5 Steps To Energize Your Employee Referral Program

  • Added:
    Jun 26, 2014
  • Article Views:
    1704
  • Word Count:
    445
5 Steps To Energize Your Employee Referral Program Photo by Savio Vadakkan

While Employee referral programs have emerged as a powerful recruitment tool, it is not just enough to launch an Employee Referral Program with fanfare. A Referral Program that does not constantly reinvent itself is likely to outlive its utility. Simple as the concept of Employee Referrals may sound, a world-class execution is anything but simple.  Here’s why it is important to focus on your ERP:


#1 They fall prey to predictability- Like any marketing program, the success of an employee referral program lies in constantly energizing the program with newer elements. In the absence of any updation in approach they fall prey to predictability and are known to lose their sheen. This automatically results in lower employee engagement & participation in the program.


#2 Spamming- In the absence of a close watch on the quality of referrals being provided, ERPs are known to be spammed with high volume, low quality resumes. The very fact that employees are inundating the system with high volume of resumes, is an indicator that they do not personally know the candidates that they are referring, which is a killer for any ERP.


#3 Rewards may lose relevance over a period of time-It is clearly not enough to set rewards for the referral program& let the program run on auto pilot. It is a fact that rewards need to be reviewed periodically to ensure that they are still relevant for employees & drive them enough to participate in the program.


#4 Absence of timely feedback is a big de-motivator- If the ERP does not provide timely feedback to the referring employee, it is a certainty that the employee will lose interest in the program. Worse still, it may cause disillusionment with the company itself. This negatively impacts the employer brand & instead of attracting quality recruits can repel them, instead. A successful ERP therefore needs constant supervision to ensure that it is working for the company goals and not against it.


#5 Tracking the rate of referrals- An important component of the success of the program is tracking the program with appropriate metrics. These metrics will help recruiters to identify employees offering strong referrals from weak ones & if need be even restricting weak referrers from participating in the program.

Some of the other aspects by way of which you can take care of your ERP include:

• Effective communication that improves awareness for the program and also enables top of mind recall.
• Periodic feedback
• A help desk for referral guidance.

An energized ERP typically means increased engagement levels, which in turntranslates into quality manpower for the organization.

Zalp helps organizations create, launch and manage their employee referral program. Visit http://www.zalp.com to know more or drop a mail to info@zalp.com

Author's Profile

Savio Vadakkan is the Marketing Professional for ZALP, a unique employee referral software. ZALP guides organizations about how to create a successful employee referral program by means of social media integrated recruiting techniques.


Please Rate this Article
Poor Excellent