Employee Referral examples: A guide for HR Managers

An employee referral example is a sample of a referral program that utilizes existing employees' social networks to source new staff. An employee referral program includes formally established initiatives by employers to motivate staff to recommend candidates for open positions. Usually, referred candidates do not use the standard application process. Rather, an acquaintance who works for the company submits their CV on their behalf. The CV and professional experience will be analyzed, and assessments conducted. The recruiting team will then decide if they're suitable using the same procedures as the other candidates. 

Salesforce- Happy hours

Salesforce’s Happy hours are one of many employee referral examples. The business hosts a gathering to which employees are encouraged to invite any colleagues or families they wish to recommend. Recruitment happy hours are an informal introduction to the company and help prospects feel comfortable when they first meet recruiters from the organization. Orientation, as well as other similar programs, are widely used by businesses to acquaint new workers with the workplace.

The Salesforce employee referral program also teaches businesses how to implement a rewarding system. It is an example of a successful employee referral program. Regardless of the outcome of the hiring, the company gives meaningful presents to every employee who recommends a candidate. Given that current employees refer more than half of the new hires.

The Employee referral procedure has also lowered the amount of time hiring managers must devote to the process by 18%, from an average of 27.5 hours to 22.5 hours. Therefore, employee referrals significantly decrease the time spent looking for new candidates. The elimination of time-consuming outreach operations enables recruiters to begin their candidate search considerably deeper down the funnel. When compared to job boards and career sites, employee referrals typically take 29 days less time to become new hires (as opposed to 55 days and 39 days, respectively).

According to Salesforce, for every 100 new employees, it saves almost $2 million. Thirteen of the fourteen individuals engaged by the company following the initial workshop in October 2012 are still employed. In the past, one out of every five new hires quit within the first year. Therefore, Salesforce’s employee referral example has been successful. 

Google- Ask Questions

Google also utilizes another employee referral example. Its recruiters use aided recall to pose simple queries to employees, such as, \"Who is the best product person you know?\" Employees who recommend applicants are typically a good fit.

As previously reported, Google's initial effort to increase employee referrals was increasing the referral bonus for staff. Employees used to receive $2,000 for recommending someone who ended up getting a job. Google later increased it to $4,000 for successful referrals. According to Laszlo Bock, the former head of people operations at Google, the number of recommendations stayed the same even when the bonus increased.

It took a marketing strategy to \"nudge\" employees into making more referrals by alerting them about particular available positions and then urging employees to scour their networks for someone who would be a good fit.

According to Bock, Google would inquire about its workers' knowledge of outstanding salespeople in New York or the best financial person they had ever worked for. When given such clear instructions, employees were far more likely to refer someone by thinking about them. As Google discovered, people recommend others because they believe in them and the organization they work for.

Increasing referral bonuses will not significantly boost your business's number of referrals. Making your company a great place to work so that people want to recommend others is a sure way to increase the number of referrals.

Digital Ocean - Charity donation

Digital Ocean’s employee referral program is another unique employee referral example. Early in 2017, Digital Ocean looked more closely at its employee referral program, particularly how it motivated and rewarded its staff. In collaboration with Bright Funds, Olivia Melman, Program Manager for Recruiting Operations, introduced a new referral incentive program in May 2017. It was meant to highlight the business's commitment to the community and build on the successes of its current employee referral strategy.

The corporation would pay the recommending employee a specified sum and make a charitable donation on their behalf for each successful referral hire. The recommending employee now earns a $3,500 Recommended Bonus in addition to a $1,500 charity donation made by Digital Ocean on the employee's behalf for each referral candidate hired.

Since 40 percent of the company's new recruits come from referrals, this has helped the business attract top talent. This strategy, which emphasizes both social responsibility and individual well-being, can boost your employees' self-esteem as they assist a buddy in finding employment.

Distillery- Special Awards

Distillery, a software development company, encourages employee referrals with rewards in its employee referral example.  Software developers with successful hires get the newest iPhones or Apple Watches as awards. The company found that because these new technologies are difficult to source, employees appreciate them more highly than monetary incentives. The employee referral bonus is tailored to their preferences. Therefore, if a worker has a hobby of collecting items and requests a certain item, they receive it as a reward. The takeaway is that businesses should attempt to determine appropriate rewards for the type of people they have that can act as greater incentives than monetary rewards.

Hewlett Packard - Public recognition

Hewlett Packard is a different employee referral example. One of the finest methods to get the most from your staff for employee referrals is to give them praise. Knowing this, Hewlett Packard incorporated the concept into its employee referral program by publicly thanking staff members who successfully refer new hires. Publicly expressing gratitude to employees encourages them to perform better by setting an example for other staff members.

InMobi- Experimental Awards

InMobi is another company that has significantly benefited from employee referrals. When employing the conventional method, InMobi encountered many difficulties in its quest for qualified engineering managers. To stir things up, the corporation left a Royal Enfield motorcycle at the gate of its Indian headquarters and a Vespa at the entrance of its US operations. The InMobi HR staff took all these steps to entice employees to participate in the referral program.

For every successful referral that resulted in employment, InMobi employees may choose between a brand-new bike and a trip to Bali. Although this is an unconventional strategy, InMobi saw a 50% boost in referrals for a company with 900 employees.

PURE- The cut right to the chase approach

An American insurance firm called PURE utilizes a successful employee referral example. They have hired around 40 and 60 percent of its staff through recommendations. Their \"Don't waste time\" philosophy is the reason for such great achievement.

Recruiters check with new hires to see whether they know anyone who fits the organization's needs regarding skills and experience. The PURE HR team receives a lot of suggestions quickly, thanks to its real-time and on-the-spot methodology.

Intel – Double bonus leading to diversity

The Intel employee referral program technique may be used by businesses wanting to tackle their staff diversity issue. To address the lack of diversity in its workforce, the corporation decided to double referral bonuses for staff members who recommend minority, female, or veteran candidates. As a result, the referral bonus is now $4,000, double the regular amount that Intel awards.

Accenture- Get Referred 

Accenture offers one of the most inventive employee referral examples. Candidates are the target audience for the professional service company's referral campaign. Candidates are first asked to link their social media accounts (preferably Facebook and LinkedIn) with the business website before being given the option to enrol in their \"Get Referred!\" campaign. This website looks through their profile and generates a list of current workers they know. The worker will then recommend the candidate to others. The strategy engages candidates from the beginning, which helps new hires integrate into the company quickly.

Fiverr’s gamification method

Another leading employee referral example is Fiverr’s gamification method. In order to measure social job sharing and add gamification, the freelancing marketplace Fiverr intended to promote employee referrals. By keeping track of the number of social job shares, they devised a clever strategy for accomplishing this. They decided to give employees more points as a benefit for each friend they could introduce and each job they could share with them.

They introduced some competition by working with Zao, a business that excels at referral programs. It also offered points for recommending friends and sharing jobs. Additionally, they could monitor every employee's performance in real-time and update them on any developments.

Fiverr chose to use Zao, a business that offered an employee referral network, as a result (it has been acquired by PIXID). Given that it rewarded employees with points and credit for all of their efforts and, let's not forget this, informed them when the status of their recommendations changed, the software provided a competitive element to suggesting applicants. The top Fiverr employees were awarded presents every quarter and annually based on their earned points on the Zao referral scoreboard.

From the given employee referral examples, every business offered a unique referral benefit that worked effectively for its employees. It is important to find out what inspires and drives your staff before designing your employee referral program. Some trial and error will be involved in determining the best referral program for your company. You will find the optimal method by trying several ways.

This article was written by Tinotenda Shannon Denhere, a consultant at the Industrial Psychology Consultants, a Management and Human Resources Consulting Company.