Employee Referral Program Policy Template

Here’s a ready to use employee referral policy template. Customise it to your organizational needs and get going. 

 

Overview of the Program

 

As______ (name of the company) business is growing across the world, we are keen to have new talents on board. If you are eager to hire an ideal employee look around and you will find talents in your own social circle. We already have great talents at the workplace, hiring someone like you will bring us good talent with the highest standards and qualifications to exceed the industry standards. We’d like to enhance the mission and vision of our organization through you, so laid this policy.

 

Definitions

 

Referee: An external candidate being referred for an open and full-time role in the organization. (Also known as candidates, referred candidates in this policy document.)

 

Referrer: An existing full-time employee who refers an external candidate for any open position or positions. Contractors and third-party employees are also considered as referrers.

 

Policy Objectives

 

The objectives will direct us to recruit and hire the most qualified people for its open positions.______ (name of the referral program) is our referral program, which aims at bringing the best talents through employee referrals. We believe our best talents inside the organization can easily bring the best talents from outside, and they can be our employees’ friends. Therefore, we encourage our employees to refer external candidates for positions in our company.

 

The employee referral program policy objectives are listed through the following questions.

 

1. Who can participate in the employee referral program?
2. Who can be referred?
3. How to refer a candidate?
4. What can you do after referring?
5. What is a referral bonus?
6. How is a referral bonus pay-out processed?
7. What are the other referral rewards?
8. What is expected from referrers?
9. What defines referral fraud?

 

1. Who can participate in the employee referral program?

 

- All employees and contractors are eligible to participate in the referral program.

 

- Employees above level _____ are welcome to participate but will not be considered for referral rewards.

 

- Employees belonging to the Talent Acquisition and Human Resources function are considered excluded from the policy and will not be considered for referral rewards.

Note: Hiring managers can’t refer anyone for a position they are directly or indirectly accountable for. However, they can refer to a different department or vertical.

 

- The decision of the ______________ is final in all cases when it comes to matters of eligibility.

 

- Third-party vendor employees on our email servers are welcome to participate but not eligible for referral rewards.

 

2. Who can be referred?

 

- Any external candidate can be referred.

 

- Referred candidates can re-apply for the same or different open positions only after six months from the date the candidate first applied.

 

- Refer external candidates based on the job requirements, such as years of experience, expertise, and educational qualifications.

Note: You can’t refer a candidate with non-technical skillset for a technical position.

 

Eligibility criteria to receive referral bonus or rewards

 

For an eligible referrer to receive a referral bonus or award, the following conditions must be met.

 

- Referred candidate must be an external candidate.

 

- Referred candidate is hired within six months of the date of submission through the referral system/portal.

Note: Email referrals will not be considered for rewards.

 

- Even if the referred candidate is hired for a different role than the role they were referred for.

Note: The hiring should happen within six months.

 

Awards will not be given in the following conditions

 

- Candidate whose resume was received from a different source within six months of submission.

 

- Referrals submitted via email outside the referral system.

 

- Interns who are within six months of completing their assignment or graduation (end of training or course completion)

 

- Hiring for any contractor roles.

 

- Hiring of alumni referrals within six months of exit.

 

3. How to refer a candidate?

 

1. Visit the referral portal and view the open job posting.
2. Log in using your official credentials.
3. Look for the open position.
4. Fill in the referral form, with accurate and valid details of the candidate.
5. Attach email before submitting the form.

Note: Send an email with the resume attached to the concerned person stated to receive the resume in the referral system. Check if this is an optional or mandatory process followed by the recruitment team.

 

6. Share jobs on Social Media platforms and any referrals through your social account link will be deemed as referrals.

 

4. What can you do after referring?

 

- Track the status of your referral through the My Referrals tab in the referral system.

 

- Encourage your friends throughout the referral process by sending them personalized messages.

Note: This will make the candidate feel valued and the waiting period meaningful.

 

- Check the My Referrals tab in the referral system for referral status updates.

Note: No explicit notifications will be shared for rejected candidates’, but the status will be made available in the referral system.

 

- Track the status of referral bonuses or rewards in the system.

 

- Participate in any contests when the opportunity arises.

 

5. What is a referral bonus?

 

Employees are entitled to receive a referral bonus or rewards for each successful referral hire. Monetary or non-monetary are given to employees for a successful referral hire. Rewards may vary if you refer for hard-to-fill roles and niche skill sets.

 

6. How is a referral bonus pay-out processed?

 

Rules for referral bonus pay-out

 

- Rewards will be paid out to the referrer once the referred candidate completes 30 days in the organization.

Note: The pay cycle in the subsequent month is to be considered for rewards. For example, the referred candidate joins on 15th January, the referee becomes eligible for reward on 15th February. The referrer will be paid in the month of March.

 

- The referrer needs to be an active employee on the date of payout of the referral reward to receive the same.

 

- In the event of a cross-border referral, the referrer will be paid the reward based on employee/candidate location.

 

- In case of any or all disputes, the ________ authority will be the final decision maker and their decisions will be final.

 

- Rewards are only paid out to eligible employees per the policy and are subject to taxes according to government laws.

 

- If more than one employee is referring the same candidate, the referral credit will go to the employee who has referred first.

 

- There is no cap on the number of referrals an employee can make. All rewards will be paid accordingly.

 

- Referrers are still eligible for rewards even if a referred candidate is hired later or is hired for another position.

 

- Contract and part-time workers are not eligible for a referral bonus.

 

7. What are the other referral rewards?

 

Contests, Gamification, and Others

 

______ (name of the company) recognizes every contribution with a reward for participation. For your contributions, we give away gifts, vouchers, redeemable points, paid vacation, and lunch with the CEO. These are small gestures to show how much we value your contribution and to motivate you to refer more people to our organization.

 

Experiential rewards and contests

 

- Experiential rewards and contests may be run from time to time and are applicable for the duration of the contest.

 

- Each contest will have its own rules which will be listed in the product.

 

- In the event of a conflict between the referral contest and specific policy terms, the decision of the ______ will be final.

Note: In all contests, the equivalent monetary reward in redeemable points will be issued. The employees have the option to choose either the same reward or anything different from the available catalog and redeem their points. We do not take ownership or liability for any e-commerce delays or quality of products from these purchases.

 

8. What is expected from referrers?

 

- Employees are expected to refer responsibly. We highly recommend quality referrals, ensure the skillset and attitude of the candidates suit our organization.

 

- Practice patience. The recruitment team will do its best to consider relevant profiles and respond to them.

Note: Not all referred candidates will be hired, there will be different criteria on why a referred candidate is selected, rejected, or kept on hold. Trust the referral system and do not intervene with the recruitment team’s decision-making process. Our organization believes and holds fair practices and will provide status updates on the referral system.

 

- Refrain from committing referral fraud. It will be dealt with harshly including removal from the referral program and/or termination of the referrer from the organization depending on the severity/extent of the fraud.

 

 

9. What defines referral fraud?

 

- Downloading profiles from different job portals and submitting candidates’ profiles as if the referrer personally knows the candidates.

 

- Sharing the bonus amount with another individual.

 

- Asking the candidates to pay an amount to be referred to the organization.

 

- Conspiring with interviewers or recruiters to select candidates (even when the candidate does not perform well in the interview or if the candidate is a misfit for the job position.)

 

The focus and purpose of a referral program is to find great talents from employees’ social circles. By referring your friends, you are welcoming them to your world of great opportunities. Not only that, but it is also pleasant to have a friend at work with whom you can discuss and learn new ways of doing a task. Together, as a team, you can grow with your friend. Be a responsible referrer and pave the way for fresh and good talent in your workplace.