8 Reasons Why Your Employee Referral Program Is Failing

8 Reasons Why Your Employee Referral Program Is Failing 8 Reasons Why Your Employee Referral Program Is Failing Employee referrals are easily one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of attracting talent to organizations. You can count on new hires referred by current employees to be fully immersed within your company culture in a matter of weeks.But sometimes employee referral programs dont bring desired effects and result in few, if any, quality hires. Here are some key reasons why your employee referral program might be failing and some tips to help you fix it1. No Information Flow About Open PositionsAs a recruiter, you clearly know what positions are open at the company. But if you never communicate these open positions to employees, how do you expect them to bring in quality candidates? Consequently, few employees participate in the referral program, and it slowly become irrelevant as a source of great candidates.You can use automatic tools to keep the communication flow open between you and your employees, or simply send weekly or monthly emails in whichyou list all open positions.2. You Fail to Keep Candidates in the LoopOrganizations often fail to engage with a candidate for weeks after interviewing them. Naturally, job seekers grow frustrated and turn back to the employees who referred them in the first place.Its your job to keep both candidates and employees in the loop about the recruitment process. It is also important to group referred candidatesseparately from candidates sourced by other means. This will allow you to stay informed about who referred whom and whether or not your employee referral program is actually resulting in great hires.3. You Never Change Referral RewardsIf you stick to the same referral rewards for a long time, youre effectively failing to excite employees about the opportunity to refer their friends. Naturally, as employees lose motivation to participate, you lose out on quality hires through their referrals. Sh ake things up from time to time to keep employees engaged in your referral program.4. You Use an Ineffective ATSApplicant tracking systems (ATS) are great for sorting through many candidate profiles and matching them to keywords in job descriptions.Butby reducing candidates to mere keywords, youre losing out on their industry insights, drive to innovate, and/or learning capabilities.When hiring through employee referrals, avoid running these resumes through the ATS, but keep another channel open to grant them priority in the recruiting process.5. You Fail to Respond to Referrals in a Timely FashionWhen and how you respond to employee referrals has a huge impact on your employee referral program. Many recruiters make the mistake of failing to respond personally to every referral that comes their way. A lack of a response or a response that comes too late can damage the performance of your employee referral program.Respond to each referralin a timely manner, and youll showemployees that their referrals are treated seriously and are worth the effort.6. You Never Set Expectations for Your ProgramLaunching a referral program without a clear objective is pointless. Determine what such a program can accomplish and set clear expectations for recruiters and employees alike. Keep communicating these expectationsthroughout the duration of the program and youll never find yourself breaking your promises.7.Your Site Isnt Mobile-OptimizedAreferral website thatisnt optimized for mobile is a serious mistake. It will limit the number of referrals arriving at your doorstep because employees do mora work through mobile devices rather than their computers. Optimize your website for mobile, and youll be offering a great experience for employees willing to refer a quality hire on the go.8. You Exclude Some Employees From the ProgramExcluding certain employees from the program e.g., senior managers or HR professionals is another bad idea. Your motive might be transparency and fa irness of the process, but by excluding these people fromthe program,youll affect employee motivation. These figures should lead by example, and their participation in the program matters. If they dont participate, why should other employees?If you dont want to lose a considerable number of quality hires, address these problems with your employee referral program. Youll be on your way to making the mostof your current employees and the talent pools they bring with themselves.