Why push to increase your employee referrals? Better candidate quality and culture fit, improved speed to hire, lower cost per hire, improved retention, quicker onboarding, improved employee engagement – current employees receive a bonus and have a say in who gets hired!
If the above hasn’t sold you on employee referrals, check out this stat:
“One in 16 referred candidates is hired, compared with one in 22 agency candidates, one in 72 sourced candidates, and one in 152 applicants.” (Dewar, 2018)
6 Easy Steps to Multiply Employee Referrals:
- Offer an employee referral bonus
Large amounts do not necessarily increase referrals, a small bonus of $100 to $200 is sufficient. It’s easier to start low and go higher than going the other way!
Spread the word! Email, social media, text, flyers, posters, make sure everyone knows about the program.
- Begin during onboarding
Make all new employees aware of the referral bonus program and give them the opportunity to refer people immediately, this could be as simple as writing down names and numbers
- Acknowledge top referrers
At company meetings, in your monthly newsletter, in emails
Put up a leaderboard – gamify your employee referral program!
- Try non-cash alternatives for referrals
Weekend getaway
Tickets to a local event
A meal delivery subscription
- Make it easy
Only ask for names, numbers and possibly an email address
Don’t give your employees long forms to fill out
- Give precedence to employee referrals
Put them in the fast lane for processing
Call within 1 – 2 business days
Have additional employee referral program ideas? Leave them in the comments!
Sources:
Dewar, J. (2018). How to Get Employee Referrals: 13 Tips. https://www.lever.co/blog/tips-to-get-more-employee-referrals
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