The employee referral program isn't the problem. The problem may lie in how you're positioning it to your employees. If you're not doing all you can to get it off the ground, it won't stick. Let's look at 9 "To-Do's" for an Excellent Employee Referral Program.

1. 9 “To-do’s” for an Excellent
Employee Referral Program

2. 1) Involvement
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.

3. 2) Keep It Simple
It 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.

4. 3) 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.

5. 4) 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.

6. 5) 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.

7. 6) Reward System
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.

8. 7) Make it fun
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

9. 8) 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.
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.

10. 9) Be Proactive
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.

11. With these simple steps you are sure to see improved results in your referral
program. And if you need a tool that will help you seamlessly achieve all of this,
ZALP is just a click away
You may also opt for a free consultation on improving your referral program
results. Our employee referral specialists would be glad to help.

12. For more information, visit
www.zalp.com
To book a free demo, drop a mail to
info@zalp.com
www.linkedin.com/company/zalp
www.facebook.com/zalp03
www.twitter.com/zalptweets
You may also call us for any other assistance
1-866-217- 1267

13. Are you using
Employee Referral Program?
Get a personalized indexing report for your organization that helps
you understand key performance indicators of an ERP better.
Register now »
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.