Championing Employee Referrals During Reductions in Force

Written by Dr. John Sullivan Wednesday, 07 July 2010 10:26

It’s quite natural for employees to lose their enthusiasm for employee referrals during periods when organizations are forced to layoff existing employees in mass due to economic conditions, changes in strategic direction, or migration of work.  However, organizations are a lot like automobiles, even when budgets are tight, there is some maintenance that must be done to keep the auto functioning and to avoid larger expenses down the road.  Vacancies occur inside organizations for many reasons, and filling them as quickly as possible with high quality talent helps keep the organization functioning and sets the stage for a more stable future.

When it comes to championing employee referrals in an organization that has recently or is about to entertain layoff’s, it is critical that the organization position participation in the employee referral program as a way to help the organization become more productive, more stable, and ultimately more capable of avoiding further layoffs.

The Continuing Need for Talent

There are many justifications for opening a new requisition in the midst of layoffs, and making sure that employees understand why the requisition was opened, why it is critical that it be filled quickly, and why those employees affected by the reductions in force are not applicable will help alleviate uneasiness with highly visible recruitment messaging during this time.  Some of the reasons that may be relevant to opening a new requisition include:

• Spot openings – even when hiring freezes and layoffs are in effect, vacancies can be created by unplanned turnover, retirements, and increases in work volume due to location consolidation, key account growth, etc.
• Building a talent pool – some roles can take months to fill, so opening requisitions long before you anticipate actually needed new talent can ensure that when the organization needs to flip the switch, great high quality talent has already been identified and relationships established.  
• New skills – often times growth into new product areas and markets requires access to skills and knowledge absent from your organization in its current state, making recruitment or retraining of those affected by layoffs essential.  However, in a fast changing economy, it may not be possible or economical to retrain current workers fast enough to meet that immediate need.
• New locations – consolidation or growth into new geographic regions where current employees are unwilling to relocate to is common in organizations facing layoffs, resulting in a need to new external talent.
• Brand building – layoffs can damage an employee brand, especially if handled poorly.  Employees active on social networks or in professional associations can help to rebuild the organizations image as a great employer much more quickly than centralized efforts, making participation in the referral program more important.
• Talent opportunities – another reason requisitions might be opened during a period of layoffs is the opportunity to hire top talent that the organization would have been unlikely to get prior to the economic chaos.

The Important Role Employees Can Play In Acquiring Talent

Whenever you want someone else to help you accomplish something, it makes sense to make the business case for them to do so.  Helping employees understand why their participation in the referral program is critical to the organizations recovery is key.  Select from the following list the specific reasons that are most likely to resonate with your employees.

• Employee referrals produce quality hires – it is always important to educate your employees to the fact that employee referrals consistently produce the highest quality hires, and that with only a few critical openings, it is even more important now to use the best sources to produce high quality hires.
• It is part of your culture – it is important to remind your employees that it is part of your corporate culture to contribute wherever you can. Because corporate recruiting resources have been cut back, now more than ever employees have to chip in. Doing more with less might mean that for the short-term, referrals will be rewarded with reduced bonuses or alternate rewards.
• Employees have numerous contacts – make employees aware of the fact that their personal contact network is extremely broad, and if harnessed, can find candidates that might be missed by normal corporate recruiting processes.
• Employees are active on social networks – make sure that your employees are aware that the growing use of social networks and social media provides a new opportunity to recruit. Because recruiter time is severely limited and authentic social network activity is needed, employees can play a major role by expanding the scope of the organization’s social network presence. Even if the corporation limits access on the job, personal networking can still play a role.
• Employees are more approachable – make employees aware that “colleague to colleague” initial contacts are more likely to be successful than typical recruiter e-mails and cold calls, especially among non-active prospects. In addition, individuals not actively looking for a job are more likely to reach out to an employee for more information than a recruiter.
• Employees are more believable – remind your employees that messages from them are seen as highly credible by potential recruits, and that because they live the job, they may be better able to provide more current and detailed information about the work and the work environment.
• Employees add a layer of assessment – educate your employees so they understand that their ability to assess whether a prospect has the right skill set and also fits the corporate culture add significant value to the overall recruiting process.
• A chance to work alongside with the very best – remind your employees that they have a unique opportunity to spur company growth by attracting the very best for future openings. Not only will this provide help to the company and their future job security, but it will also help to assure that they as individual employees will get to work alongside the very best talent that is available.