ReplySmith

Updated 2026-10-20

Glassdoor and Indeed employer response templates

Employer reviews are read by two audiences at once: candidates deciding whether to apply, and your current staff checking whether leadership tells the truth in public. Both platforms keep the reviewer anonymous and both draw the same two bright lines: don't try to work out who wrote it, and don't threaten legal action. Glassdoor runs responses through an automated check and sometimes a human one, and a response that breaks its community guidelines never appears; Indeed posts responses quickly and pulls them if someone reports a violation.

The response is not for the reviewer. It is a public record of how the company takes criticism, which is the thing every candidate is actually trying to assess. Sign it with a real name and title, say what has changed, and resist explaining the individual's employment history, which you could not do without identifying them anyway. The former-employee review gets its own template because it is the most common one and the one most likely to tempt a manager into a rebuttal.

Glassdoor and Indeed platform notes

Checked 2026-10-20 against search excerpts of the linked pages; neither help center was readable from our build environment, so confirm specifics there before relying on them.

The templates

Replace every [BRACKETED_PLACEHOLDER] with your specifics before posting - an unedited template is worse than no response.

Positive review from a current employee

Thank you for taking the time to write this. [THING_THEY_PRAISED, e.g. “Managers who actually hold the career conversations they promise”] is something we've worked at deliberately, and it's good to see it land. We know there is more to do on [AREA_YOU'RE_IMPROVING], and feedback like this helps us keep the parts that work while we fix the rest. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY_NAME]

Negative review from a former employee

Thank you for sharing this. We're sorry your time at [COMPANY_NAME] ended the way you describe. We can't discuss any individual's employment publicly, but the concerns you raise about [THEME, e.g. “workload in the support team”] are ones we take seriously, and since [PERIOD] we have [CONCRETE_CHANGE, e.g. “added two roles to that team and moved to a published on-call rota”].

If you would like to talk this through, [CONTACT_NAME] in [HR_OR_PEOPLE_TEAM] can be reached at [EMAIL]. We appreciate the work you put in while you were here. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE]

Mixed review: great team, pay and progression lagging

Thanks for a fair and specific review. You're right on both counts: the team culture you describe is real, and [AREA_OF_CRITICISM, e.g. “our pay bands hadn't been reviewed since 2024”]. Here is what has changed: [CONCRETE_CHANGE, e.g. “we completed a compensation review in [MONTH] and published the bands internally”]. Where we're still short, [HONEST_NEXT_STEP]. Thank you for staying and telling us. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY_NAME]

Review about layoffs or a termination

Thank you for your feedback. We can't comment on any individual's situation, and we won't try to. What we can say is that [EVENT, e.g. “the restructuring in [MONTH]”] was [BRIEF_HONEST_CONTEXT, e.g. “a hard decision made to keep the company stable”], and we are committed to treating everyone affected with respect, including [SUPPORT_OFFERED, e.g. “severance, extended health cover and outplacement support”]. Anyone with questions about their own circumstances can contact [CONTACT_NAME] at [EMAIL]. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE]

Interview review from a candidate you didn't hire

Thank you for sharing your interview experience. We're sorry it felt [THEIR_WORD, e.g. “disorganized”]; the gap you describe between the scheduled time and the actual start is on us. We have since [CONCRETE_CHANGE, e.g. “moved to a single scheduling calendar and confirm every interview 24 hours ahead”]. We don't discuss individual hiring decisions, but if you would like to give feedback on the process itself, [CONTACT_NAME] at [EMAIL] would welcome it. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE], [COMPANY_NAME]

Review that breaks the rules (names a colleague, discloses confidential information, or matches nobody who worked here)

Thank you for your feedback. We have reported this review to [PLATFORM] because it [REASON, e.g. “names an individual employee” / “includes confidential company information” / “describes a role and location we don't have”], and we will let their process decide. We won't respond to the specifics in the meantime.

For anyone reading, our standards on [THEME] are [GENERAL_STANDARD], and concerns about them can be raised with [CONTACT_NAME] at [EMAIL] by current or former staff at any time. - [YOUR_NAME], [TITLE]

Do

  • Sign with a real name and title, ideally someone senior in People or leadership, so the response reads as the company speaking and not a reflex.
  • Say what changed since the review, with a date; candidates discount apologies but count fixes.
  • Offer an offline contact (Indeed's policy explicitly allows contact details in a response) and keep it a person, not a form.
  • Report rule-breaking reviews through the platform and say so neutrally; let the moderators be the bad guy.

Don't

  • Don't name, guess at, or hint at who wrote the review; on both platforms that is a violation, and on Glassdoor it gets the response removed.
  • Don't threaten legal or disciplinary action in a response; Glassdoor removes those outright and Indeed's policy forbids them.
  • Don't rebut a former employee's account of their exit point by point; you cannot discuss an individual's employment, and readers know it.
  • Don't flood the page with glowing reviews from leadership after a bad one; Glassdoor lets you encourage reviews but not pay for or steer positive ones, and candidates spot the burst.

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