When you are looking for a new employee, where is your first spot to start looking? Job boards? Recruiters? You already know what you are looking for: a well trained, hard working, quality employee. Do you already have one of those? Guess what? Normally employees have friends that are just like them!

Employee referral programs can save you time and money in recruiting.

Why Employee Referral Programs Work

Many technicians and service advisors are not out looking at job boards. In fact, an estimated 85% of employed technicians are open to new opportunities, but not actively looking. However, if they hear a good shop hiring, they may consider learning more.

Your employees are your best advocates, and the easiest and fastest way to get in front of qualified technicians in this market. Offering an incentive program to employees helps keep referrals at the top of their minds.

3 Tips For Creating an Employee Referral Program

Setting up an internal referral program can be simple and easy. Your goal is to incentivize your team to tell their friends and family about your open position.

Here are some tips for creating an employee referral program at your shop.

1. Offer a referral bonus.

I’m not talking $100 or even $500—make it worth their while! Most recruiters can charge $5000 or more for hiring fees. Offer your team a $1000 hiring bonus or more. I guarantee that they will tell their friends and family about the position. A few tips:

  • This may seem scary, but remember you are the one making the hiring decisions. It’s up to you to make sure you make a good hire.
  • Don’t pay the referral bonus out until after 30 days of the new hire being employed.

2. Make sure employees know ALL referrals are welcome.

Sometimes, employees may not want to tie their name and reputation to others. Many are skittish to provide you their friends’ names. You are the hiring manager and decision-maker. If you make a bad hire, that is on you! Don’t tie your employee’s name to it. Make sure your employees know that. You want them to submit as many referrals as possible. It is your job to filter through them.

3. Get your team to share your open positions on social media.

Share your Wrenchway Top Shop page online. One thing we did at my previous employer was we would do a “snack shack” and everyone that shares that we were hiring on social media would get to get a candy bar, chips, soda, etc. We would do it every other week and all of the employees loved it! Something as simple as snacks can go a long way to encourage employees to share your open positions with their networks. We also make it really easy for our clients to do this through our new Team Shares tool.