Referral Bonus Program

Purpose

UW-Madison recognizes the need to occasionally provide referral bonuses to encourage current employees to refer qualified external candidates to the campus. Research has shown that new hires who come into organizations through a referral by a current employee are excellent contributors, stay with organizations longer, and are more cost-effective recruits. In recognition of quality referrals from employees, the School of Education (SoE) will provide them with referral bonuses. This Program provides guidelines in which the (SoE) administers their Employee Referral Bonus Program.

What Positions This Applies To

Current employees may receive a referral bonus when referring an individual to a position in any of these employee categories:

  • Academic Staff
  • Limited Appointees
  • University Staff

Current employees may not receive a referral bonus when referring an individual to a position who is hired into a position in any of these employee categories:

  • Faculty
  • Post-Retirement Rehires
  • Student Assistants
  • Student Hourlies
  • Grad Assistants
  • Fellows
  • Employee-In-Training
  • Zero-dollar and Lump Sum Appointments
  • Temporary Employees

Eligible Employees

Employees in the following employment types are eligible to receive a referral bonus as the “referring employee”:

  • Academic Staff
  • Faculty
  • Limited Appointees
  • Student Hourlies
  • Temporary Employees
  • University Staff

Ineligible Employees

  • Anyone with influence on the final hiring decision (Human Resources, the hiring manager/supervisor, the selection committee members). This is to avoid ethics concerns (Code of Ethics Policies – See UWS 8.03 and BOR 20-22).
  • Employees referring immediate family are ineligible for a referral bonus
  • Employees referring current UW-Madison employees

Process

  • To qualify for the bonus, the employee must refer the candidate to the job via the applicant tracking system’s referral mechanism. This is done by the employee going to jobs.wisc.edu, selecting the job opening and completing the “Refer a Friend” section. If the applicant tracking system is not used for the job, the candidate must identify their referrer at the time of application.
  • If the referred candidate is hired, the referring employee receives a letter which will include the bonus amount and timing of payments.

 Amount

The referral bonus amount is $1,000.

Criteria To Offer Hiring Bonus

  • The candidate hired into the designated position (the “referred” employee”) shall not have held a UW Madison position within the past 12 months.

Payment

The referring employee will receive the referral bonus in increments:

  • 50% of the payment will be paid within the first two pay periods following the referred employee’s hire date. The remaining 50% will be paid on the pay period after the referred employee successfully completes their probationary/evaluation period.
  • Referral bonuses are paid as a lump sum and are considered taxable income. The lump sum payment is taxed at the federal lump sum rate.
  • A referral bonus will not be paid if the referring employee or the referred employee is no longer employed by UW-Madison at the time of payment.