Ex-Employees Could Be Your Worst Nightmare. Here's Why:

Employee retention in the restoration industry is difficult. There’s usually a fairly steady rotation of workers coming in the door and going out (for various reasons).

Sometimes employees leave because they move on to different opportunities, other times they leave because they might not like the work or fit into the company culture.?

Regardless, when an employee leaves your organization, they have the potential to take a lot of dirty laundry with them. Because of this, it's imperative you're aware of the thousand little signals you're sending everyday on "how we do business here". If you're flirting with any ethical lines (either accidentally or on purpose), you could be giving your staff ammo to bring you down with them if they ever leave.

In our extensive research of over 1000 1-Star reviews online, we found countless horror stories of ex-employees spilling company secrets publicly that made the company look untrustworthy in the eyes of potential customers. Here are the 3 most common factors listed by ex-employees when they decided to give their former company a 1-star review on Google:

Inconsistent Paychecks

The most common reason we found employees took to Google to publicly express their frustration with their former company was over not being paid.

In their reviews, employees were understandably frustrated, having gone months without receiving a paycheck from their employer. This wasn’t confined to just hourly employees either, we saw all sorts of people complaining about this, from hourly laborers to sub-contractors and vendors.?

These people are crooks. They do not pay their subcontractors. We did a job for them and the customer was very happy with us, and still uses us for all his electrical work. Yet, they have not paid us for our work still. Their foreman came into my office and smelt like alcohol twice. They promised to pay me several times and now they are claiming their was an issue with our work. Dishonest, and would avoid at all costs.

Airing Unethical Business Practices

In some cases, we found employees going nuclear and taking their former employer to task, writing reviews on Google that shared dirty secrets about times when the company was up to no good.

We saw examples of former employees recalling their employer or project manager specifically instructing them to lie to the customer, artificially inflating the amount of equipment required on-site just to make more money, and in some cases employees even exposing the company for lying about their technicians being IICRC-certified.

Poor Company Communication

Finally, we saw countless bad reviews left for companies by contractors that were frustrated by poor communication from the company.

Sub-contractors and third party employees need to know as many details about the project in order to do the best job they can. When aspects of the project are not communicated correctly, it leaves sub-contractors sitting in the dark. Which can be incredibly frustrating.

Stories of companies cancelling jobs or switching job dates without telling their subcontractors were rampant.

One unfortunate incident highlighted a scenario in which a contractor was offered a position with a company, so they quit their existing job, when suddenly their new offer was taken back with no explanation. This is a prime example of poor communication between subcontractors and companies that led to frustrated employees handing out 1-Star reviews.

How You Can Avoid 1-Star Reviews from Rogue Employees, and be a 5-Star Restorer

Ex-employees don’t need to be a nightmare. These 1-Star reviews were common, but there are a few tangible pieces of advice that can help you avoid these pitfalls.

• Treat Your Employees Right: Your employees have the power to influence the public's perception of your business. Make sure once they leave, they value the company to the highest standard.
• Don't Keep Secrets: It’s likely that if you are holding secrets that you wouldn’t want customers to know, eventually they will find out. Think about your business practices and decide whether you would be comfortable with someone sharing your internal practices. As we say in our e-book, "assume all your secrets will eventually come to light"
• Over-Document and Over-Communicate: Although it might feel excessive to communicate little things over and over, people appreciate it in the long run. Write things down, make calls, send emails, and make sure every person involved in a project knows exactly what’s happening.?

For more guidance on how you can take back a positive online presence and avoid unnecessary 1-star reviews, download our e-book for free at https://fivestarrestorer.com