How can you keep your employee referral program simple?
An employee referral program is all about employees and their act of referring someone they think will fit into the organizational culture. Without employees and their participation the referral program loses all meaning. It therefore makes sense to design a referral program that keeps in mind the needs and expectations of the primary user, the employee. The minimum expectation that employees have from a referral program is that it will be easy and simple to use. Complexity infact is one of the biggest killers of a referral program. Many organizations in pursuit of designing an advanced world class program put so many layers and steps in the referral platform that the user gets frustrated trying to complete all the action steps required and ultimately gives up using the tool.
When we talk about keeping the employee referral program simple, we are basically referring to making it easy to use. Some of the ways to gauge ease of use of the referral program is to ask yourself these questions How easy is it for employees to refer a candidate, how fast is the response time to their referral, how quick and simple is the disbursal of referral reward to employees? It is about assessing how quickly and easily does the employee referral process move from the starting step of employee referring someone to the finishing step of hiring the referral.
Keeping the referral program simple means ensuring that the program basics are well structured and well communicated to employees. Make it user friendly by avoiding lengthy rules and procedures and as much as possible automate the referral program to reduce effort on the part of employees.
Below are a few tips to help you get started towards designing a simple and easy to use employee referral program.
Communication is the key to making it easy to use for employees. Start the communication early, the on boarding process itself should include details of the referral program and how new joiners can contribute to the employee referral process and in turn help the organization as well what are the rewards associated with the referral program.
Ensure that job openings are regularly communicated so that employees are aware of what kind of people the organization is looking for. Display referral posters with job openings on company boards and other meeting places so that employees do not need to spend too much time hunting for openings to refer people for.
Most importantly, make the referral site easy to use and refer. Integrate social media features which make it extremely convenient for employees to share open positions with their connections as well as upload profiles directly from social sites. The less effort required on the part of employees, the greater the chances of getting quality referrals from employees.
Lastly, training employees on how to leverage their social connections adds to the ease of use. More often than not, employees are clueless regarding how to scan their networks for good referrals. Equipping them with the skills and tools required can make it much simpler and easier for them to pick the most relevant referrals from their connections, benefiting everyone in the process.
When we talk about keeping the employee referral program simple, we are basically referring to making it easy to use. Some of the ways to gauge ease of use of the referral program is to ask yourself these questions How easy is it for employees to refer a candidate, how fast is the response time to their referral, how quick and simple is the disbursal of referral reward to employees? It is about assessing how quickly and easily does the employee referral process move from the starting step of employee referring someone to the finishing step of hiring the referral.
Keeping the referral program simple means ensuring that the program basics are well structured and well communicated to employees. Make it user friendly by avoiding lengthy rules and procedures and as much as possible automate the referral program to reduce effort on the part of employees.
Below are a few tips to help you get started towards designing a simple and easy to use employee referral program.
Communication is the key to making it easy to use for employees. Start the communication early, the on boarding process itself should include details of the referral program and how new joiners can contribute to the employee referral process and in turn help the organization as well what are the rewards associated with the referral program.
Ensure that job openings are regularly communicated so that employees are aware of what kind of people the organization is looking for. Display referral posters with job openings on company boards and other meeting places so that employees do not need to spend too much time hunting for openings to refer people for.
Most importantly, make the referral site easy to use and refer. Integrate social media features which make it extremely convenient for employees to share open positions with their connections as well as upload profiles directly from social sites. The less effort required on the part of employees, the greater the chances of getting quality referrals from employees.
Lastly, training employees on how to leverage their social connections adds to the ease of use. More often than not, employees are clueless regarding how to scan their networks for good referrals. Equipping them with the skills and tools required can make it much simpler and easier for them to pick the most relevant referrals from their connections, benefiting everyone in the process.
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