4 Companies With the Best Employee Referral Awards

How do successful companies motivate their employees to take part in employee referral programs? Discover the secrets of the 4 companies with the best employee referral awards!

Employee referral awards: A perk or a necessity?

Let’s make one thing clear - great employee referral awards are not just another, cool perk that big brands use to showcase their Employer Brand.

Great employee referral awards are a necessity if you want to motivate your employees to take part in your employee referral program.

It is not enough to simply setup up a structured employee referral program.

Yeah, you as an HR professional might be excited about your brand new employee referral program because you know it can significantly improve time, cost and quality of hire.

However, your employees won’t share your excitement if you don’t lure them in with some great employee referral incentives!

So what type of employee referral awards work best?

Let’s take a look at the industry best practices.

4 companies with the best employee referral awards

1. Google

Google found out that giving its employees trips to Hawaii is better than offering them a $1M employee referral cash bonuses.

It may not be the first thing that comes to your mind, or even your employees’ mind when you ask them what they would like.

However, according to Google, it is what makes employees happier than cash incentives.

➡️ Key takeaway:

Test out Google’s best practice with your own employees!

Although your company probably can’t afford to send your employees to Hawaii, look or a more affordable trip option you can offer your employees.

2. DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean launched its new referrals incentive structure in May 2017.

For each referral candidate who is hired, the referring employee received a $3,500 referral bonus in addition to a $1,500 charitable donation paid by DigitalOcean on the employee’s behalf.

The result? By the end of 2017, 40% of DigitalOcean’s new hires have been acquired through referrals.

➡️ Key takeaway:

Structure your employee referral bonuses to serve a good cause.
Instead of offering a cash prize, offer to make a donation to your employee’s favorite charitable organization.

3. Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Instead of focusing solely on great employee referral awards per se, Hewlett Packard Enterprise builds a culture around it.

They regularly organize company events to honor and publicly recognizes employees who refer qualified candidates.

By recognizing their referring employes as “champions” and celebrating their success, this company achieves a greater employee engagement.

➡️ Key takeaway:

Don’t focus only on your employee referral awards and forget to thank your employees for referring great candidates! Even if their candidate doesn’t end up hired in the end, you should still think of a way to thank them for their time and effort.

4. Distillery

Distillery is a software development company that has struggled to find and attract highly-qualified software developers.

This is why they turned to their current software developers and asked them to recommend great candidates.

Along the way, they discovered that their employees are most motivated when offered new gadgets such as a new iPhone or Apple watch.

➡️ Key takeaway:

There is no universal best type of employee referral bonuses that works for every company and every employee. You need to do your research and find out what works best for your own employees