Referred employees are 13% more likely to stay for the long-term - and are hired 55% faster. An employee referral program can be one of the most highly-effective tools in your recruitment arsenal. But building a successful one doesn’t happen overnight. Your company needs to define its culture and values, understand how your culture is being communicated, and where employees are talking about their time on the team. These experiences become the pillars of building an employee referral program based on an authentic employer brand.
Put those findings to work by engaging employees for smarter, quicker hiring – with these three tactics.
Create thoughtful company events
Bring employees together and provide opportunities for the team to share achievements, work wins and challenges they face in their roles. While some events might be more conducive to specific topics than others, think about how fundraising or PR events, quarterly staff meetings, or team-bonding excursions can build trust and respect with your team, leading to genuine employee stories. These opportunities to share should include a public-facing component that supports your employer branding strategy, like an employee highlight video on screen at an event, or a designated team member posting on social media about an employee presentation.
Support employee growth
Give your workforce something to talk about! From promotions and new titles to training and career development opportunities, be involved in shaping your team’s success and encourage their ambition. This leads to more engaged employees in general, as well as authentic conversations your employees might have with potential candidates. You can directly engage employees in the hiring process by showcasing how your company has supported them, or simply let employee experiences speak for themselves.
Utilize your social networks
Employee content shared on social media is 8x more engaging than brand channel content – and is shared 25x more frequently. This means that your audience wants to hear directly from employees about what the company is like, and not from sponsored company content or corporate profiles. Whether you create your own employer social network or establish a hashtag for employees to use, make sure your teams have a chance to share on social and help you recruit the perfect talent.
