My new job pays employees a bonus for any resumes we refer to them that lead to a new hire.
I have several frieds who are looking for work and are interested in working where I work too.
I would definitely be telling my friends about these job openings, with or without the bonus. The money has nothing to do with it.
My friends would be also interested in these openings regardless of the potential bonus.
Should I split the bonus with a friend if they end up getting hired? Would that be expected, or just a nice thing to do? Would I look bad if I kept it all for myslef?
For the record, I have been telling all my friends that I will split any referal bonus with them. It was kind of automatic for me to split the money. I didn’t even really consider keeping the whole sum (until now).
I think if the roles were reversed and a friend of mine got me a job and offered to split the referal bonus with me, I’d turn him down.
So, should I be offering to split these potential bonuses with my friends? Should they take me up on these potential offers? What is the “right” thing to do here?
I would not feel entitled to any part of the bonus if a friend landed me a job. I’d be appreciative just for the job in the first place (and the opportunity to earn some bonuses of my own down the line). I would also turn down the offer if a friend made it, but if s/he insisted then sure why not. However, you cannot hold it against a friend who accepts your offer. You cannot offer something to someone with the expectation they will refuse; you must be willing to fulfill the offer, and not be upset that they accepted. Otherwise, you’d just be making the offer to make yourself feel better, not because you actually wanted to make it – which is disingenuous and unfair at best.
But since you already promised, I you are obliged to follow through.
Well, off the cuff, the “right” thing to do since you’ve been telling them you’ll split the bonus, is to hold out half the money and say “Here you go”. The “right” thing for them to do is say “Nah, that’s yours”.
Then you both go and spend the whole thing on dinner, drinks, strippers, new sports cars, whatever.
I once got a job through a friend and he got a bonus for it. I never thought he should split it with me and had he offered I wouldn’t have accepted. He payed for the beer when we went out to celebrate though, more than enough for me.
But since you already promised … Hard not to follow through on that.
I was in this situation last year. I did the recruiting, and my friend benefited from it, so I don’t think there’s an obligation for you to contribute anything to your friend.
However, since we were both aware of the windfall I got from the situation, I did offer to take my friend out for a full slap-up lunch at a good restaurant, at my expense (she declined).
I saw a question like this in an advice column recently. The advice given was along the lines of, if the new hire splits his salary with you, you should split your bonus with the new hire.
But since you promised, you ought to follow through.
I don’t know about splitting the bonus as cash, but I’d probably use it for a communal purpose. Fund a night out, a game day, something of interest to everyone involved and definetly play money. This party brought to you by Jake’s new job! Yea!
I don’t know if you know this, but your bonus money will be taxed. My husband was hired on my referral, and when the check came in, the $500 bonus was really about $300 (it’s been six years, so I don’t remember the exact amount). So definitely don’t offer to split the pre-tax amount.
No, you wouldn’t have had an obligation except that you already offered.
Well, I am definitely going to still offer any of my buddies that get hired half of the bonus. Of couse I wouldn’t back out of something I already said I’d do. But, based on the advice given here, I probably won’t press the situation if they initally don’t take the money. Maybe I’d just take my buddy to a ballgame or something instead.
I wasn’t even consiering the fact that the money would be taxed. This obviously would affect how much money I would give the potential new hire. Thanks for the heads up DeadlyAccurate!