Just about every industry is struggling with acquiring and retaining talent in this new world. The Great Resignation of 2021 might be a real phenomenon. According to the United States Department of Labor, a record 4 million people quit their jobs in April alone. Employee retention is more important than ever, so businesses should be taking active steps to create an engaging and welcoming work environment. This will keep satisfaction levels high throughout your team and potentially allow you to leverage the most effective recruiting method for long-term hires: employee referrals. Essentially, companies need to think about having a “best place to work” brand that attracts talent and incentivizes employees to refer their colleagues. Here are a few practices you can implement to make your business more referrable by employees.
Higher Retention Rates
Employees who are sourced through an employee referral program are also more likely to stay. Retention rates for referred hires are at 45 percent after two years, more than double the 20 percent retention rate for traditional hires.
Close The Loop on Employee Referrals
One of the easiest ways to stall your employee referrals is to close employees out of the loop once they deliver a referral. Be sure to let them know what happened to their referral! Without your input, your employees will be left asking themselves questions like, “Was the referral interviewed? How did it go?” When met with radio silence time and time again, employees will develop a reluctance to providing quality referrals.
Healthy and Diverse Workforce
Diversity is one of the most vital components of a positive work environment. When a workplace embraces a culture of diversity, employees are more relaxed, engaged, and genuinely feel part of a thriving team. Of course, these factors will also increase their desire to provide solid referrals to the team down the road. It is critical to maintain a workspace that welcomes cultural, work experience, gender, and language diversity.
Train Managers…and Train them Again
One of the most frequently reported reasons for a person to dislike their job or leave their job is their immediate supervisor. A disengaged employee is unlikely to refer others to work for you. Ensure you provide ongoing and comprehensive management, supervisors, and leadership training to your teams so they can manage effectively and drive employee loyalty UP.
Offer Benefits and Rewards
A great way to give a business a jolt of new employee referrals is to develop a program that offers employees meaningful bonuses for submitting referrals. Be sure to keep in mind that in 2021, your rewards program will likely have to be tailored for the new hybrid work environment. Once you have a rewards system in place, it’s important to continue marketing it to your team! These programs fail when they are marketed to staff one time per year or only at inception.
After implementing any of the above methods, be sure to periodically follow up with employees to get a feeling for their openness to referring family and friends for employment. Determining your Employee Net Promoter (ENPS) or Team Net Promoter (TNPS) is a great first step you can use to gauge the satisfaction of individual team members and your team as a whole. Need help developing surveys questions to uncover your NPS? TriBridge Partners is here for you!
Boost Your Employee Referrals with TriBridge Partners, LLC
TriBridge Partners is a team of specialists in Health and Employee Benefits, Benefits Technology Consulting, and Organizational Enterprise Planning. Everything we do, we do because we believe in making a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve. To discover how our experts can assist your organization or business, please call our office today at 240-422-8799 or contact Paul Younkins, Chief Innovation Officer, paul.younkins@tribridgeparners.com
