Job Candidates Care About Employer Reputation
Negative publicity not only damages a company’s brand, but also its ability to recruit talent, according to a CareerBuilder survey.
Seventy-one percent of U.S. workers say they would not apply to a company experiencing negative press. Female workers are much more likely not to apply to a company experiencing negative press than their male counterparts, 79% compared to 61%, respectively.
Bad publicity can have a serious ripple effect across companies. More than one-quarter of employers (26%) say their company has experienced negative publicity, resulting in a hit to their hiring process. Sixty-one percent of these employers combined report fewer job offers being accepted, fewer candidate referrals from employees and fewer job applications as a result of the negative publicity. Other negative impacts to the business included lower employee morale, higher voluntary employee turnover and a decline in sales.
Bad publicity may turn off candidates from applying—but it rarely deters current workers from leaving their jobs. Less than one in 10 workers (6%) have left a company because of negative publicity.
On the other hand, employers who have experienced positive press have seen beneficial impacts such as:
- Higher morale among employees (42%);
- Employees were most likely to share positive things about the company on social channels (36%);
- Boost in sales (36%);
- More job applications (32%);
- More job candidate referrals from employees (22%);
- More job offers being accepted (21%); and
- Lower voluntary employee turnover (19%).