smashfly employee referral programs survey report 2015

Beyond Employees: Employee Referral Programs Redefined

Summary Report & Survey Results May 2015

© 2015 SmashFly Technologies. All rights reserved. #smashflyreferrals

Table of Contents A look behind the data in this SmashFly report

© 2015 SmashFly Technologies. All rights reserved.

• Methodology

• Summary results

• % that have a referral program

• If no program, why not

• If yes, % new hires from referrals

• How do you administer referral program

• From whom do you solicit referrals

• Quality of referrals vs. other sources

• How do you track referral source

• How confident in your tracking method

• How do you reward successful referrals

• How do you track referral rewards

• Employee understanding of program

• Your role and title

• Your organization size and HQ location

• # hires and annual turnover rate

• Cost per hire by # of hires

• SmashFly recommendations

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Survey methodology A look behind the data in this SmashFly report


• In April 2015, SmashFly conducted an online survey about Employee Referral Programs

• 114 talent acquisition/human resources professionals participated, 74% manager level or above

• 86% from companies headquartered in North America, across a range of company sizes

• Responses were anonymous

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Survey results (1 of 3) What the SmashFly Employee Referrals survey reveals


• Employee Referral Programs are widely used because they produce a high volume of qualified candidates

• 77% of organizations currently have a formal referral program

• 32% of new hires come from referrals on average, and rate highest in quality among sources of hire

• 57% limit their referral program to employees only

• 43% extend their program beyond employees to include alumni, contractors, customers, vendors and/or partners

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• Analysis shows those that reach beyond employees get 28% more hires from referrals and 8% better quality candidates

• This data illustrates that extending who can refer candidates into the organization can increase the volume of leads without sacrificing quality

• 35% are actively seeking ways to start a formal program

• Yet 44% say lack of budget and no easy way to manage referrals are holding them back

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• 53% use their ATS to manage the referral program

• 51% use their ATS to track referrals as the source of hire

• However, 45% have only somewhat to no confidence in their method of tracking

• 86% provide a bonus payment for successful referrals

• But 35% still use a spreadsheet to track rewards

• Challenges in managing and tracking referrals must be overcome for more organizations to realize the benefits of this important recruiting source

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Do you have an employee referral program 77% have a formal referral program

Yes 77%

No 19%

Don't know 4%

© 2015 SmashFly Technologies. All rights reserved. 7

If no, why not 44% don’t have budget or a way to easily manage referrals


We're in the process of putting together a formal

program soon 35%

Our ad-hoc program is good enough - we don't need the

formality 9%

A formal program would take too much to manage

6%

We don't have the budget to give

rewards or gifts 20%

We don't have the budget for an employee referral

system / tool 18%

We don't find value in referrals

3% I don't know

9%

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If yes, percentage of new hires from referrals 32% of new hires came from referrals in the past 12 months (average)


28% 36% Among participants that

get referrals from employees only

Among participants that reach beyond employees to get referrals

28% More referrals

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How do you administer your referral program 53% manage referrals through their ATS


We use our ATS 53%

We have a stand- alone referral

tool 15%

We use a spreadsheet 24%

I don’t know 8%

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From whom do you solicit referrals 57% limit their referral program to employees only


97.7%

27.3% 26.1%

17.1% 14.8% 11.4% 3.4%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

43% Extend their program beyond employees to include alumni, contractors, customers, vendors and/or partners

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Rate the quality of referrals vs. other sources Quality of referrals ranks high among sources of hire


2.18

2.61

2.7

2.81

2.9

3.02

3.11

3.13

3.49

3.93

4.03

1 2 3 4 5

Advertising (print/radio/etc.)

Job Fairs

Job Boards

Agency / Contract Recruiters

Search Engines

Social Media

Career Site

Temp to Hire

Direct Source

Internal Candidates

Referrals

Awful Great So-So Good Fair

8% Among participants that reach beyond employees to solicit referrals Higher quality

12 Average among all participants

How do you track that a hire is a referral 51% track referrals using their ATS


My ATS tracks that the candidate came from a formal referral process

51%

My employee referral tool tracks that the candidate

came from a formal referral process

10%

Candidate selects from drop-down

menu during apply process

17%

Recruiter asks during screening process

13%

Candidate provides information after being

hired 5%

I don’t know 3%

Other 1%

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How confident are you in how you track source 45% have somewhat to no faith in their method to track referrals


Absolutely 23%

Pretty Confident 32%

Somewhat 20%

A Little 17%

No Faith 8%

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How do you reward people who refer 86% provide a bonus payment for successful referrals


We don’t provide rewards

1%

We provide a referral bonus payment

86%

We provide them with a gift

5%

We recognize them but no bonus or gift

5%

It varies depending on the individual

submitting the referral 2% I don't know

1%

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How do you track referral rewards 35% rely on spreadsheets to track reward payouts


We track with our ATS

24%

We track with our employee referral tool

11%

We track with a different HR system

17%

We track with spreadsheets

35%

I don't know 10%

Other 3%

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How well do your employees… Many referral programs are not well understood or easy to use


Completely 15%

Pretty good 33% Somewhat

33%

Barely 15%

Not at all 4%

Completely 16%

Pretty good 25%

Somewhat 36%

Barely 15%

Not at all 8%

Understand your referral program?

Find your program easy to use?

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Your role and title 69% in talent acquisition, 74% manager level or above


HR Generalist 5%

Recruiting / Talent

Acquisition 69%

HR Systems / Technology

13%

Learning & Development

5%

Employee Relations

2% Other 6%

C-level / VP 7%

Director 25%

Manager 42%

Team member

22%

Other 4%

Role? Title?

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Your organization size and HQ location 86% from North America, range of company sizes


Fewer than 100

Employees 19%

100 - 1,000 Employees

15%

1,001 - 5,000 Employees

22%

5,001 - 10,000

Employees 11%

10,001 - 50,000

Employees 17%

Over 50,000 Employees

16%

United States 81%

Canada 5%

Australia 4%

Europe 6%

Other 4%

Size? HQ location?

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Your number of hires and turnover rate 50% fill <500, 25% fill 501-2,500 & 21% fill >2,501 jobs, 23% average annual turnover rate


Fewer than 100 jobs

27%

101 - 250 jobs 11%

251 - 500 jobs 12%

501 - 1,000 jobs 13%

1,000 - 2,500 jobs 12%

2,501 - 5,000 jobs 7%

5,001 - 10,000 jobs

6%

Over 10,000 jobs 8%

Don't know 4%

Annual turnover rate?

23% # of hires annually globally?

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Your cost per hire by number of hires Average approx. cost per hire of all participants is $3,900


Number of hires annually globally

Average approximate cost per hire

<500 jobs $3,500 501 – 2,500 jobs $6,000 >2,501 jobs $4,050

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SmashFly Recommendations (1 of 2) Ways organizations can maximize referrals


Leverage the power of your organization’s full network by inviting alumni, contractors, customers, vendors, partners and fans to refer candidates

Incentivize more referrals by allowing multiple people to sponsor the same candidate and to make general referrals not just for a specific job

Ensure quality of referrals remains high by asking sponsors to provide a recommendation, not just a name

Remove the red tape by keeping referrals open-ended and not limited by the date the referral is made or when the job is posted

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SmashFly Recommendations (2 of 2) Ways organizations can maximize referrals


Stay in compliance with corporate policies and government regulations by validating the sponsor-candidate relationship and rules acceptance

Make it easy for sponsors to find and refer candidates using their social networks and email contacts

Communicate transparently with sponsors on the status of their referrals and rewards through an online sponsor portal

Keep sponsors engaged by automating timely and relevant email that puts you top of mind

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About SmashFly Technologies Forefront of modern talent acquisition strategy


SmashFly’s award-winning Total Recruitment Marketing Platform enables talent acquisition teams to attract, engage and nurture candidates and convert them into qualified applicants using a centralized management system that automates and measures recruiting strategies and programs. Customers use SmashFly to unite their previously disconnected recruiting tools into an integrated software platform for Job Distribution, Candidate Relationship Management (CRM), Talent Networks, mobile-responsive and SEO-optimized Career Sites, Employee Referrals, Social Recruiting and Recruiting Analytics. Used to target pre-applicants in the front-end of the talent acquisition process, SmashFly integrates with any applicant tracking system (ATS) to provide unparalleled, real-time analytics on the sources that produce the best hires for the organization. Learn more at smashfly.com.

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http://smashfly.com/

#smashflyreferrals

smashfly employee referral programs survey report 2015

Recruiting & HR