According to Dr. John Sullivan, an expert on employee
referral programs andd HR thought leader from Silicon Valley:
“Employee referral programs are the most powerful corporate
recruiting tool, bar none. They can produce a high volume of quality hires who
have been statistically proven to have lower rates of attrition. When designed well, they can not only be
cost-effective, but they can produce one of the highest ROIs in the entire HR
function.”
Dr. Sullivan has advised large companies all over the world
and has found several things that are important do to make your referral
program as successful as possible:
·
It must be responsive and provide feedback
to the preferred candidate within one - three days of the referral and to the
referring employee just as quickly.
·
It needs to be given preferential
treatment in the timeliness initial contact, phone screening, interview,
and the decision about hiring the employee.
·
It needs to target hard-to-fill
positions that are essential to the organization.
·
It needs to include all employees to
make referrals, regardless of the position they hold.
·
The most important factor in
employee referrals is swift candidate evaluation and decision feedback to the
referring employee
Great referral programs become part of your company’s
culture and some ways to hep make them successful are:
·
Interview referring employees to
determine how they met the employee they referred
·
Ask for referrals at all employee
onboarding meetings
·
Give current employees referral
cards to pass out when they meet a well-qualified potential employee
·
Provide training about how to build their
online and offline social networks and use them to recruit superior
candidates for your company
·
Where possible have dedicated staffs
to deal with the program
·
Provide non-monetary incentives such
as public recognition, periodic banquets or lunch with the president to honor
employees
·
Develop easy ways for employees to
track the status of their referrals
·
Give
positive feedback in performance development planning
·
Provide
daily feedback and recognition to those who refer qualified candidates.
·
Let
referring employees know what’s happening with their referral every step of the
way.
Referral programs don’t always have to have monetary
rewards, cash is not always the answer. All employees have different
motivators. Determine what they are and
use those as inducements. If you are
trying to make your referral program positive, immediate and certain, don’t
issue awards that only pay the referring employee all or part of it after the
new employee works out successfully for six months or a year. That becomes de-motivational and takes the
energy out of the program.
Employee involvement
is key to an effective employee referral
selection process.
The more you do to get it, the better your program will be.
For
more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white
papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net
