, adapt will wither and those that embrace the trend will flourish. We are already seeing this today, with companies living their lives in the open finding it easier and cheaper to recruit and having much higher rates of retention.

Joe Wiggins is Head of Comms for Glassdoor in Europe. He manages external affairs across all channels including traditional and social media and is launching Glassdoor in new countries across Europe. He has 15 years communications experience, specialising in launching and enhancing the profile of online brands. He has been with Glassdoor since March 2014. His experience in online recruitment goes back to the Millennium, working with Top Jobs On The Net.

Host: Jo Dodds