Eira Schweigert
HRM 300
December 14, 2014
Christine Evans
The Pros and Cons of Employee-Referral Programs
Employee referral programs are nothing new and for decades have filled about thirty percent of job openings. There are many benefits to using a referral program such as a higher rate of retention. Research has shown that referral programs lead to longer term employment; the employee already knows someone in the company and so there is less effort to assimilate into your company’s culture. Another benefit is that it is less expensive to offer a cash incentive then spend time and money looking for a new talent on the multitude of sites offered to employers these days.
Some of the disadvantages are that since you have employees that know each other the playing field, so to speak, is not quite even. Clichés can occur and other employees may feel alienated. You can run into decreased collaboration; having employees that feel out of place or threatened does not work well when it comes to teamwork. They may feel that their input is not valued which will rob the company of varying viewpoints. If the referred employee does not work out and must be let go can have an impact on productivity of the staff member that referred them.