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Employee Referral Program Policy

View our policy below and the Employee Referral Program for answers to frequently asked questions.

Overview

Our employees are valuable recruiting partners, especially during the current labor market recruiting challenges. Classified and exempt employees may earn a cash incentive up to $1,000 when an employee whom they referred is hired to fill a vacant position within the Unified Personnel System (UPS). This policy replaces the existing policy providing a day off for each employee referral. The program will continue to be evaluated and may be rescinded based on labor market trends.

Definitions

  • Incentive means a cash payment designed to encourage existing employees of the Unified Personnel System to refer qualified candidates for open positions.
  • Referring employee means a current employee of the Unified Personnel System who has referred a qualified candidate who has been hired to fill a vacant position.
  • Referred employee means the new employee who was referred by an existing employee.
  • New hire means an external hire, not currently employed by the Unified Personnel System, nor assigned within the UPS through any contractor providing supplemental employees.

Policy

This policy is designed to encourage existing employees to refer qualified individuals for employment within the Unified Personnel System. In 2021, UPS retention data indicates that new hires who are referred by existing employees stay at a 20% higher rate after one year of employment. This referral program will be helpful both for attracting candidates and in the retention of newly hired employees.

Eligibility

  • Referring employee and referred employee must both be employed by the UPS at the time the incentive is awarded.
  • Those supervisors in the position’s chain of command or otherwise involved in the hiring process for the position are not eligible for this incentive.
  • Supervisors who supervised a volunteer who is hired within the UPS are not eligible for this incentive.
  • Human Resources staff involved in the recruitment, selection or otherwise involved in the hiring process for the position are not eligible for this incentive.
  • Employees who attended a recruiting event on behalf of Pinellas County Government and referred a new hire as a result are not eligible.

Procedure

Each referred employee results in an incentive payment up to $1,000 to the referring employee: the first $500 will be paid following the referred employee’s 90th day of employment, the final $500 is to be paid following the referred employee’s completion of one year with the same Appointing Authority.

Referral incentives will be processed monthly for the next available pay date.

  1. The candidate must indicate the name of the employee who referred them on the supplemental questionnaire portion during the initial submission of the employment application. Names may not be added at a later time.
  2. Upon filling the vacancy, Human Resources will verify eligibility of the referring employee.
  3. For exempt appointments, referrals must be disclosed during the hiring process and Appointing Authority must certify eligibility.
  4. Once the referred employee has completed 90 days of employment, Human Resources will notify Payroll of the referring employee’s initial incentive award.
  5. Once the referred employee has completed one year of employment, Human Resources will notify Payroll of the final incentive award.
  6. Payroll will process the approved incentive amounts.

Contact

For questions related to this program, please contact Human Resources at (727) 464-3367, option 2 or email onboarding@pinellas.gov.

9/19/22