Your Weekly Checklist for “The Summer to Evolve” – July 20-24
Week 6 was full of positive vibes as we talked about ways to recognize and reward some of your strongest employees — and hire a few of their friends. The name of the game this week was “employee referrals”, and we recounted some of the oldest referral programs (dating all the way back to ancient Rome!) to the most forward-thinking strategies for finding and hiring the best employee referrals.
Then, check out these action items you can tackle this week and this month to make the most of your employee referrals:
Hot Takes from Week 6 of “The Summer to Evolve” 
- The oldest employee referral program dates to Roman times. A decree signed by Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. promised a reward of 300 sestertii to any soldier who brought a friend to join the Roman army — a third of a soldier’s annual pay.
- The first two weeks of employment are the best times to ask employees for a referral.
- The best time to send an internal email to maximize open rates is between 3-6 p.m. on a Tuesday. This helps generate the highest level of employee participation.
- Did you know companies such as Google have doubled their cash bonuses and not seen an increase in their referral levels? Yet GoDaddy cut their bonus by a third, down $1,000, and boosted their number of referrals.
The reward should be aligned with how hard it is to fill the role. We don’t recommend bonuses over $2,500 as they often don’t increase referral numbers, and they’re typically lower quality referrals.
Top Ways to Get Started with Employee Referrals THIS WEEK
Challenge your HR team and the wider company to submit ideas for an official name for your referral program like “People Helping People” or “Refer & Earn”. The most successful referral programs incorporate fun branding elements and make the program easy to remember.
Revisit your probation period for referred hires, and if it exceeds 90 days, consider shortening that time frame to 30-60 days.
During onboarding, ask your new hires to list 2-3 names of people they’d like to work with again.
Top Ways to Get Started with Employee Referrals THIS MONTH
Decide which incentives to offer as part of your employee referral program that go beyond cash rewards. Consider prizes like gift cards, social recognition, charitable donations, etc.
Ensure your employees can submit referrals via multiple channels like an online portal, email, an internal messaging system, and especially over mobile. On average, 40% of employee referrals are made via mobile devices.
Develop employee referral targets for 3, 6, and 12 months in advance. Use these popular metrics to set and track your goals:
- Participation rates by department or location
- Number of referrals from each employee
- Rate of referred applicants who are hired
- Quality of hire
- Retention rates
- Diversity
Thanks for joining us for Week 6!
We’re really excited about next week’s topic of “Building Diverse Audiences”, and we hope you’ll join us for some thought-provoking, authentic, and helpful discussions.