Role Of Gamification In Increasing Employee Referrals

By Author: Savio Vadakkan
Total Articles: 58
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The biggest challenge facing any employee referral program is driving employee participation levels in the referral program. Employees are generally not interested in participating in any referral program either because they are not fully aware of the benefits accruing to them from the program or simply do not believe the benefits justify the time and effort involved in participating. Companies have been experimenting with different methods to drive participation and engagement and among them gamification is the one method which has been consistently successful in driving long term engagement and participation. In fact some have gone so far as to predict that the future of employee referral program lies in gamification.

Gamification essentially refers to the introduction of game dynamics in non-game activities to add fun and excitement to the employee referral activity. It enables instant recognition of the efforts of employees who have proactively participated in the referral process. Even the largest of companies do not hire more than 10-15% of its total workforce in a year, which means that even if all the candidates ...
... were hired through employee referrals, a good 85% of employees will be left unrecognized and unrewarded for their efforts. These left out employees will have no motivation to participate in and refer candidates in the coming year.

The popularity of gamification can be gauged by the fact that as much as 70% of the 2000 leading public sector companies in the world will be using at least one application based on gamification by this year, as per a research. This can take many forms such as a point structure or a leaderboard as a means of keeping employees active and engaged in the process. Latest employee referral program tools like ZALP lately launched their ‘The Leaderboard’ which brings in a fresh element of gamification in the referral program thus motivating employees to participate like never before.

By introducing gamification in an employee referral program, organizations can reward and recognize employees with small rewards for referring qualified candidates that can be called in for interviews to fill open positions, irrespective of whether they are eventually hired or not. Organizations can also choose to take gamification social in the employee referral program by driving social competitions. Social reputations can be driven by mechanisms like awarding badges or a spot on the leaderboard for referring for niche or key roles.

The days of forcing employee referrals on employees through boring presentations and lectures are now passé. Engaging employees in the referral process by making them feel they are playing a game against each other with points, prizes and rewards to be won at each level is what will ultimately determine the success or failure of your employee referral program.

To get the latest employee referral information, Visit - www.zalp.com/employeereferralresources

Author Bio:

Savio Vadakkan is the Marketing Professional at ZALP, employee referral software.Latest employee referral program tools like ZALP lately launched their ‘The Leaderboard’ which brings in a fresh element of gamification in the referral program thus motivating employees to participate like never before.