An Employee Referral Program is a common offering found in many organizations. These programs are perceived to offer a win-win outcome for the employer and employee. Employees receive a bonus for referring a new hire, and employers save money in not paying a fee traditionally charged by staffing agencies, and through reducing the costly time-to-hire period. It is also true that employers are getting candidates that are known professionals of their current workforce, and they tend to stay employed for a longer period. Some may say that this is the icing on the cake, but it is these factors per se that impacts the effects of referral programs; the “Mirror Image Referral Effect” of employee referral programs can prevent or negatively impact diversity in the workforce.
There are social science studies that show people tend to spend their time with people similar to themselves. These studies offer support to the “Mirror Image Referral Effect” that plagues employers whose workforce predominantly represents one race or gender. For this article, the professional pool of candidates referred to are available through multiple pathways, like education, to employment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives us a glimpse into the candidate pool referred to in this article. The average pool of candidates available by occupation and education per the 2015 release of data collected in 2014, offers a view of the full scope of opportunity to diversify the workplace through an employee referral program.
Based on this data, employees in the workplace have access to many professionals within their industry/education to refer that differ from their race and education. Having this type of data shall lead HR and Talent professionals to review the semantics of their employee referral program. Is it time to define the difference between referring and recommend so the workforce can expand their candidate offering to the talent team for consideration of employment?
According to the above definitions, it may be time. A program can be rebranded to include both of these types of candidate offerings to the organization. The rebranding should also catalyzed for your employees to feel more confident to engage with others in the external community and their professional network in and outside the workplace. Short blogs, social media, emails or videos can market the concept of diversifying the workforce through the new program to strengthen the presence of the organization within its industry. Referrals allow for the candidate pool to expand with the understanding that the employee is directing a professional, who is perceived as successful in their field, to the organization. Employees may engage other professionals in learning more about the opportunities in the company simply because they see they are in the same profession or someone told them about a colleague who is looking for a new opportunity. In some respect, this activity isn’t much different than what the staffing agencies are doing with many of the candidates they refer.
The image in the mirror should be an option and not the default. Changing the semantics of your program surely isn’t offered as the perfect remedy to the “Mirror Image Referral Effect”. It does facilitate a change in behavior for those who want to expand their team and company’s presence, as well as, earn bonuses.
Davita “Nicole” Carpenter, M.B.A., SHRM-SCP
