Here's Why Cash Bonuses Don't Work for Referrals

The value of the employee referrals hiring channel is old hat in the recruiting world, with some companies going as far as offering exorbitant bonuses in exchange for access to their employees' networks. Despite this widespread practice, there doesn't appear to much evidence that it truly incentivizes employees. Google increased its referral bonus from $2,000 to $4,000 but did not see a significant increase in quality referrals from its employees. Meanwhile, GoDaddy actually cut the size of its referral bonus by two-thirds from $3,000 to $1,000 and actually increased their number of employee referrals. What seems to be the issue with cash bonuses for referrals? 

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