Creating awareness in Employees about Referral Programs in the organisation is a task that is given little importance by Talent Acquisitionists. Therefore most Employees aren’t aware of the company’s referral programms. If creating awareness about these programs within your organisation’s Employees is difficult and are looking for ways or methods to build awareness then you’ve come to the right place.

We @SourcingAdda conduct various WhatsApp discussions and it just so happens that we covered the topic, “How to Create Awareness in Employees about Referral Programs in the organisation?” based on the suggestion of our Hyderabad group member Madhuri. And here’s what we discussed but before we disclose the insights shared note that we’ll be highlighting the key take away pointers right after. So let’s begin…

Well this brings an end to a very informative discussion with lots of insights to review. In order to retain what you’ve learnt we are highlighting the key take away pointers below:

What is an Employee Referral Program?

• ER is a channel which can help in gathering profiles that are not on Job Portals or Social Media

Methods or Techniques used to create awareness

• Display a presentation on the Referral Policy
• For new Joiners the referral policy can be included in the induction program
• In short talk about the success pointers of the referral program at the induction session
• Conduct Road shows on referral policy once in 3 months
• Offered candidates can be informed personally
• Have regular mailers posted to all the employees at the organisation
• Have a dedicated Employee Referral Team that can assist in case of any queries or confusion
• Have referral leagues for few months with lucrative gifts in the form of rewards apart from the referral bonus amount during that period.
• List out the top referrals name on common company forums or Corporate Social groups if any
• Send mailers to all to motivate others enough to refer their peers
• Have the Internal Recruitment team flash requirements addressing all the employees to refer weekly
• Send weekly mailers to all the employees containing information about the vacant positions with the referral amount details.
• If there are niche requirements then spread special referral e-mails with additions in the referral amount and highlight it within the e-mail.
• Display boards for open positions that changes every week
• E-mail campaigns can be conducted to all or to specific groups you want to hire
• Have standees on the floor, in the cafeteria or reception area
• If you have a Television in the cafeteria or reception area then publish the job postings
• Ask employees to post jobs on their social media channels
• Conduct quick town halls where the company leaders can go to each ODC to talk about ER and the current vacant positions.
• Conduct small contests among the employees of that particular ODC to get the referral immediately and on the spot.
• Every week publish open positions to all employees to encourage them to refer more
• Make sure you have no bars on vanilla or niche skills unless required
• Based on the designation the referral bonus can be paid out
• Have a referral program of diversity for senior positions
• Conduct campaigns specific to certain positions where the rewards are significant
• Goodies along with the referral money starting from Fossil watches, vacation vouchers, iPhones to Royal Enfield based on certain criteria.
• Go all out to promote ER via mailers, standees, desktop screensavers, floor walks, banners etc.
• Create a Gamified ER process with the help of products like Ripple hire, ZAO etc.
• Offer experiences like Dinner in star hotels, Spa Gift Vouchers etc.
• Organise ER floor walks and on the candidate’s day of joining, give goodies to the employee
• Meet the new hires to share the open positions & ask for referrals on day one and give on the spot awards.
• Conduct specific ER drives or increase the referral bonus for niche requirements
• Clear the channel conflicts and give clarity to the employee about the ER Programs
• Have a double referral bonus for super niche skills where you may expect quick closures.

How the referral process should be done and why?

• The referral program should be automated to avoid conflict among 2 referees
• Get the core issues addressed to avoid referral program promotion campaigns
• A Referral policy should be applicable to candidates from the day they are offered
• Familiarise the offered candidate with the referral policies so that they can refer even before they join and let them know that they’ll still be entitled to the benefits.
• Monitory benefits will motivate candidates to refer the right Talent

Employee perspective

• Treat employees well and they’ll keep an eye on open positions on their own to refer
• To boost the referral program you first need to focus on your Employee’s experiences hence be sure to –
  • Treat them well and right
  • Value them
  • Appreciate them
  • Reciprocate Learning
• Know that when an employee feels good working with an employer –
  • No vouchers
  • Referral schemes with money will work
• Benefits should be given based on the criteria listed out below –
  • Post completion of a certain period of time for instance 90 days from the Date Of Joining of that referral
  • Provided the person who has referred also joins
  • Only when the referee has spent 3 months in the organisation
  • Make sure there isn’t any case of –
    • Infant attrition
    • Offer decline
    • No show
  • If mentioning details in the offer letter then do the following –
    • Keep track of all the referrals and the referee
    • Get the Full Name
    • Mention the source as “candidate name” (offered candidate, DOJ)
    • Employee ID of the person –
      • Who referred
      • To verify if the referee is not existent in the Company
      • Check in the organisation’s database to help the back office team map the Employee towards the ER bonus amount.
      • Have standard candidate forms to be filled –
        • In the case of a walk in then have a section in the form –
          • To enter the details of the source
          • If it is an Employee reference then the –
            • Full Name
            • Employee ID of the candidate are to be filled in
          • It is a unique identification which can be implemented in small organizations and in large MNCs.

Reasons to refer

The important reasons for which an employee refers a friend are as under –

• Money
• Pride
• Satisfied with the –
  • Job Profile
  • Work Environment
  • Organisational Culture
  • Colleagues / People they interact with

Reasons to avoid referrals

• Most employees don’t take referrals seriously thus they hardly refer candidates
• It is essential to have more sessions, PPT etc. to motivate employees and to share the benefits to get more referrals.
• Know that people would never refer unless they are sure that their referral is being considered seriously hence be sure to communicate that.

Recruiters Perspective

• Realise that any type of Employee Engagement will have glitches and you will feel burdened when Employees speak to you.
• After reaching at a level, some HR’s think maintaining documentation isn’t their work so they avoid the task which is the incorrect approach.
• As Recruiters you need to realise that keeping documentation brings the change in an organisation which is not at all true.
• Having a proper Employee Engagement program is the key

What to do Post Referrals?

• Once employees start referring candidates be sure to send the updates about their referral regularly.
• Special recognition can be given to the employee who referred the most
• A Certificate and voucher can be given to the most referred employee but once in three months
• Give gifts or accessories like printed T – Shirts, Coffee Cups, Gift – Vouchers that are based on the number of references the person has given to the organisation which can be irrespective of selection.
• Gift customised gifts or accessories with branding such as printed T – Shirts, Coffee Cups, Bags, Pens, Bottles, Caps etc.
• The quickest response that you get wins a Gift hamper or Coupons
• All the referees can be given gifts such as chocolates
• Make sure your team ensures that it address all the referrals within 48 hours
• Have quarterly award functions wherein you can celebrate ER, acknowledge and give awards to the highest referred or highest number of joiners through referrals

Role of Employee Referrals and feedback

• As Recruiters one should have a 40% closure from ER
• The backbone to any ER function is feedback to already referred candidates

Need for Timely Referral Updates

• Keep Employees / Referees updated about the status of their referrals as –
  • It lets them know that you have proceeded with the profile that they’ve shared
  • It is a motivating factor that gets them to refer more

Need for Timely Feedback of Referrals

• Give Employees / Referees feedback about their referrals therefore –
  • Respective recruiters need to reach out to all the referrals and provide feedback on their candidature.
  • Recruiters need to communicate the feedback to the Employees who have given a reference.

The Scenario

• Timely feedback helps build faith in the system but also ensures that the referrers keep pushing their referrals to get interviewed or join.
• One can try many programs but if there isn’t any proper feedback mechanism in place it will generate lesser ROI than expected.
• Referral Bonus is an important criterion for any referral activity but the feeling of helping a referral overrides it always.
• Ensure there is some value creation added to the –
  • RE Process
  • Organisation
  • Referee
  • New Entrant
• It is essential to draw up a policy framework; so ensure that it is done
• RP does not eliminate the other ways of recruitment but helps to keep the core strengthened
• By no means is the RP going to replace other forms of hiring rather it is a reinforcement value system.
• Employees key focus is always on the Job they are hired to do
• If employees start viewing this as an additional source of earning; it would create a conflict of interest.

Effectiveness of ER

• A Gamified version of the referral system has worked wonders for ER
• Simply increasing the referral amounts doesn’t always help

Well you’ll be delighted to learn that we’ve covered all the aspects that were needed which will certainly help us in improving the present Referral system implemented. If you’ve found these insights helpful then you’ll also find Modern Recruiting Techniques used and its Challenges quite informative.

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