Employee referral programs are among the most effective ways to attract high-quality candidates. Referred employees are usually a better cultural fit, stay longer, and contribute more to the company.

However, managing these programs manually can be tricky. Endless follow-ups, manual tracking, and missed opportunities can turn what should be a smooth hiring strategy into a time-consuming burden.

Many companies struggle with referral programs that require heavy admin, leading to delays, missed opportunities, and frustrated employees. Automating your referral program can eliminate inefficiencies, increase employee participation, and speed up hiring.

But before we dive in, we must answer one vital question.

What Makes Referral Programs So Important

Referral programs are highly effective. Referral hires make up around 30-40% of all hires, even though they only account for 7% of applications. That’s because referral hires are typically faster to onboard, stay longer, and tend to fit in with the company culture much better than those sourced through other recruitment channels.

However, when these programs are managed manually, their potential is limited. Tracking referrals, following up, and handling rewards by hand can slow everything down and lead to lost opportunities. Without streamlining, companies risk discouraging employees from participating, which defeats the program’s purpose.

So, let’s explore ten ways to streamline referral programs using automation.

1. Simplify Referral Submissions

Submitting referrals shouldn’t feel like a chore. Employees hesitate when the process is too complex, and potential candidates are lost. Instant referral links, accessible from any device, can drastically simplify the process and make it easier for employees to contribute.

This simple step removes friction, helping employees submit referrals quickly and without frustration.

2. Use AI to Surface Candidates

Finding your ideal candidate in a sea of resumes can take a lot of time. Leverage AI to scan your employee networks for candidates that match your target qualifications. From there rely on automation to notify the employee to make a referral.

Combining AI and automation ensures recruiters aren’t wasting time screening irrelevant profiles.

3. Track Referrals Automatically

Keeping track of every referral manually? That’s a surefire way to lose track of valuable candidates. Automated tracking tools can ensure that every referral is accounted for and can notify recruiters at each stage of the process.

This real-time tracking means no referral goes unnoticed, and recruiters can focus on advancing the best candidates.

4. Provide Real-Time Status Updates

Employees expect transparency. They can quickly lose interest in participating if they have no idea what’s happening with their referrals. Real-time status updates keep employees engaged by showing them exactly where their referral is in the process.

With automation, employees can log into their personalized dashboards to see referral progress, which increases trust and engagement.

5. Automate Reward Management

Referral rewards are one of the key motivators for employees. However, manually verifying and distributing rewards can cause delays, leading to frustration. Automating the reward process—verifying successful referrals and distributing rewards quickly—ensures employees are rewarded on time.

This builds trust and motivates employees to keep referring candidates.

6. Set Notifications for Follow-Ups

Staying on top of referrals requires timely follow-ups, and that’s hard to do manually. Automated notifications can remind recruiters and employees when action is needed, ensuring no referral is forgotten.

By setting notifications for critical actions, both employees and recruiters stay informed and proactive, making the process smoother.

7. Gamify the Referral Program

Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of healthy competition? Adding gamification elements like leaderboards, badges, and challenges can drive engagement and motivate employees to participate more. With automation, these elements can be introduced and tracked seamlessly, keeping the referral program lively and interactive.

This boosts participation and keeps the referral process at the top of employees’ minds.

8. Integrate Seamlessly with ATS and HR Systems

Manually entering referral data into an ATS or HR system is tedious and error-prone. Automation ensures that referral data flows seamlessly from submission to hire without manual data entry.

By integrating automated referral programs with existing ATS platforms, you can eliminate redundant tasks and keep their systems up to date without manual input.

9. Get Real-Time Analytics and Reports

Manually compiling reports to assess a referral program’s performance is time-consuming and often inaccurate. Automated reporting allows for real-time insights into metrics such as referral-to-hire ratios, time-to-hire, and employee engagement.

Recruiters can quickly identify what’s working, optimize strategies, and track the program’s success without manually sorting through data.

10. Ensure Diversity with AI-Driven Recommendations

Manual referral programs can sometimes unintentionally lead to biased hiring. Automating the process with AI can help surface candidates from diverse backgrounds, focusing only on their skills and qualifications rather than their connections or demographics.

AI ensures that referrals are based on the right criteria, helping to improve diversity in the candidate pipeline without adding extra steps for recruiters.

Boon Ticks All the Boxes

Boon offers comprehensive automation solutions for simplifying submissions, automating candidate matching, and boosting employee engagement. It delivers a seamless, efficient, and user-friendly experience that makes referral programs more effective.

This is how Boon checks all the boxes for an ideal automated referral platform:

1. Simplified submissions: Employees can submit referrals with just a click from any device, making it easier to get quality candidates into the pipeline.
2. Real-time tracking and updates: No more lost referrals or delayed responses. Boon’s platform provides real-time tracking and status updates to both employees and recruiters, ensuring transparency at every stage.
3. Automated reward distribution: With automated reward management, employees get rewards quickly and accurately, increasing motivation to participate without HR lifting a finger.
4. Engagement-boosting gamification: Boon integrates gamification elements like badges, challenges, and leaderboards, keeping employees engaged and excited about referring their connections.
5. Seamless integration: Boon works effortlessly with your existing ATS and HR systems, ensuring that referral data flows smoothly from submission to hire without manual entry.
6. Diversity-enhancing AI: Boon’s AI ensures that diversity remains a priority by recommending candidates based on qualifications. This eliminates unconscious bias from the hiring process.

Boon’s automated platform delivers results by increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and creating a more engaging and effective referral program. But don’t just take our word for it—here’s how one company used Boon to transform its referral process.

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Automation in Action

To illustrate the impact of automating referral programs, let’s look at how Platecraft*, a mid-sized restaurant chain, improved its hiring process. Before automating its referral program, Platecraft struggled with manually managing submissions, tracking progress, and rewarding employees.

After implementing automated referral systems using Boon, the results were impressive:

• Referral hires increased from 25% to 40% of all hires.
• Referral submissions went up by 60%.
• The company reduced its turnover rate from 85% to 65%.
• The time to hire referred candidates was 40% faster.
• Administrative work was reduced by 70%.
• Platecraft saved an estimated $150,000 annually by reducing recruitment advertising costs and turnover-related expenses.

By automating the referral process, Platecraft saved money, improved employee engagement, and accelerated its hiring process.

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Conclusion

Automating your referral program brings a lot of advantages. From faster hiring and better employee engagement to reducing administrative burdens, automation simplifies every step. Unlock the full potential of referral programs and ensure that your company attracts and retains top talent.

Ready to improve the efficiency of your referral program? Request your demo today!

*Platecraft is a pseudonym used to protect our client’s confidentiality.

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