Alright, so here’s the thing—I wasn’t even planning to dig into how to remove a Glassdoor review today. I was knee-deep in figuring out whether oat milk foam counts as a life skill (spoiler: yes), and then a buddy of mine shot me a message like, “Dude, how do I get this insane review off our Glassdoor page?” Boom. Rabbit hole.
So yeah, Glassdoor reviews… they’re like tattoos. Super easy to slap on. Not so easy to erase. And I say this as someone who once tried to DIY a bad Yelp review response in 2016. (10/10 do not recommend.)
Anyway, let me walk you through what I found—because honestly, it’s both hilarious and mildly infuriating how little control businesses have over their rep once it’s out there in the wild.
“Can I Just… Delete It?”
Short answer? Nope.
Long answer? Still nope. Unless the review violates Glassdoor’s community guidelines, you’re kind of stuck with it. I remember thinking, “Wait… this is anonymous. There’s no proof they even worked here!” But Glassdoor has this whole “we trust our community” thing going on. No joke, they literally state that verifying employment would compromise anonymity. Wild, right?
You can flag a review though. I did that once after an intern left a review that made it sound like we ran a Fight Club in the breakroom. (We didn’t. It was a Nerf war. Big difference.)
To flag a review:
- Log in to your employer account
- Go to the review in question
- Click the little flag icon and select the reason
But—and this is the kicker—Glassdoor won’t tell you what happens next. They won’t say if they contacted the reviewer. They won’t tell you if action’s being taken. It’s like filing a report into a digital black hole.
(Source: Glassdoor’s official policy page on reviews—yeah, I read it so you don’t have to.)
So What Does Work?
Okay, here’s where things get less “delete” and more “bury it in kindness and SEO.”
What I ended up doing (after giving up on the whole removal fantasy) was pushing the bad review down the page. Like, if you can’t get rid of the stink, just air out the whole room, you know?
- Ask current happy employees to leave reviews. Not weird fake ones, either. Just honest “Hey I actually like working here” type of stuff.
- Space them out. Don’t go begging 20 people to post all in the same week—Glassdoor will nuke ‘em for suspicious activity.
- Oh—and avoid sending direct links. I saw this Business Insider piece that talked about companies getting torched for doing that. Yikes.
Also, I started showcasing positive work culture stuff on our own site. Like, we had this Taco Tuesday thing going that no one was talking about online. Started snapping pics, writing micro-stories, even made a mini behind-the-scenes blog about how we handle feedback. Google actually started showing those pages in search results instead of just that one dumb review. So yeah, low-key content strategy for the win.
Can You Sue?
I’m not a lawyer, but I did go deep on this one after a colleague brought it up. You can’t really sue unless it’s defamation—and I mean clear-cut, provably false, reputation-ruining lies. And even then? You’re basically throwing money into a pit hoping a judge agrees with your vibes.
The Harvard Journal of Law & Technology (yep, went there) did a whole write-up on anonymous online defamation, and it’s basically a legal maze. You’ve gotta subpoena Glassdoor (good luck), prove actual damage, and even then—ehh.
My Personal Take?
So yeah, removing a Glassdoor review? Not a quick-fix thing. But here’s what I’ve learned: the more energy you spend obsessing over that one review, the less you spend building a culture people actually want to talk about.
Start small:
- Make exit interviews anonymous but actionable.
- Give folks space to speak up internally.
- Highlight team wins publicly, even the weird ones (our “Best Dressed on Zoom” award lives rent-free in my brain).
Also, wild idea—but consider replying publicly to the review. I once saw a CEO respond with, “Sorry to hear this—happy to grab coffee and talk it through.” That dude? Legend. And yeah, (Glassdoor reviews) lets employers do that now.
Alright, I’ve ranted enough. You can’t just zap a review, but you can outshine it. Be loud about the good stuff, own the awkward stuff, and keep it moving.
Also—if you have pulled off a successful removal? Drop me a line. I owe you tacos or something.