Employee referrals and recruitment agencies
Employees refer people they know and earn a bonus paid with their salary in parts. Outside agencies get their own page by link to send candidates for the positions you release to them. Ownership disputes are settled by date. Their fee becomes a vendor bill with a replacement guarantee.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- Two agencies send the same person and both claim the fee.
- A referral bonus is promised, then forgotten, or paid to someone who resigned the next week.
- Agency resumes arrive by email and are typed into the system by hand.
- A hire through an agency leaves in the second month and nobody claims the free replacement.
How it works
- Set the referral policy once: who may refer, which postings, the bonus (by posting, position or grade) and the parts it is paid in.
- An employee opens Jobs > Jobs and Referrals > Refer a Candidate and enters the person's details and resume, or sends them a link to apply. Or the employee shares their own link on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or by QR. Referrers see plain steps only, never scores.
- When the person joins, the bonus parts are made. Each part becomes due on its day and goes to the referrer's payslip as a monthly input.
- For agencies, set up the agency with its vendor, agreement dates, fee terms by grade and replacement terms, and send each contact their link. Release a posting to it.
- The agency sends candidates on its page without a login. You accept each to the posting or refuse with a reason the agency sees.
- When an agency's candidate joins, the fee is worked out from the offer's annual CTC. Recording the agency's invoice makes a draft vendor bill in accounting.
Everything it does
Referral policy
- Who may refer: every employee (the default) or confirmed employees only, after some months of service, only some departments
- Postings: every new posting unless it says no (the default), or only those marked Open to Referrals
- Known candidates are not new referrals for 6 months; the candidate's link works 30 days
- Bonus parts: % of the bonus, paid some days after joining (100 % at 90 days to start with) or on confirmation
- No bonus for HR, recruiters or the hiring manager (on to start with); relatives must be declared
- Not paid during notice; a part is cancelled if the referrer or the hire resigns before it is due
- Leaderboard by referrals accepted and people who joined, shown to employees unless you hide it
Referral statuses
- For the referrer: Waiting for the candidate, Received, Shortlisted, Interview, Offered, Joined, Bonus due, Bonus paid, Not selected, Closed
- For the recruiter: Waiting for the Candidate, Accepted, Not Accepted, Candidate Not Interested, Link Ran Out, Withdrawn
- Bonus parts: Not Due Yet, Waiting Approval, In Payroll, Paid; Cancel This Part with a reason
- Shared Links: times opened and the applications each brought
Agencies
- Candidate Stays Theirs: 6 months; Already Known Within: 6 months; Links Work For: 90 days
- Fee terms by group of grades: % of annual CTC or a fixed amount, with at least and at most
- Replacement Period: 90 days; the agency owes a free replacement (default), a refund, or a refund in proportion to days not worked
- Pay Within 30 days of joining; GST 18 % to start with; payment terms; exclusive or not
- A candidate sent twice, or sent first by another agency, is refused on the spot with the reason shown
- After the agreement's end date the links stop working
Agency fees
- On Joining, Due, Invoice Received, Paid or Cancelled
- The fee shows one figure, never the salary breakup; the vendor bill names the fee, not the salary
- A draft vendor bill needs a Recruitment Agency Bills Journal and a Recruitment Expense account on the Entity
- A hire who leaves within the replacement period: Replacement Given, Refund Received or Waive
- Agency Performance: sent, already known, shortlisted, hired, days to join, fee and fee paid
Who uses it
EmployeeRefers people, shares a link, follows referrals and sees the leaderboard.
RecruiterReviews referrals and agency candidates, releases postings to agencies.
Recruitment Manager or HR administratorSets the policy and agency terms, records invoices and payments, closes replacements.
Agency contactSends candidates on their own page and sees what became of each.
Where you use it
- Web: Jobs > Jobs and Referrals > Refer a Candidate, My Referrals, Referral Leaderboard; Recruitment > Referrals; Recruitment > Agencies (Agencies, Postings Released, Candidates from Agencies, Fees)
- Agency page: by link, without a login
- The SmartMy HRMS app: Menu > Refer a candidate, My referrals, Referral leaderboard. Also Menu > Candidates from agencies and Referral bonus (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not built: sending agency candidates by an agency's own system; they use the page
What you control
Settings
- Referral policy per Entity (Recruitment > Configuration > Candidates and Drives > Referral Policy), with the defaults above
- Paid As: the monthly input salary component the bonus is paid through
- Agency terms per agency, with the defaults above
- Recruitment Agency Bills Journal and Recruitment Expense account on the Entity
Approvals
- Referral bonus: Approved at Once to start with, so a due part goes straight to payroll. Add a level on the chain to approve each part
- The referrer never approves their own bonus
Notifications
- Referral: Link to Apply and Resume Given by an Employee: to the referred person, by email, WhatsApp or SMS
- Referral: Not Accepted, The Person Applied, Status Changed, Referral Bonus: Status: to the referrer, on screen and by email
- Agency Link and Position Released to an Agency: to the agency's contacts; Decision on an Agency's Candidate: to the contact who sent them
- Candidate from an Agency to Review: to recruiters; Agency Fee Due and Agency Replacement Owed: to recruitment managers and HR administrators
Questions
How is the referral bonus paid?
With the referrer's salary. When a part is due it becomes a monthly input through the component you choose, and it is marked Paid after that payroll.What if two agencies send the same candidate?
The second is refused on the spot with the reason, because another agency sent the person first. The person stays the first agency's for the months you set.Do agencies need a login?
No. Each contact gets a link to their own page. It lists the positions you released to them and what became of each candidate they sent.Does the agency see the candidate's salary or our scores?
No. The agency sees the stage and any reason you give. The fee shows one figure, and the vendor bill names the fee, not the salary.Can employees share openings on social media?
Yes. Share With My Link gives each employee a link and buttons for WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, email and a QR code. Anyone who applies through it counts as their referral.Related features
RECRUITMENTJob postings, careers page and job boardsPost a job to your employees, your own careers page, job boards and WhatsApp, with screening and knock-out questions. Each application keeps its source, so you see what each source cost.RECRUITMENTCandidate pipeline and resume bankEvery application moves through your stages on one board, and known candidates are recognised. Every resume stays in a searchable resume bank that suggests people for new openings. Stage rules do the routine steps, and a do-not-hire list stops offers you decided against.PAYROLLPayroll runs, approval and lockRun payroll per Entity and pay period straight from the attendance record, with joiners, leavers and mid-month revisions worked out. Approvers review it on one screen, salaries can be held and released, and a paid payroll is locked and reopened only with a reason.RECRUITMENTRecruitment service levels, recruiter load and reportsSet how many days each hiring step may take, see what is on track, at risk or late, and record why. Each recruiter has My Day and a load you can rebalance, with monthly targets. A recruitment dashboard and 14 reports show the funnel, time to fill, sources, cost per hire and more.PROJECTS, TIME AND AGENCY STAFFAgency workers, attendance and billsKeep the attendance of workers from manpower agencies and build each month's bill from it at the agreed rates. Compare it with the agency's invoice, approve it only with a valid licence and the month's challans, and get a vendor bill.
See your own month run in it.
Tell us how many people you have, how you take attendance and how your salary is structured. We will show you SmartMy HRMS set up that way.