Employee Referral Culture Building
The culture that prevails in an organization speaks a lot about its present as well as its future.
Growth can be facilitated through the organization culture. This only goes to show that any changes that need to be implemented can be done so in a successful manner if it takes the route of becoming a part of the organizations culture. This fact holds true even for the employee referral program of an organization.
Only devising exceptional employee referral solutions is not the point, its execution is more important. If the referral culture forms a part of the organization culture, it has a higher chance to succeed. As easy as the results seem, the task is not all that simple. Very cautious and foolproof steps need to be taken to make any new activity a part of the organization culture. The integration needs to be seamless; else there are chances that it may backfire. Not only would it not be able to become a part of the culture, it can also induce repulsion from the employees. Thus, while trying to integrate employee referrals in the organizations culture, the following can be useful:
Introduction to the referral program needs to be slow:
A change in culture needs to be adapted to gradually. A mere quick introduction will not do the trick. Thus, the employee referrals solutions need to very slowly and steadily form a part of the recruiting culture and not in a snap, as it would then have high rejection chances. A quick mention about the whole employee referral program every once in a while would be good enough to begin with.
Transparency in the program:
For a concept to be truly adapted and adopted, it not only needs to be clear to understand but also should not have any hidden terms and conditions. The employee referral programs should be presented well with no scope left for doubts. This means that the concept needs to be explained to the employees in a very simple and comprehensive manner. This way, complete and clear communication of the message at every stage can help the employee referral tool eventually become a part of the organizations culture.
The referral culture should begin on a lighter note:
No matter how serious the concept is, or how seriously would the organization want it to become a part of the prevailing culture; it should not be imposed on the employees. Apart from gradual and transparent mentions, the concept should also seem to be exciting. By taking a ‘fun route’ to go about with things would only get the employees eager about welcoming such a novel and exciting idea in the organization culture.
Rewards can help too:
When it comes to the introduction of a new concept especially if the intention is to make it a part of the culture, the employees need to feel comfortable with it and motivated to integrate the new change. Rewards in such a case act as perfect encouragement. Even an employee’s attempt in any employment referral engagement activity should be recognized and rewarded so that the behavior continues and also to let the other employees too feel like participating in the same.
This way, taking the gradual route of seamless organization culture integration, an employee referral program can later go on to form a part of the organization culture.
