Why Employee Referral Programs Need Data

This article about the employee referral program was originally published on Febuary 20th, 2015, and has since been updated as of December 13th, 2016 to provid up-to-date referral program statistics and information. It can be tough to design an amazing employee referral program. From the size of your referral bonus to the hurdles your employees must overcome to refer their friends and family to your organization…there is a lot to consider. That's why we built this list of fast facts around employee referral programs to help you get started. Need even more information on how to kick off your employee referral program? Take a look at a few related articles: Why Employee Referral Programs Need Data Now That’s What an Employee Referral Program Should Look Like! How Dell Revamped Its Employee Referral Program

Year after year, employee referrals top the charts as the highest external source of hire. A Jobvite study of over 50 companies, some of which have over 200,000 employees, revealed that about 40% of all hires come from referrals. That’s a pretty astounding statistic, but what’s more impactful is that only 7% of total applications received come from referrals. Hopefully you see what we see –a whole lot of potential. 

You might be closer to your next great hire than you think. Recent studies have shown the employee referral is the No. 1 source of external hires.