The Many Benefits of an Employee Referral Program

Does your company have an employee referral program? If not, it may be something to consider. Employee referral programs have been known to help companies recruit long-term, top talent in a quick and effective way. Employee referral programs can also be a great indicator of a company’s morale. If this sounds like something your company could use, read on to learn more about the many benefits of an employee referral program. 

An employee referral program can help you find the best people for the job

Employee referral programs are effective in helping to hire the best candidates because your employees, according to Balance Careers, “are uniquely qualified to identify the best candidates since they know the organization’s mission and company culture”. An employee referral program encourages your employees to seek out candidates that they believe would be a great fit for your company. Further, your employees are more likely to refer candidates that they are willing to vouch for. By implementing an employee referral program, you can recruit your own employees to help you find the best candidates for the open positions at your company.

An employee referral program can help your company hire more quickly

A candidate that was referred from within your own company cuts down the time it takes to hire. If one of your employees refers a candidate for an open position, you may not even need to take the time to create a job description and post it or spend hours of your time sifting through resumes trying to identify the best potential candidates. Ultimately, a referred candidate can get scheduled for an interview much more quickly than a traditional candidate because less time is spent finding that referred candidate. According to a study by JobVite, “on average it takes 29 days to hire a referred candidate, compared to 39 days to hire a candidate through a job posting or 55 days to hire a candidate through a career site”. Simply, employee referral programs can help cut down the time it takes to find the right person for the job.

Referred candidates will onboard more quickly

Once the referred candidate accepts the job and starts at your company, they are also likely to onboard more quickly than a traditional hire would. According to Recruiter.com, the reason referred candidates are more likely to onboard quickly is because they “get firsthand information about the atmosphere of the company and the workload of the job” making them “better prepared to join the company than non-referred employees”. Likewise, according to LinkedIn, the referred candidate “feels like they have a friend who’s not their boss to turn to and ask questions as they onboard”. So, if you want to find and hire employees that will join your company and hit the ground running, consider implementing an employee referral program.  

Referred candidates are more likely to stick around

Hiring an employee is great, but what if they don’t stick around? Well, good news – referred candidates are more likely to stick around than traditional hires. In fact, according to the same study by JobVite, “46 percent of referred hires stuck around for at least one year after they were hired, which was far above the 33 percent of people hired through career sites and 22 percent hired through job boards.” If you want quality hires that are more likely to stick around, an employee referral program can help you hire and retain the best people for the job.

Employee Referrals are a good indicator of company morale

The last benefit of an employee referral program is that it can be incredibly telling of your company’s culture. If your employees refer their friends to your company, it means they like to work there, too. Your employees aren’t going to refer their talented friends to a company that they’re not happy at. So, if you want to get a good read on the morale of your company, implement an employee referral program and see if your employees get excited about the idea of recommending their friends for your company. 

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