Dr. John Sullivan, in an article on ERE.Net addresses how top performers are really just that, being as much as four times as productive as the average worker. Top performing employees also tend to hang with other top performing employees and provide referrals for job applicants of a similar caliber.
Here is but part of what Sullivan had to write…”Fortunately, a recent research study covering several industries demonstrated that top performers do in fact make higher quality referrals. The University of California/Berkeley study, “The Value of Hiring through Referrals” highlighted the output and profit impact differential between referrals that emanated from high, average, and low-performing employees. The study allowed for a ROI calculation because it included both the added costs of the referrals as well as the positive business impacts created by more effective hires. Conclusions that I have drawn from this research include:
- Referral hires produce more – Hires from referrals produce approximately 25 percent more profit impact than hires from other sources.
- Top performer referrals produce three times more – A referral from a top performer who is hired will produce nearly three times more profit impact for the firm compared to the referred worker from a below average performer. A top performer referral who is hired will have a 90 percent greater profit impact than the average referral.
- Higher retention — Referred workers are between 10 percent and 30 percent less likely to quit than workers hired from other sources.”
