1. How long has the Employee Referral Program been in place?

We have had a single program at St.George since December 2006. At that time we consolidated numerous schemes and launched one group wide program, which is branded “Gemini”. Good people know good people, and we’re looking for ‘your twin’.

2. Are there any unique items about your ERP?

I don’t know about unique – our objectives have been to provide employees with a meaningful program that encourages and enables them to refer great talent to our organisation. We also reward our hiring managers who constantly refer us great talent – it’s outside the regular program, but we acknowledge the effort and say thanks every once in a while!

3. How do you control the quality of the referrals you receive?

Careers@StGeorge engage with all the different parts of the Bank, and we talk about what good referrals are and the many places people can come from. Some of the most important advocates we have are our leaders and managers, who educate their teams on who we want to see join our business.

4. What has been the most challenging part of running a successful ERP?

Probably the integration of our manual processes. Ideally we’ll get to the point where all our systems will talk to each other, and we can manage the program with the click of a button!

5. What is the feedback from the hiring managers relating to the success of the ERP?

Our managers tell us that the process is easy to follow, that they are seeing great people referred to them by their own staff and those across the business, and that it’s motivating for their teams to see employees recognised in front of their peers.

6. What metrics do you monitor?

We include total referrals received, referrals hired, retention stats and going forward we’ll be linking the data with performance metrics.

7. How do you track and monitor referrals?

We manage our referral program through our recruitment technology platform.

8. Can you tell me how you market the ERP program internally?

We communicate with the employees using intranet pages, group-wide email as well as segmenting for business units. We also have printed brochures and referral cards, but find online communications and time with the business most effective.

9. Do you offer rewards? If so, what kind?

It’s important to reward at all success levels to engender support for the program. We offer financial incentives for successful referrals, but also run monthly and quarterly prize draws for iPods and gift vouchers so that all employees who refer candidates can be recognised for their contribution.

10. What advice would you give to other companies about building a successful ERP?

A successful ERP is not possible without a well-defined Employment Value Proposition. Employees must be able to articulate why working for your organisation is a great thing, so it’s the essential piece of the puzzle. In addition, making the referral process as fast and easy as possible is key. Finally, it’s really important to ensure people feel empowered to help change the workforce of their employer, and the fewer restrictions you place around your program, the more successful it will be.