Employee Referrals - 10 Strict DONTS
Using employees to refer candidates for filling open positions is now a tried and tested recruiting method of inducting good quality candidates into the organization. The fact that it is also one of the most cost effective methods of recruitment only makes it even more desirable for organizations to actively promote the employee referral program. However, the success of an employee referral program is dependent on a number of factors, any of which can cause your program to lose out. If you have got everything in place in your employee referral program but are still not able to taste success, chances are that you are probably indulging in one or more of the strict don’ts of an employee referral program.
• Don’t miss out on giving feedback to the referring employee to let him know the status of their application throughout the selection process, else employees will feel that their referrals are not taken seriously and will be discouraged from referring again.
• Don’t exclude anyone from the Employee referral program including the Hiring Manager and the HR Team. A far more effective thing is to put in additional checks in the interview process to ensure candidates referred by people directly involved in the hiring process go through an additional round of screening.
• Don’t delay payment of referral bonus as delay in payment makes employee’s lose faith in the system and discourages them from referring any more candidates as employee referrals.
• Don’t pay too little referral bonus as that kills employee involvement. Too big a reward bonus on the other hand might make the program financially unviable leading to its eventual closure.
• Don’t promote the referral program in an unexciting, boring manner which neither creates a pull factor nor helps to generate any top of the mind awareness in employees.
• Don’t implement an employee referral program without adequate research and planning as such a program will fail to create the desired business impact.
• Don’t keep on giving the same rewards for an extended period of time as the same rewards stop motivating employees after a period of time. Variety in rewards keeps the excitement and fun alive.
• Don’t keep your program static. Re-evaluate and update your program on a regular basis to keep it relevant to changing needs of employees, organizations as well as changing social behavior induced by technology and other factors.
• Don’t forget to integrate mobile features into your referral program to make it easy and simple for employees working remotely to refer candidates.
Administer the employee referral program keeping these 10 pitfalls in mind and you are guaranteed to have a winner in your hands.
