Last year, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) issued recommendations for companies on how to organize employee referral programs. However, it seems that the recommendations include practices which have long been applied across companies and sectors, and are currently obsolete. Why, for instance, should new employees only be recommended by current employees?
This question was raised in an interesting article on ERE.net. The author Mary Grace Hennessy from SmashFly Technologies writes that it is necessary to look for additional opportunities to use more resources for recommending new employees. Companies that work with referrals from academia, business partners or customers, hire more employees on recommendation than those using only referrals from their employees. And as we know, employees hired by recommendation are the best. Mary Grace Hennessy suggests rewriting the rules as follows:
Old rule: "All Company XYZ employees, except Vice President levels and above, Human Resources personnel, and managers with hiring authority over the referred candidates are eligible to refer candidates."
New rule: "All Company XYZ employees, alumni, partners, vendors, contractors, customers, and fans are eligible and encouraged to refer talent into the organization. Only Company XYZ employees, who are not VP level and above, HR personnel, or the direct hiring manager are eligible for rewards."
Furthermore, you should eliminate the rule which states that the possibility of providing employee referrals expires once a job is publicly advertised. On the other hand, however, you should keep the rule which says that the first contact of a potential new employee with an employer must be arranged by the person who will be considered as the referral provider and who is entitled to compensation. To obtain rewards for referrals, however, it should no longer be necessary to submit referrals on a special form along with the potential employee's CV and job application.
Companies should be a bit more flexible to open new paths to get more engaged workers and better referrals. Do not unnecessarily limit yourself by obsolete processes and technologies. Who do you allow to recommend new employees?
-kk-