有职业意识的人早就发现，培养广阔的朋友圈，能在职场上获得丰厚回报。如今，雇主们正向那些替公司物色人才的人提供奖励，对其雇员的人际网络加以利用。

　　英国特许人事和发展协会(Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)称，几乎一半的英国雇主提供一种激励措施，鼓励员工从朋友和熟人那里收取简历。同时也在增多的是前任员工计划，鼓励前任员工对招聘消息进行反馈，并考虑以后重返公司麾下。

　　人们对社交网络的热情不断高涨，在很大程度上促进了个人引荐的流行。

　　“市场深刻地认识到口耳相传的力量，”EPCglobal公关经理理查德?斯普拉格(Richard Spragg)表示，“企业意识到MySpace和故友重逢网(Friends Reunited)等社区的作用，推动了这方面的发展。”EPCglobal是工程类职位招聘的专业公司。

　　切实的益处使引荐计划得到了雇主的青睐，特别是它为企业创造了削减招聘预算的机会。这似乎对雇主和员工而言都是好事。

　　总部设在英国的外包和科技公司Xansa，向引荐获得正式合同人员的员工提供奖金。奖金反映了招聘职位的高低，金额从引荐文员的1000英镑到引荐客户主管的7000英镑不等。

　　“在英国，员工引荐占招聘的比例为20%，节省成本达50%，” Xansa集团人力资源主管瓦莱丽?休斯?戴思(Valerie Hughes D'Aeth)表示。“在印度，约半数的员工来自引荐，节省成本近75%。对雇主和员工而言，引荐方式都获得了巨大成功。”

　　降低成本并不是引荐和前任员工招聘计划唯一的魅力。同样重要的是它还具有这样的益处：公司知道要聘用的人与将他们即将加入的公司有同样的文化价值观。安永(Ernst & Young)驻伦敦的雇主品牌主管理查德?乔丹(Richard Jordan)表示：“学习曲线产生效果的时间大大缩短了。”

　　并不是所有的人都确信，这种聘用想法类似员工的原则是合理的。一种担心是，由于现有员工可能推荐和自己相像的人，因此引荐计划会限制新的想法进入公司，并导致职场偏见更为严重。

　　但如果一家企业已经实现了文化多元化，而且充满了思想开放的人，那么聘用更多同样的人就是件好事。

　　随着引荐激励计划的日益流行，奖金的规模也在增加。例如，在专业服务公司里，奖金额从引荐秘书的2000英镑到引荐合伙人的1万英镑不等。

　　但或许并不是奖金越多就越好。Kenexa高级副总裁理查德?阿尔贝里(Richard Alberg)表示，事实上，这可能适得其反。他警告称，丰厚的奖金可能引诱员工推荐不合适的人。Kenexa是人才招聘及维系方面的专业公司。

　　而且，即便他们本着诚信的行事原则，但由员工来判断谁适合做某个业务又有多大的可靠性呢？

　　阿尔贝里指出，友谊可能美化人们对未来工作伙伴能力的看法。当一位受到尊敬的员工推荐了一个朋友时，雇主可能倾向假设，这位候选人会成为一个很好的同事。

　　Bupa UK Membership人力资源主管海伦 霍尔(Helen Hall)表示，引荐计划是有用的，但有必要制定一些规则。第一条规则就是，得到引荐的候选人应与外部应聘者一样，接受同样基础上、以同样方法进行的评估。

　　另一个预防措施是，尽可能地隐藏被引荐人进入筛选程序的渠道。

　　只有在一种情况下，引荐才是有价值的，那就是候选人具备公司希望其员工所拥有的技能。

　　招聘人员还必须计划如何处理错误的任命。为了限制经济方面的损失，一些雇主只会在被引荐的候选人通过试用期之后才支付奖金。

　　制药公司阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)已着手寻找最佳方式，将技能短缺领域和被引荐的候选人进行匹配。

　　阿斯利康没有全都采取引荐计划，而是邀请员工，特别是那些处在技能短缺领域的员工，报名成为“人才探子”。他们随后会得到一本在线杂志，其中强调了招聘的优先条件，并提供如何交际的小贴士。

　　例如，“人才探子”要学习如何发现并接近有才华的人，而且要记住，潜在的候选人会从外部观察公司，并且他们可能并不在找工作。

　　阿斯利康的市场公关经理耶斯 钱斯(Jez Chance)表示，该公司已经摒弃了“朋友和家人”的招聘方式。阿斯利康约15%的员工是“人才探子”，他们从工作中直接打交道的人或名声不错的人中寻找人才。

　　在阿斯利康看来，在试用期之后再支付招聘奖金的做法，等于是管理层在推卸责任。

　　“‘人才探子'的工作是扩充候选人才库，”钱斯强调称，“作为一家公司，做出正确决策并为员工提供获得成功的条件是我们的职责。”

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Social networking hits the workplace
 
Alicia Clegg 

　　Career-minded　people discovered long ago that cultivating a wide circle of friends can reap a handsome payback in the jobs market. Now employers are tapping the address books of their employees by rewarding those who talent-spot on the company's behalf.

　　Almost half of UK employers offer staff an incentive to solicit job applications from friends and associates, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Also on the increase are alumni programmes, which encourage former employees to feed back recruitment leads and consider rejoining the company in the future.

　　Growing enthusiasm for social networking has done much to popularise personal introduction.

　　“The market is acutely aware of the power of word of mouth,” says Richard Spragg, communications manager at EPCglobal, an engineering recruitment specialist. “It is driven by businesses waking up to communities such as MySpace and Friends Reunited.”

　　Tangible benefits have endeared referral programmes to employers, particularly the opportunity to cut recruitment budgets. It looks like a good outcome for both employer and the employees.

　　Xansa, a UK-based outsourcing and technology business, rewards employees for introductions that result in permanent appointments. Payments reflect the seniority of the recruit and range from ￡1,000 for clerical staff to ￡7,000 for client directors.

　　“In the UK employee referrals bring in 20 per cent of our recruits at 50 per cent cost savings,” says Valerie Hughes D'Aeth, group HR director. “In India about half come through referrals and the savings are closer to 75 per cent. Referrals are hugely successful both for employers and employees.”

　　Keeping costs down isn't the only attraction of referral and alumni hiring schemes. Just as important are the benefits that flow from appointing someone who is known to share the values of the culture they are joining. “The learning curve for becoming effective is much shorter,” says Richard Jordan, head of employer brand at Ernst & Young in London.

　　Not everyone is convinced that the principle of recruiting like-minded colleagues is sound. One worry is that referral programmes restrict the flow of new ideas into organisations and exacerbate workplace biases, because existing staff are likely to recommend people in their own image.

　　But if an organisation is already socially diverse and populated by open-minded people, recruiting more of the same is all to the good.

　　As the popularity of incentivised referral programmes has risen, so has the size of the inducements. A case in point is professional services firms, where bonuses can range from ￡2,000 for the appointment of a secretary to ￡10,000 for a partner.

　　But bigger may not mean better. In fact, the reverse may be true, says Richard Alberg, a senior vice-president at Kenexa, the recruitment and retention specialists. He warns that extravagant bonuses may tempt staff to recommend names inappropriately.

　　And, even if they are acting act in good faith, how reliable are employees as judges of who is right for a business?

　　Mr Alberg points out that friendship can colour someone's view of a prospective work mate's capabilities. When a respected employee recommends a friend, employers may be tempted to assume that the candidate will make a good colleague.

　　Referral programmes are useful, but certain rules are necessary, says Helen Hall, human resources director for Bupa UK membership. Rule one is that referred candidates should be assessed on the same basis and by the same methods as external applicants.

　　Another safeguard is to conceal the source, where possible,through which referrals have entered the selection pipeline.

　　Recommendations are valuable only if they yield candidates who are equipped with skills that the company wants its employees to have.

　　Recruiters must also plan for how to deal with appointments that go wrong. To limit their financial exposure, some employers pay bonuses only after a referred candidate has completed a probation period.

　　One employer that has set out to find the best way to match areas of skills shortages with referred candidates is AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company.

　　Instead of a blanket referral programme, AstraZeneca invites staff, particularly those in areas of skills shortages, to enrol as “talent scouts”. They then receive an online magazine that highlights recruitment priorities and offers tips on how to network.

　　For example talent scouts learn how to spot and approach talented people and are reminded that prospects will be seeing the company from the outside and may not be looking for a job.

　　Jez Chance, marketing communications manager, says the company has moved away from a “friends and family” approach. About 15 per cent of AstraZeneca's employees are talent scouts and they look out for talented people among those they encounter directly through work or know by reputation.

　　In AstraZeneca's view, not paying the recruitment bonus until after a probation period is tantamount to management passing the buck.

　　“The talent scout's job is to populate the candidate pool,” Mr Chance says emphatically. “As a company, it's our responsibility to make the right decisions and to provide the conditions for the appointee to succeed.”

[时间：2008-01-22  作者：艾丽西亚 克莱格(Alic  来源：英国《金融时报》]