8 Reasons Why An Employee Referral Program Can Improve Workplace Diversity
While Employee Referrals are globally recognized as the number 1 source of high quality employees as also employees with a high retention rate, the one area that employee referrals continue to produce mediocre results is in the sphere of diversity hires.
There are however, a number of ways to give diversity hiring a boost within your employee referral program. Some of them are:
Proactively analyzing your diverse employees & encourage them to recruit- These employees can be sought out either individually or through affinity groups and be encouraged to recruit through events or activities that have sufficient participation of diverse attendees
Give priority to diversity recruits- This could be done in multiple ways including ensuring their candidature is acknowledged & an interview fixed promptly. It will also help to send out a thank you note to the employee making the diversity hire recommendation
Educate employees on the importance of seeking diversity hires- Once managers are educated about the importance of diversity hiring to the firm as also for their own success, it is a self fulfilling cycle.
Make diversity hiring through top performers- Seeking out your top performers and having them recommend effective diversity hires is a great way to ensure you get quality diversity employees.
Create an aspirational value for Diversity Hires- If your company is at that vantage point that you can apply to the list of Best Companies for Minorities or the Best Workplace, it will create a pull for diverse employees to approach your employees for potential openings.
Make the most out of events- For employees attending seminars, workshops etc it is a good opportunity to connect with diverse attendees and bring a strong data base back.
Make diversity hiring a reward criteria- Among the various award schemes set up for your Employee Referral Program, ensure to include rewards for diversity hiring. This will suitably motivate employees to consistently work in this direction.
Inbuild Gamification measures- Have a separate Leaderboard for employees scoring on the diversity hire criteria. This will send a message down to all employees, on its importance. Zalp has a customizable “Leaderboard” feature which helps increase employee participation like never before.
Very often the difference between an Employee Referral Program that delivers high on diversity hiring and one which does not, is the way the ERP is structured. By making it an important focus area on the program, offering rewards etc. the ERP can go a long way in improving workplace diversity. It will also be prudent to increase your base & allow participation from previous employees, for example. Vendors can be another good source, as can clients. If the priority on diversity hires can be communicated to them you have increased the probability of diversity hire, many fold!
