Referral program is filling jobs and thanking employees

Greenwich Hospital Laboratory medical technologist Dianne Johnson, left, was hired after her friend and fellow medical technologist Marissa Fama referred her through YNHHS’ Employee Referral Bonus Program. Fama received a bonus after Johnson was hired.

Yale New Haven Health’s Employee Referral Bonus Program is proving that good people know good people, with more than 350 hires in the 18 months since the program’s launch.
Marissa Fama, Greenwich Hospital medical technologist, said the decision to refer her friend Dianne Johnson was easy. 

“We knew each other from the University of Bridgeport and we’ve been friends ever since,” Fama explained. “Our department has been trying to get more staff in the labs and I knew Dianne was looking for a job. I brought it up to my manager, who gave me the referral link. Now she’s here and it’s great.”

“The whole process was very easy and very quick,” said Johnson, also a GH medical technologist. “It was only a few weeks from when I received the email to apply to when I was offered the job.”

Designed to reward staff for leveraging their personal networks to improve the YNHHS workforce, the program offers employees $1,000 for each referral who is hired to a regular, full-time or part-time position. Employees may receive $2,500 for referrals for selected open positions deemed hard-to-fill. The program is open to all YNHHS employees.

Amanda Hunt, Q-Site inventory specialist, Bridgeport Hospital, didn’t have to look far for assistance when she was job hunting. Her sister Stephanie McGow, YNHHS senior operational financial analyst, started sending referral links almost intuitively.

“I’ve always been interested in working for Yale New Haven Health and Stephanie was right there, helping me look at jobs and sending me job postings almost immediately,” Hunt said. 
“I knew the process pretty well because I was referred when I was hired, so I was ready to pay it forward for my sister,” McGow said. 

To make a referral:

• Click “Careers” on the YNHHS intranet
• Log in, search and select the job to refer
• Click “Refer/Email to a friend”
• Complete a short form requiring the referral’s name and email address
• Click “Submit Referral”

After the employee submits the information, the candidate receives a link to apply. Once the candidate applies via the link, the employee and candidate are attached in the system, which makes it easy to track referrals and the employees making them.

There is no limit to the amount of bonuses paid out to referring employees. The more hired referrals you make, the more bonus money you earn (tax withholdings apply).