Employee referral programs have many advantages that can help organizations and their employees thrive. However, they don’t always work as they are supposed to, and in some cases, they fail.
Let’s take a look at some of the causes that lead to employee referral programs failing. Knowing and recognizing these causes can help ensure your referral program can be made to work and deliver the expected positive results.
Lack of Transparency
An employee referral program should be simple and transparent. Everyone involved, including the candidate and the employee, should be able to easily track the progress from start to finish. Some companies put a lot of effort into getting their employees excited about getting referrals, but when they finally recruit a candidate, they are left in the dark about the process. This backfires on the employee when things don’t go as hoped, and can tarnish the program’s reputation as a whole.
Many employees will refer a friend or relative for a position. It’s important to treat the candidate in a way that reflects well on the company and the referring employee. This means even if the candidate isn’t a good fit, your recruiters should acknowledge the candidate and thank them for their time. They should also thank the referring employee for the referral and encourage them to continue referring other candidates.
Ineffective Rewards
Rewards may vary, but they should reflect something the team values and will be excited to receive as compensation for their efforts. The cost-saving benefits of a successful referral are well-known, and the reward for referring a new hire should reflect that. Employees will only be motivated to refer trusted contacts from their network if their effort is valued sufficiently.
Moreover, different rewards produce different results depending on the environment. The best way to ensure the reward scheme for a referral program is fair and well-targeted is to ask employees what they would want in a poll.
Bad UX and accessibility
People want to avoid sifting through a cobweb of links to upload their resume. If the online experience for both employees and referrals is not smooth and user-friendly, the whole referral program might suffer.
Moreover, it should be accessible through mobile devices. Suppose a referral can only be submitted from a laptop rather than with a few taps of the screen. In that case, many potential referrals will never make it to the recruiter’s inbox.
