Key to a smart Employee Referral Program

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What is an Employee Referral Program?

Finding and retaining exceptional talent in your company can be a tedious exercise An organization uses various sources to find the right talent and one of the most effective source is employee referral An employee referral program is an internal sourcing method used by organizations to hire talent by tapping their current employees’ social network As an incentive the current employee gets a bonus from the organization on the successful placement of their referred person

Advantages of using an

Employee Referral Program

•Current employees know candidates who have the similar skill set and mindset thus resulting in improved candidate quality and fitment •Stability and loyalty towards organization •Employees screen better as they are aware that the quality of the future candidates indirectly impacts their and organization ’ s performance •Employee referral programs are the most cost effective. The only cost involved is the referral bonus to the existing employees. Third party expenses, marketing and advertising costs are eliminated. There is a considerable reduction in the hiring cost as compared to other hiring methodologies

Active employee participation is very important for the success of an employee referral program. This is especially critical because : •As per a recent study, 1 out of every 5 referrals is hired. The success rate of employee referrals is therefore tremendous. •Referrals give the highest ROI among all hiring sources with the added benefit of quality hiring and also better cultural fitment Hence every organization should evaluate the effectiveness of their employee referral program and whether it is smart or attractive enough to encourage employees to give references.

Referrals are here to stay

The success of a well defined and structured employee referral program is much more than a generic or an informal program.

Company Culture •The kind of organisational values, working environment and culture espoused by an organisation plays a very important role in ensuring the success or failure of a referral program. •An organisation where employees do not feel connected to the organisation will not be able to run a successful employee referral program. •Before launching any employee referral program, the employers should gauge satisfaction levels and launch initiatives to improve employee engagement and connect programs to drive for more effective referrals.

It is important to remember that every employee is a brand ambassador of his/her organization and what they feel for the organization is what they portray to the outside world

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Involvement

•Incase of a newly launched referral program, send an invite to everyone from senior management to entry level employees of the organization. •Make sure to communicate the features and benefits of the program to all the employees through a well designed presentation •Offer incentives to employees who are signing up for the program within a particular time frame. •Incase of an existing program, it should be explained to every new employee as a part of their induction. •Communicate with the employees to make them understand why referrals are important for the organization.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Keep It Simple

•Employee Referral Program should be simple to understand and sign up. Simple signup formalities encourage more and more employees to participate. •Implement a system that is easy to use without the need of putting in tedious effort from employees •Minimal time should be invested by the employees in procedural aspects like referring a candidate, checking the status etc.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Awareness

•Employees should be made aware that apart from the tangible benefits, employee referrals will give them the power to influence the people with whom they will be working. •Employees should be made aware as to why the new hiring is important for the organization. •A brief on the new project or diversification or any other important information which can be shared with the employees goes a long way in ensuring the success of the program.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Make them a part of the hiring

process

•Involve employees from the very beginning of the Employee Referral Program. •They can be asked to brainstorm the job details, design the job descriptions and list out the attributes of the candidate required. •When employees feel connected to open positions, they are more likely to give good referrals and also make an extra effort in finding the correct person.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Social Network

•Tap your employees’ social network and make good use of them. •You can guide employees on how they can search for prospective employees from their network using keywords in the job description as most of the social network users add their skills and job titles in their profiles. •Advise employees to use personalized one-to-one messaging rather than opting for public announcements or wall postings.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Its all about rewarding

•Repeated surveys have indicated that the foremost change suggested by employees to make referral programs more effective is to increase the value of the reward/ bonus •For the success of any employee referral program, it is critical that employees are recognized for their efforts and Cash rewards are the most popular form of recognition. •Amount of Reward can vary as per the complexity of the position. For positions which are difficult to close, the referral bonus can be higher.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

It is all about rewarding

•The amount spent on recruiting through external sources can be one of the criteria in determining the value of the cash reward. Half or one – third of the amount spent on hiring externally is generally considered as appropriate. •Some organizations also have a policy of giving small rewards to all the employees who participate. These awards can be vouchers or coupons. •Top performers can be rewarded separately also apart from the referral bonus.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Make it fun and competitive

•You can add a leadership board in your employee referral program which allows the employee to see his/her efforts and where they stand as compared to their colleagues. •There can be rewards for consistent top performers. •Interdepartmental competitions for referrals can be introduced

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Timely Feedback

•Give timely feedback to your employees on their referrals to ensure that they are aware if they are on the right track . It is not a good practice to keep employees waiting for feedback on their referrals. •Timely feedback will keep them motivated as they know that their referrals are being actively reviewed. •Send an acknowledgement mail to the employee after receiving any referral. You can top it all by sending an appreciation / Thank You mail. •Give employees feedback on both good as well bad referrals.

How To Make Your Referral

Program Work Smarter

Complete the process fast

•Once you start receiving the referrals, screen the applicants quickly, as good talent might receive multiple offers. •Reject unsuitable and inactive applicants. •Start interviewing the shortlisted candidates and complete the HR process of pre-offer and offer. •Make sure recently hired employees are signed up for the referral program and actively engaged.

About Zalp

ZALP is a unique SaaS (software-as-a-service)

based social employee referral software

designed to help organizations efficiently

source the highest quality candidates through

the most valuable source of recruitment–

Employee Referrals.

Empowered with breakthrough features that

tap into the full potential of Social Media and

an extremely user friendly interface, ZALP is

every organization’s perfect Social Employee

Referral and Social Recruiting Software.

ZALP helps organizations boost their employee

referral output by upto 72%

About Zalp

%

Why Zalp

7 easy and convenient ways to refer

The success of any employee referral program depends on one primary factor:

Employee Participation

ZALP gives employees not one but seven easy and convenient

ways to make referrals. This ensures increased employee

participation like never before.

ZALP’s social media integrated features make the referral

process for employees not only easy but also fun.

For more information, visit www.zalp.com To book a free demo, drop a mail to

info@zalp.com You may also call us for any other assistance

1-866-217- 1267 www.linkedin.com/company/zalp

www.facebook.com/zalp03

www.twitter.com/zalptweets

Do you already have an Employee Referral Program?

ER-i is the first ever initiative on employee referrals that brings together recruitment leaders from all across the world to set the benchmarks of an employee referral program.

Get a personalized indexing report for your organization that helps

you benchmark your referral program against industry leaders and

understand key performance indicators better.

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