Increase Applicant Traffic With Your Employee Referral Program
Employee referral programs rarely provide companies with enough new hires to put all their recruiting effort into them. Yet, every company loves getting an employee referral. They tend to be better employees, more productive, and almost always work out.
What if you could turn an employee referral program from a nice “to have,” to a game-changing system?
Employee Referrals and Monetary Rewards
Most companies offer a monetary reward system based on the longevity of the recruited employee. For example, an employee receives $500 if the employee they recruited still works for the company in 90 days.
A monetary reward system may seem great, but consider what this type of program portrays to your employees and their potential recruits. Is it saying your company does not have a good hiring process and enough employees leave within the first 90 days that it’s an acceptable milestone?
A monetary reward system isn’t about a referral after all. It’s about retention. The system passes on the responsibility of ensuring the new employee is happy and enjoying their work to the employee who recruited them. That’s your responsibility, not your employees.
Ensure Your Employee Referral Program Works for Your Employees
According to Gallup, employees tend to be more engaged, productive, and profitable if they have a best friend at work. Using this logic, it makes sense that employee programs work because you’re giving your employee an opportunity to invite their friends to work with them – not because of the monetary reward.
To ensure your employee program works for your employees, you must step back and look at the bigger picture. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you equipped your employees with the tools, information, and training to refer others?
- Do your employees know how to talk with their friends and family about the opportunity to work for your company?
- Are you offering your employees something meaningful in return for recruiting someone?
Once you can answer yes to the above questions, you’re well on your way to having a robust employee recruiting system.
Employees Want to Help
Remember, employees want to help you hire people and grow the company. But you’ve got to get on the same page, give them the tools they need, and motivate them with things they care about. When you do that, you’ll have an effective employee referral program.
