Written by Samawat Shakil
Employee referral campaigns have been opted by business organizations a lot lately. This program enables employers to increase employee retention rates and engagement in the company. However, organizing an employee referral program requires a lot more than hosting a free toaster. As data presented by CareerBuilder shows that 82% of referral-based employees bring more rate of return to the organization.
The stepping stone of a good employee referral campaign starts with developing a positive environment in the business organization so that employees can refer other employees to your company. But, besides that companies can try a couple of tips to improve their referral program.
Tip 1. Describe your Requirements
It is clearly evident that using employee referral increases the speed of requirement processes. According to a report, 55% faster can the recruitment process become when one employee refers to another. But, it is only possible when employees know about your requirements and job profile. So, when you are asking for referrals from your employees, then clearly mention what you are looking for in the candidates and role involved in the job. By doing this, you will be able to fasten up the recruitment process as employees will only refer to the people who closely match the job profile designed by you.
Tip 2. Offer Rewards
Okay, so if you want industry experts to keep their urgent work aside for a moment and recommend some good employees for your company, then you have to offer some financial benefits to them. When managers know that their efforts put towards searching for the competent employees will be appreciated by you, then they will use their all resources to get good candidates. Moreover, if you mention that person who brings the referral matching exactly to the job requirements, then you will have higher chances of finding competent employees.
Tip 3. Establish an Effective Communication
When you have asked employees for referrals, then it is your responsibility to keep them frequently informed about the status. That’s because referrals are going to ask from your employees regarding the hiring process and in return, your employees are going to ask you. Thus, if you want your employees to again provide referrals to you, then you have to establish proper communication with your employees and keep them fully informed about any modifications in the hiring process.
Tip 4. Acknowledge Good Referrals
Apart from offering monetary benefits to your employees, you can publicly acknowledge the good reference presented by your team. You can issue a company’s newsletter with the employee name mentioning that because of his efforts you are able to get a competent employee in your organization. Dr. John Sullivan’s research has already predicted that employees hired through referrals are the best asset of the company. So, to get more employee referrals, you need to keep your employees motivated.
Tip 5. Experiment with your Employee Referral Program
If you want to keep your referral program effective, then you have to continuously try to experiment with new ideas and options. You need to keep your program engaging and interactive. You can try different things like plan spontaneous promotions, use scientifically proven techniques, use gamification technology and various lucrative schemes. In short, keep on improving your employee referral program with the time and keep on adding new things.
Employee referral campaigns can easily help your organization in hiring talented candidates without any hassle. You just need to make a positive work culture and introduce good options in your employee referral program and you won’t ever have a shortage of good employees.
Samawat Shakil, is Content Manager at Xobin, pre-employment testing software for small & agile tech teams looking to do quick & fast hiring. She is curious about the ongoing digital trends around the
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