Employee referrals programs are important for many reasons. These programs give your employees a strong sense of community, inclusion, and they let your staff know their opinion is valued. Finding quality talent quickly and efficiently is top of mind in most, if not all organizations. Referrals can be the driving force behind new, more qualified employee acquisitions.  But, do you really know how valuable employee referrals are to your company? Below are 23 statistics about employee referrals that you can’t afford to ignore!

1. The #1 way people discover a new job is through a referral.  - LinkedIn
2. The top channels people use to look for new jobs are online job boards (60%), social professional networks (56%), and word of mouth (50%).  - LinkedIn
3. 35 % of employees refer to help their friends. 32% do it to help their company. 26% do it to be seen as a valuable colleague. Only 6% do it for money and recognition. - LinkedIn
4. Larger companies tend to recruit more of their new hires from employee referrals (27 percent) than mid-sized (24 percent] or smaller companies (14 percent]. - iCims
5. Almost 70% of companies offer between $1,000 and $5,000 in cash incentives for staff members who are able to refer qualified candidates. -Meritage
6. About 33% of companies use third-party software systems to manage their employee referral programs. - Meritage
7. 69 percent of large companies have a documented referral process, compared to 46 percent of smaller companies. - iCims
8. Referrals were are listed #1 as the “most productive” source for diversity hires, well ahead of major job boards, company affinity groups, and diversity career fairs. - Careerxroads
9. The chances of a referred candidate getting fired decrease by an average of 350%. - Achievers
10. Employee referrals can save organizations $3,000 or more per hire. - Recruier
11. New hires sourced via referral programs produce 25% more profit for their companies than new hires sourced via other means. - Alexander Group
12. 75% of companies prefer to use employee referral program systems that allow for automated or semi-automated processes.  - Zalp
13. 28% of organizations trying to fill a typical exempt position will offer a $1000 referral bonus. - Careerxroads
14. Employers who pay out employees in real time see an 83% uptick in engagement in their employee referral program.
15. Referrals stay at their jobs more than twice the rate of job board candidates - Recruiting Intelligence
16. Referrals are the best hires according to 88% of employers - SHRM
17. Salespeople are the most hired position from employee referrals - LinkedIn
18. 67% of employers and recruiters said the recruiting process was shorter, and 51% said it was less expensive to recruit via referrals - Social Talent
19. Companies using incentive programs reported a 79% success rate in achieving established goals when the true reward was offered. - DCR Strategies
20. Employees hired through referrals on average, onboard 10-26 days faster than those hired via job boards and career sites. - First Bird
21. 82% of employers rated employee referrals above all other sources for generating the best return on investment (ROI). - HR Tech Weekly
22. Referred candidates are more likely to accept your job offer by a statistically significant 2.6-6.6 percent. - Glassdoor

• Offering incentives for employee referrals will increase program participation. - Digital HR Tech

Interested in learning how you can start generating more employee referrals? Request a demo or message me here!