With the employment sector witnessing an unprecedented boom, employee referrals are turning out to be an alternative income source for many. Incentives on referral have shot up 50-70% in last three years, say industry experts. Companies are rewarding employees with cash prize of Rs 5,000-50,000 for referring candidates that get hired.
Professional networking sites like techTribe reward Rs 10,000 to a person for referring a candidate who gets selected. The person who brings the hired candidate into the network is also rewarded Rs 2,000.
On NDTVjobs.com, companies can choose the reward amount from a minimum of Rs 5,000. Currently, up to Rs 1 lakh is on the offer as reward.
??IGate, Morgan Stanley, Genpact, CoreObjects were the first four companies on our network. There are hundreds of referrals and 1,000 people joining everyday,?? says Rohit Agarwal, CEO, techTribe.
Soumen Basu, executive chairman of recruitment firm Manpower, says, ?Incentives on referrals are getting quite attractive. We are also giving bonus to people for suggesting names of their acquaintances.?
In HCL, which recruits 30% of its employees by referral, the incentive varies from Rs 9,000-15,000 depending on the seniority and skill set of the candidate. In Wipro, about 15% employees are recruited through referrals and up to 20% via recruiting firms, says Achuthan Nair, Vice-president, strategic sourcing.
?Certainly, employee referral is the most cost-effective recruiting method, In Satyam, the referral bonus varies from Rs 15,000-40,000,? says Hari T, senior Vice-president, global HR, Satyam, which gets 26% people from employee referral and 13-14% each from recruitment firms and online sites. Some corporates also give rewards like cars and i-Pods if an employee helps recruit for rare skills. Senior employees may not get any monetary incentive, but they can surely take home some gift or holiday package.