Creating an Employee Referral Program

Have you ever looked around and thought to yourself, “Wow, the employees that work here are great! I wonder if they know someone with the same work ethic?” The initial thought to bring in people similar to those currently employed is the first step in creating an employee referral program.  However, you must first inform your employees of the program and the parameters involved. To do this, communicate with your employees regularly about the program and its parameters, company intranet and social networking sites (Twitter, LinkedIn, Newsletters, Yammer) and corporate social events. Also, during the onboarding process, educate incoming employees on the program. Provide your new hires with information on where to find forms and the steps of making an employee referral.

Once you have communicated the employee referral program you will have to gain the employee “buy-in”.  Provide employees an incentive for referring qualified applicants. This incentive could be a dollar amount should the referred employee stay with the company over a given period of time. Additionally, if the position is one that is considered “hard to fill” (a position that requires extensive education and/or experience in a particular field) the dollar amount can be increased.  Also, don’t forget to provide your employees with the results of the employee referral program (i.e. the number of hires and their tenure, employees that have referred new hires) via company intranet, social networks, newsletters, and during the onboarding process.  It will provide further encouragement of the program’s effectiveness and let employees know they are contributing to the success of the company.

Lastly, follow-up with referred applicant resumes. Have your recruiters follow up with the referred applicants within 5-7 business days of receiving their resume. During follow-up, recruiters should provide the referred applicant with an overview of the employee referral program and information on your company. As an added measure, provide the applicant with a means to stay connected with your organization, career’s page and social media options.

If you are considering creating a new employee referral program and need additional help, give us a call! We’ve helped many of our clients put high impact recruiting and retention strategies into place and would be happy to talk to you about yours. Best of luck on your new program!