Employee Referral Cash Incentives Popular Among PCOs

CLEVELAND, Ohio – As PCOs continue to grapple with the challenge of finding qualified workers, many are taking another look at how they can encourage their existing employees to bring on friends and acquaintances. One strategy is to offer cash incentives to employees who refer qualified candidates to their company, which is an approach being used by 86 percent of those who responded to a recent PCT Reader Poll.

 

"Historically, we have seen that candidates who are referred by current team members are more engaged. Our retention level of these team members is also higher compared to team members who were hired but were not referrals,” said Courtney Carace, COO of Pest-End, Plaistow, N.H. “It also helps to increase current team member satisfaction because everyone enjoys working with people they are friendly with and already know.”

 

Kurt Scherzinger, president of Scherzinger Pest Control, Cincinnati, similarly noted, “It allows employees to recruit their teammates and who they will be working with and support each day.  We have had quite a few referrals pan out as the employees get into the culture and want to work with success-driven people, so they begin to look in their ‘inner circles’ on who would work out and start referring.”

 

Carace said Pest-End just sent out a reminder about its referral bonus this week and many of its team members started posting on social media trying to encourage friends, family and acquaintances to apply. “It was not just generic comments but rather heartfelt comments regarding the culture of the organization. It reinforces that PE is a desirable place to work which then instills confidence in new applicants,” she said.

 

Luke Rambo, president of Rambo Total Pest Control, Puyallup, Wash., said his company offers a $500 referral bonus to any employee who refers someone for a technician role. How effective the cash incentive has been, he said, is debatable “but we do mention it here and there to keep it top-of-mind. I think if a current employee likes where they work, and they like a potential applicant, that they will make the referral whether there is a bonus in place or not. With that said it is a nice incentive to offer and I think our current team members appreciate it.”

 

Austin Burns, operations manager, Burns Pest Elimination, Phoenix, Ariz., said Burns offers a financial incentive that ranges depending on the type of qualification the company is looking for at the time and the qualification that the person posses. Depending on those factors it is $500-$1,500, he said. "This has greatly improved our pipeline of applications as well as our employee retention," he said.

 

Only 14 percent responded that they do NOT offer a financial incentive to employees who refer qualified candidates to your company. Andrew Sanefski, president at Perimetek Pest Management, East Syracuse, N.Y., said he his company does not offer financial incentives to employees but “our current staff shares their love of their job within their social networks extensively already and have pre-screened candidates prior to them referring the candidate to us. I have heard many times ‘yeah my friend was interested but I know he's not Perimetek material.’"

 

Sanefski too has observed the benefits of employees who have come to Perimetek via a referral. “Our experience with candidates that come through a referral is that they have the highest success rate and longevity,” he said. “It is a big advantage when someone is directly recruited as their acculturation to our team is much faster.”

 

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