1200% Increase: Reviving a Healthcare Referral Program (Case Study)

Imagine being in charge of hiring at a busy health system and seeing your employee referral program flatline at just 5 referrals in January. This was the reality for one regional healthcare organization (with 5,000+ caregivers across 5 hospitals) at the start of 2025. Recruiting nurses, technicians, and other staff was a constant challenge, and the usual methods weren’t cutting it.

The World Health Organization estimates a global shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030, underscoring the need for smarter recruiting solutions. Employee referrals are a proven bright spot – they already account for nearly 30% of new hires in healthcare settings and produce hires who stay longer than average. Armed with this knowledge, the HR team decided to try a bold experiment: engage our own employees like never before to breathe life back into the referral program.

The Challenge: A Referral Program on Life Support

Despite the organization’s large workforce and strong community presence, referral activity was anemic. In January 2025, only 5 employee referrals came in for open positions. This was a head-scratcher – with thousands of employees, how were there only five referrals? The issues became clear on diagnosis:

• Lack of awareness: Many employees simply forgot about or never knew the referral program existed. It wasn’t being actively promoted (no reminders, no fanfare).

In a high-stress healthcare environment, it’s easy for a referral program to fall by the wayside. The organization needed a way to energize their caregivers to participate and make referring as quick and simple as taking a patient’s pulse.

The Strategy: A Dose of Employee Engagement

Facing this challenge, the organization partnered EmployeeReferrals.com and launched a 2-month pilot (Feb–Mar 2025) aimed at radically improving employee participation. The strategy was straightforward: meet employees where they are – in their inboxes – with fun, personalized reminders to refer. Key ingredients of this intervention included:

1. All-Staff Email Blitz: The HR team kicked off the campaign by emailing every employee about the referral program. These weren’t generic mass emails, either – they were personalized for each employee and highlighted openings similar to their own role and near their own location. This personalized touch ensured that each message was relevant to the reader.

2. Engaging Messaging: The emails were crafted to be upbeat and engaging, not just corporate boilerplate. They reminded staff of how referrals can an impact (“Help a friend unlock their potential with a rewarding new career!”). A bit of humor kept the tone light. (One subject line read, “Don’t let this opportunity slip away 🍌 refer a friend today!”).

3. Seamless Referral Process: Critically, the email included links to 5 relevant openings. Employees could click and refer someone in under a minute, even on their phone. No complex logins or paperwork – just a quick form to submit their friend’s contact. The process was smooth, mobile-friendly, and trackable. Each employee had a unique referral link they could share on social media, so if their friend applied, the employee automatically got credit.

4. Consistent Follow-Up: Rather than a one-and-done email, the team committed to regular follow-ups. Throughout February and March, bi-weekly engagement emails went out, each with fresh content – spotlighting a variety openings and updating employees on the status of their previous referrals. This regular drumbeat of communication kept referrals top-of-mind. (The referral platform’s Engage tools helped automate these campaigns with ready-to-use email templates and scheduling).

   
   

Results: From Fizzling to Phenomenal

The engagement trial delivered immediate and dramatic results – truly a night-and-day turnaround. In February 2025, referral submissions skyrocketed to 44 (up from January’s 5). By March 2025, the number climbed even higher to 65 referrals. The once-sleepy referral program had been resuscitated and turned into a thriving source of candidates.

Employee referrals per month jumped from 5 in January to 44 in February and 65 in March 2025, after launching the engagement campaign. This chart illustrates the 13× increase in referral activity over just two months.

To put it in perspective, that’s a 1,200% increase in monthly referrals (a 13-fold jump)! In total, the organization received 114 referral submissions in the first quarter (more than they used to get in an entire year). Each of those referrals was a potential hire coming through a trusted employee connection rather than expensive job boards or staffing agencies.

By April, the proof was undeniable: referral hires had jumped to a level 10 times higher than January’s baseline. In other words, the surge in submissions quickly translated into real onboarding wins.

The Bigger Picture: Employee Referrals in Healthcare

This case isn’t just a one-off lucky break – it underscores a broader truth in healthcare recruiting: your best recruiters are often your own employees. Healthcare organizations nationwide are increasingly turning to employee referral programs to tackle talent shortages. And the data backs it up:

• Higher Retention: Not only do referral hires tend to perform well, they also stick around. Referred healthcare employees demonstrate a 46% higher retention rate in high-stress roles (like nursing). Across industries, referred hires stay around 70% longer than non-referrals on average – meaning lower turnover, more stable teams, and less cost to replace staff. For our featured organization, this bodes well: those 65 March referrals could very well become some of their longest-tenured employees in the years to come.

• Faster, Cost-Effective Hiring: Employee referrals often speed up hiring – some estimates say referrals can cut time-to-hire by ~50%. In a hospital setting, every week saved in hiring an ICU nurse or a pharmacist is invaluable. Referrals also save money; by sourcing candidates through word-of-mouth, hospitals can spend less on job ads or recruiters. One home health provider reported that 40% of its hires in 2024 came via word-of-mouth referrals, demonstrating how powerful referrals can be in filling roles without hefty advertising costs.

• Quality and Culture Fit: Healthcare is a people-centric field, and culture fit can be a make-or-break factor. Employees don’t refer just anyone – they refer people they trust and believe will succeed. This often translates into higher-quality candidates who align with the organization’s values and demands. As a result, teams hire folks who can “hit the ground running” and handle the rigors of the job (after all, nurses trust nurses – not job ads). This case study’s anecdotal evidence supports that: many of the referrals were high-caliber candidates who might not have applied otherwise.

In short, a strong referral program can become a hospital’s secret weapon in the war for talent. This is especially critical in healthcare, where having even one extra nurse or therapist on staff can directly impact patient care quality and staff morale.

A Healthy Outcome and Future Plans

By injecting energy and excitement into its employee referral program, this healthcare organization achieved a remarkable turnaround – from nearly dormant to dynamic in just 60 days. What started as a trial run in Q1 2025 became a convincing proof-of-concept that employee engagement is the cure for a sickly referral program.

The client was thrilled with the results. In fact, after seeing referrals jump from 5 to 65, they decided to officially adopt the new engagement-driven approach as a permanent part of their recruiting strategy. They continue to send regular referral engagement emails.

For other healthcare organizations reading this, the takeaway is clear: when you empower and excite your employees to refer, great things happen. In an industry where everyone is looking for talent, your own people might just lead you to your next great hire. With the right tools, consistent communication, and a dash of creativity, an underperforming referral program can be revived with a strong and steady heartbeat of incoming talent.