Most employee referral programs fail because they don’t incentivize or energize employees properly. Without this, you have low engagement rates and employees simply do not make referrals. Two ways to have a successful employee referral program are 1. Utilize software to streamline employee engagement (we know a great one called ERIN), and, 2. Get creative!
Here are some great examples of successful employee referral programs that got creative!
Salesforce Social Referral Events
Best way to get potential candidates interested? Throw a party! That’s exactly what Salesforce does with their recruitment happy hours. Salesforce encourages their employees to bring high-caliber contacts and these guests get to learn about the company and meet employees.
These social outings are not only a great way to get your employees actively engaged in recruitment, but it’s also a great way to meet candidates and vet them in an informal setting!
Pinterest Diversity Hires
Diversity hires isn’t always associated with employee referrals, but Pinterest has been able to use their employee referral program to boost diversity hires during its 51% growth.
By offering additional employee referral bonus incentives for diversity hires Pinterest was able to create an open dialogue with their employees on why diversity matters. This also allowed the company to keep employee referrals top of mind because it wasn’t just “we need to hire more people”, culture and diversity became everyone’s responsibility.
InMobi Supercharged Employee Referral Promoting
It’s one thing to send emails out about open positions. It’s completely next level to advertise and promote employee referrals the way that InMobi does. From team huddles to posters, to public recognition, InMobi was able to supercharge their results and drive their hired by referrals from 20% to 50%.
Not only are these employee referral programs creative, but they also drive significant results that yield higher-quality hires with longer tenures. How much stronger would your business be if it could leverage employee referrals the way these three businesses did?
