Why an Employee Referral Program?

Shawnee Love   •  
September 21, 2017

In a war for talent, companies have to employ every tactic they can to attract good new employees.  One highly effective tactic which can greatly increase an organization’s ability to hired great people is an employee referral program.

One reason an employee referral program can be so effective is because your employees do the searching and prescreening for you as it relates to finding candidates who fit with the job,  organization and culture.  That translates to less headhunting and less postings required, not to mention candidates who fit and like the job and company.  Your employees also become one of their applicant’s references which further speeds up the hiring process.

This means, you will see improvements in recruiting metrics when hiring through employee referrals including:hand of businessman using magnet attract customers and clients

  • Reduced time to hire
  • Reduce cost of hire
  • Increased new hire alignment with culture and the job
  • Increased retention of new hires

Moreover, employees who successfully recommend quality friends and family members to join, usually have increased job enjoyment themselves, because they get to work with people they like and admire.  And of course, companies end up with fewer behavioural issues and conflicts as well.

With all these great benefits, you might be wondering why every company doesn’t do it.  The truth is, operating an employee referral program requires commitment on behalf of management and effective systems and people to administer the referral program to ensure the employee referral program actually works.

If you are interested in what you need to do to create an effective employee referral program, please stay tuned for next week’s blog.