The Role Your Current Employees Play in Attracting New Talent

When candidates want to know about a potential employer, one of the places they turn to most is a company’s current employees. More than 80% of candidates believe your employees are a credible source of information. Knowing this role your current employees play, ask yourself: are your employees helping or hurting your prospects for attracting global talent?

Unfortunately, our research shows that few employees actively advocate for their organizations in the labor market. In fact, less than one-quarter of employees report that they would refer a friend to work at their organization. Organizations with low numbers of employee advocates run the risk of their employees negatively or neutrally presenting the EVP to the labor market, thereby crippling their global talent strategy.

Here’s how you can turn the tide and help your employees become champions for your organization:

• Foster trust. Employees must feel that they can trust the organization before they will actively promote it to others. If employees aren’t getting what they want, then they are going to steer candidates away. If you are looking to build greater levels of trust among your employees, involve them in identifying and overcoming perceived misalignments between the organization’s stated EVP and the actual work experience.

One international retailer that we work with acknowledges the importance of employee engagement to their ability to recruit globally. Therefore the company focuses on delivering its EVP to current employees by clearly defining the behaviors, and their corresponding actions, that are critical to delivering on the value proposition. They also offer lots of opportunities for employees to give feedback on whether the company is living up to its EVP and on areas where the company can do a better job of living out its values.

• Encourage flexibility and innovation. Creating an atmosphere of flexibility and innovation also encourages employees to become company advocates. Creating an atmosphere where employees feel a sense of empowerment not only impacts their day-to-day work, but also creates a broader sense of ownership that increases the likelihood they will promote the organization to others.

• Communicate the organization’s values. We know that current employees are already reaching out to the labor market, and vice versa — but employees are not necessarily communicating about your company effectively or positively. By communicating the company’s values to all employees, you can strengthen their perception of what the organization stands for, thereby allowing them to more effectively communicate that message to the labor market.

A large non-profit in the technology space realized that many employees were committed to the organization but lacked the tools to be effective advocates on its behalf. They now enable employees to act as promoters of the EVP by providing them with the information and support that they need to successfully refer strong candidates. Their approach includes a referral bonus, but more importantly it provides employees with the right information, such as what types of candidates the organization is looking for, and the tools they need to effectively identify and attract potential candidates from their social networks.

Should We Provide Referral Bonuses?

The short answer is yes — candidates referred by employees have significantly higher levels of commitment to the organization. However, referral bonuses are less effective than process enablement in driving new hire referrals. Organizations can make employee advocates much more effective by providing tools to facilitate and simplify the exchange of information between employees and candidates. The non-profit discussed above realized that their employees did not lack the incentive but the necessary insight and support in order to leverage that commitment to attract talent. So when implementing a referral bonus program, be sure to also give your employees the tools they need to be effective champions for your organization.

Also read Part 1 – Attracting Global Talent, Part 2 – How to Attract Talent Across Different Geographies, and Part 3 -Avoid Common Pitfalls when Marketing Your Company to Global Talent