Hiring agencies are not the only ones which earn a strong premium when they help companies scout for female talent. Companies are now incentivizing employees with higher cash rewards, promotions and other perks if they refer a woman candidate for job postings internally. Some companies are said to be paying double the amount to employees for referring a woman candidate as compared to a normal referral.
Early this year, HSBC introduced a revised ``Prefer to Refer'' programme, wherein it has substantially raised the payout to an employee if he or she successfully refers a female candidate for a job posting. The reference fee would be higher for a senior posting. Lenovo India, on the other hand, offers a 15% premium over and above the referral bonus for female candidates, while Accenture doles out greater benefits in the form of perks and promotions to those employees who are able to bring good women candidates for internal jobs.
These actions have been taken to improve the flow of women candidates, which, most companies said is still not up to the mark. `We have a significant number of internal referrals for jobs. While the referral programme was working well, we didn't see that flow of women coming through. So we said we will significantly enhance the referral fee for a successful woman candidate. It was met with a lot of enthusiasm,’’ said Vikram Tandon, head of HR, HSBC.
HSBC wants to improve its overall gender ratio from the current 68:32 to 60:40 by the end of 2014. ``We realized that if we really want this to happen, we would require to put strong commitment into growing the pipeline. We are seeing an improved flow of women candidates coming in now. The payouts have not yet happened because there is a cycle time involved: first the CV comes in, then we hire and confirm the person in 6 months. But there is good enthusiasm about this in the bank,'' said Tandon.
Of course, merit here is taken for granted. At Lenovo India, as well, the incentive is paid in cash once the referred and hired candidate completes 6 months at the company. The payout slabs vary for referring candidates in different bands – the higher the band, the higher the incentives. “Our referral programme helps us to strengthen our talent acquisition strategy by getting talent into the organization who have had successful career in their previous companies.
It also helps the person referred to learn about Lenovo and its culture in advance though the referee and thus integrate with us faster,” said Subhankar Roy Chowdhury, talent & organizational development leader - Asia Pacific & Latin America/ HR Partner – India.
To encourage the number of women in the organization, Accenture, on the other hand, offers greater benefits, which could even be a promotion or other perks, in case a woman candidate is successfully hired. The benefits differ from each business unit to another, depending on the candidature.
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